The 2009 Holiday Bowl was the thirty-second edition of the

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

and was played at

Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California, United States. Opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium; it was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium for sportswriter Jack Murphy (sportswriter), Jack Murphy from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 t ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. The game started at 5:00 pm US PST on Wednesday, December 30, 2009. The game was telecast on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. The

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

defeated the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

33–0 for the first shutout in the history of the bowl. This was a rematch of the two teams, who faced each other in the 1998 Holiday Bowl, where

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

defeated

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

23–20.

Background

The game featured the 2nd pick from the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

and the 3rd pick from the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

. The game had recently become a type of "upset" bowl. In previous years, teams rejected by the BCS had lost to heavy underdogs. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, a 10–1 Oregon team (favored by 3 points while ranked 6th in the nation) playing without its star quarterback

Kellen Clemens Kellen Vincent Clemens (born June 7, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oregon Ducks and was selected by the New ...

lost 17–14 to a surging Oklahoma squad that had won six out of its last seven. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, one-loss

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

was defeated by Big 12

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

, 45–31. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, Big 12 representative

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

was knocked off by Pac-10 representative

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, led by Matt Kegel. The Wildcats drew the bid the day they wrapped up an 8-4 season with a 21–17 victory at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, a win that gave Arizona a share of second place (along with Oregon State and

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

) in the Pac-10 with a 6–3 conference record. Nebraska lost a 13–12 heartbreaker to

in the

Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 201 ...

. The Cornhuskers won the conference's North Division with a 6–2 record. The 1998 meeting between the two teams was the only time that either school had appeared in the Holiday Bowl. The only other meeting between the two schools was a 14–14 tie in 1961. On December 8, 2009, the Holiday Bowl committee announced a marketing campaign with fast food franchise

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain founded on February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast of t ...

where Jack Box, the fictional chairman and CEO of the company and star of its marketing campaigns, would be the honorary chairman of the game and the grand marshal of the Port of San Diego Big Bay Balloon Parade.

Game summary

Nebraska wore their home red jerseys, and Arizona wore their white away jerseys with their newly introduced white helmets. Nebraska's 33–0 defeat of Arizona was the first and, to date, only

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

victory in the Holiday Bowl. Prior to the 2009 Holiday Bowl no team had scored fewer than 10 points in a game. The Wildcats were held to just 109 total yards of offense and just 6 first downs. The Cornhuskers were led on offense by

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Niles Paul Niles Paul (born August 9, 1989) is an American former professional American football, football tight end who played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a wide receiver at the University of Nebraska ...

who hauled in 4 catches for 123 yards, including a touchdown, which accounted for 74 of his receiving yards.

Quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Zac Lee threw for 173 yards and the TD to Paul. Rex Burkhead of Nebraska led all rushers with 89 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. This also marked the first time in Nebraska's 46 bowl game history that it has shut out a team in postseason. However, this was the third time in Arizona's bowl history that they have been shut out, the second time in a game in

. The Wildcats lost the 1921

San Diego East-West Christmas Classic The San Diego East-West Christmas Classic was an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California, in 1921 and 1922.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. Page A1. The game was pla ...

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

38–0 and the 1990

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Aloha Stadium. Certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the game featured teams from Division I-A (later known as the Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

28–0. The game also marked Nebraska's first 10-win season since

Scoring summary

References

{{Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl game navbox

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...

Holiday Bowl Arizona Wildcats football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games

December 2009 sports events in the United States 2009 in San Diego