Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The Nebraska Cornhuskers from the Big 12 conference will do battle in a college football game with the Arizona Wildcats from the Pac 10 conference in the Holiday Bowl in prime time. Kick off time on Wednesday December 30th at San Diego California is scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by ESPN. The LVSC college football odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the game was opened as a pick with the over under coming in at 42 ½. The early money from the college football betting public has come in on the Arizona Wildcats, as the Pac 10 entrant is currently a 2-point favorite. The total has seen early movement by the bettors towards the under, as the over under is currently lined at 39. College football money line gamblers who would like to make a play on the favored Arizona Wildcats will find them lined at –125 with the underdog Nebraska Cornhuskers bringing back +105 to win this game without the need for getting the points.
The Arizona Wildcats enters the Holiday Bowl with a record of 8-4 and coming off a 21-17 road win at USC to close the regular season on December 5th. Arizona played good defense allowing the Trojans to just 138 yards on the ground and only 144 in the air in victory. First year starting quarterback Nick Foles completed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Juron Criner with 3:14 left in the game to give the Wildcats a trip to the Holiday Bowl. Mike Stoops is in his 6th year at Arizona and is leading the team to his second bowl as head coach. The Wildcats played BYU in last year’s Las Vegas Bowl and coming away with a 31-21 victory as a 3-½ point favorite. Nick Foles has a good year hitting on 66% of his passes with 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. The Wildcats went 6-3 in games started by Foles this season. In the teams 44-41 loss to Oregon it was Foles hitting on 65% of his passes for 314 yards. The best defense Foles has faced was against Arizona St in the teams 20-17 road win against their rival. The signal caller would only hit on 55% of his passes for 148 yards and no touchdowns. On the ground sophomore running back Keola Antolin average a very good 5.5 yards a carry average. Junior running back Nic Grigsby has been the Wildcats best running back but he has not been healthy this season missing numerous games and when playing, seeing only limited action. On the defensive side the Wildcats allow 23 points per game. The Wildcats are #2 in the Pac 10 in total defense allowing only 315 yards per game. Nebraska enters the Holiday with a 9-4 record. The team came extremely close to earning a BCS berth dropping a 13-12 decision to Texas in the Big 12 conference championship game. Nebraska was inept on offense in that game with just 67 yards rushing and 39 through the air. Head coach Bo Pelini is in his second year at Nebraska. He led the Cornhuskers to a bowl game in his first year with the program in 2008 and defeated Clemson 28-21 as a 1-½ point underdog. Junior running back Zac Lee has had an inconsistent year. Lee would complete only 31% of his passes against Texas with no touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Cornhuskers have a notable win at home to Oklahoma but in addition to their loss to Texas they lost a high profile game at Virginia Tech. Junior running back Roy Helu Jr. is the leading ball carrier for the team with a 5.2 yards a carry average. In his biggest game he did not produce, with just 28 yards on 10 carries against Texas. Nebraska is 11th in the Big 12 conference in total defense averaging just 317 yards a game. With such inept offensive performance it’s a good thing the Cornhuskers are an elite defense. The Cornhuskers allow just 11.2 points per game ranking 2nd in the nation. They are ranked third in the Big 12 conference in total defense allowing just 283 yards per game. They are very tough to throw on and Nick Foles from the Arizona Wildcats will be passing on a Nebraska team allowing just 189 yards passing per game and only have given up 7 passing touchdowns all season.
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CFB Trend: Nebraska Cornhuskers are 10-3 to the under this season
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