Primetime College Football: Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl
This game goes down on the ESPN network and it features the University of Washington Huskies taking on the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 33rd annual Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
Washington, 6-6, 5-4 Pac-10, enters the Holiday Bowl in the midst of a three-game win streak. Head coach Steve Sarkisian Huskies defeated UCLA, Cal and Washington State to salvage a deteriorating regular season and is looking to secure their first bowl appearance since the 2002 Sun Bowl.
The Huskies are led by senior quarterback Jake Locker who threw for 2,209 yards and 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions while only completing 56.6 percent of his passes. Locker’s job is made easier by the phenomenal play of sophomore running back Chris Polk, who has rushed for 1,287 yards and 8 touchdowns, making him just the second player in Washington history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in two seasons.
Also a threat offensively is wide recover Jermaine Kearse, who has caught 62 passes for 1,001 yards and 12 touchdowns. Kearse and Polk have combined for just the second 1,000-yard rusher/receiver tandem in Huskies history as well only 9th in the nation to do that this season.
Nebraska,10-3, 6-2 Big 12, Tode to a second straight Big 12 North title but blew a 17-0 lead en route to a 23-20 loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. Head coach Bo Pelini has freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez to handle the offensive duties as he has thrown for 1,578 yards and 9 touchdowns. However Martinez does his most damage when he keeps the ball and rushes where he has 942 yards and 12 touchdowns.
As a team, the Cornhuskers compile an impressive 259.6 rushing ypg headlined by the rushing of tailback Roy Helu Jr, who has amassed 1,211 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Defensively the Cornhuskers are lead by Sunday bound Prince Amukamara in the secondary who has recorded 58 tackles and 13 pass breakup this year. The secondary’s job is made easier by the pressure applied by the defensive line, which has tallied 31 sacks and is lead by another Sunday bound player in defensive tackle Jared Crick who leads the team with 9.5 sacks.
Nebraska currently holds a 24-22 all-time bowl game record while Washington is 15-14-1 all-time record.
PICK: University of Washington Huskies



