SAN DIEGO — Observations of the Holiday Bowl’s first half, dominated by Nebraska, which looks like a vintage Huskers team.

• Nebraska looks to me like Arizona was in the 1998 Holiday Bowl: Running quarterback with Zac Lee compared a running style quarterback like Keith Smith for the Cats.
• Dominating defensive player in Ndamukong Suh for Nebraska; Chris McAlister as an All-American for Arizona.
• Nebraska in 1998 was only a year removed from beating Tennessee and Peyton Manning in the Orange Bowl to cap the Tom Osborne era. The Huskers were not enthused about being in San Diego that year, entering with a 9-3 record under first-year coach Frank Solich. Arizona did not look like they wanted to be on the field last night.
• Nebraska is pressing from the ends, making it difficult for UA quarterback Nick Foles to pass those successful bubble screens. He is showing that he is not skilled yet on 40- to 50-yard passes. He lofts the ball like a Hail Mary pass instead of throwing with an accurate zip.
• The Wildcat defense was inept against an offense with its namesake — the “Wildcat Offense” made famous by the Miami Dolphins last year. Nebraska freshman running back Rex Burkhead burned the Cats for a 34-yard run and later ran in to the endzone untouched in the same formation.
• Arizona’s play calling was suspect at times, including a downfield pass on 3rd-and-1 when the UA needed a first down in the worst way. The Cats had only one first down to Nebraska’s 11.
• Nebraska coach Bo Pelini must be wondering if he will ever face an Arizona team that will challenge him. He was the LSU defensive coordinator in 2006 when the Tigers routed the UA 45-3 and limited the Cats to less than 200 yards in total offense.
• How much does Arizona’s struggles have to do with Nebraska’s defense or Arizona’s ineptitude on offense? I believe it’s 70 percent Nebraska, 15 percent Arizona and 15 percent mental. The UA did not play with confidence from the get-go and it all started with Foles. He is facing the best coverage secondary the Cats have played all season.
• Hey, at least the halftime fireworks show was impressive, rank it right up there with the best I’ve seen.
• Oh yeah, the white helmets? Get rid of them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Holiday Bowl, Nick Foles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.