Happy Holiday?
3 comments so far
December 7, 2009 by
Texas pretty much ruined the first week of December. But will the Holiday Bowl improve the mood of the Husker Nation?
It's hard to get excited for a bowl game that takes place on a Wednesday night in December. Sure it will be the game of the day, but New Year's (or a BCS bowl) is where I'd like to see NU from a purely emotional standpoint. But look back at the teams that have played in the Holiday Bowl the past dozen years or so and you feel a bit better. For example, OU and Texas have combined to play in five of the last nine Holiday Bowls. Aren't those the two teams the rest of the conference is supposed to be chasing?
Let's not forget Nebraska's own history in the Holiday Bowl. In 1998, a nine-win Husker team lost a close game to the Arizona Wildcats. Now it's payback time. Just like the Gator Bowl allowed Nebraska to reclaim "scoreboard" on Clemson, this game gives a chance to avenge a loss to an Arizona team that in the modern BCS era would undoubtedly have been a BCS team. That Husker team fought valiantly behind a stout defense but fell short, sound familiar?
The offense was definitely a weakness for Nebraska in 1998, but injury seemed to be the reason more than ineptitude. That Husker team followed up their season with a 12-1 season in 1999. For that matter, a number of teams built off of their Holiday bowl year. Kansas State won the Big 12 North in 2000 and the Big 12 in 2003 in the two years following their Holiday Bowl appearance. Texas won the South title in 2001 after a 2000 Holiday Bowl. OU won the Big 12 the year after their Holiday Bowl. The Texas squad that went to a BCS bowl last season was in San Diego in 2007. Even Oklahoma State climbed into the Cotton Bowl this year after their Holiday Bowl night a year ago.
No one's going to call a Holiday Bowl bid better than a Fiesta Bowl or national championship game. But neither is it something to be ashamed of (cough Texas Bowl cough). This wasn't Nebraska's decade, but a new one's just around the corner. Maybe the Holiday Bowl is the right launching pad for a decade to remember.
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ruggerhusker Dec 07 09
The only thing that would make my holidays is watching Suh take the Heisman! Which he un-doubly deserves. It took the top contender out of contention for the award. If he doesn't earn it, then they should rename the award the top offensive player award, because that is what it would be at that point.
darrren Dec 07 09
It's tough to have a BCS bid seemingly in your hands and then lose it. So, ANY bowl after that fact becomes a tough sell.
That said, there is a lot to like about the Holiday Bowl. It's a good game (in a GREAT) location against an AZ team that is playing its best football at the end of the season.
Coach Pelini said all of the right things during the announcement press conference. Now, he has to sell that to his team and get them motivated!
Bottom line: the Holiday Bowl seems a whole lot better if NU WINS IT.
Haley Dec 16 09
I think this could be a decade to remember, Nebraska is right on track. When Nebraska was dominant on a National scale, they were a very unique program. When C------- arrived, he brought in his own idea of what a succesful program was, and we became a "normal" school. Bo knows Nebraska, and the tradition that thrives there. We are changing, becoming unique once again. That, my friend, is why 2010 will start a decade to remember.