2014 Holiday Bowl
| 2014 National University Holiday Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 37th Holiday Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 27, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | San Diego Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | San Diego, California | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Offense: USC QB Cody Kessler Defense: USC DE Leonard Williams[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | USC by 7[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Randy Christal[3] (Big 12) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 55,789[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$2.075 million | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN / ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Samantha Ponder (ESPN) Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Joe Schad (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 2014 Holiday Bowl, known as the National University Holiday Bowl for sponsorship purposes, was the thirty-seventh edition of the college football bowl game, played on December 27, 2014 at San Diego Stadium in San Diego, California. Part of the 2014–15 bowl season, it featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Ten and USC Trojans of the Pac-12. The game kicked off at 5:00 p.m. PST and was broadcast on ESPN and ESPN Radio.
Teams
The 2014 Holiday Bowl was the fifth all-time and first postseason meeting between Nebraska and USC, with the Trojans leading 3–0–1 prior to the game.
Under first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian, USC entered the Holiday Bowl as a seven-point favorite over Nebraska. The Cornhuskers, weeks removed from firing Bo Pelini, were led by interim head coach Barney Cotton.[4]
Nebraska
USC
Game
After a Nebraska field goal on the opening possession of the game, freshman All-American Adoree' Jackson returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, the longest return in Holiday Bowl history.[5] Nebraska responded quickly, scoring twice more in the game's opening frame to take a seven-point lead. USC's offense controlled the second quarter, using drives of ten and twelve plays to take a 24–17 lead into halftime.
USC opened the second half with a short pass to Jackson, who converted it into his second lengthy touchdown to give the Trojans a two-score lead.[6] Long drives by each team kept the gap at fourteen points before a two-play Trojans touchdown drive made the score 45–27. As a chaotic third quarter came to a close, Tommy Armstrong hit Jordan Westerkamp for a winding 65-yard touchdown, the sixth score of the quarter.[7]
On fourth down in the Trojans red zone, Armstrong stumbled into the end zone to cut Nebraska's deficit to three after a conversion pass to Bell.[7] The Cornhuskers drove into USC territory with minutes remaining, but the Trojans stopped De'Mornay Pierson-El on fourth down to seal a 45–42 victory.[7]
Scoring summary
| Qtr | Time | Drive | Team | Detail | Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plays | Yards | TOP | NU | USC | ||||
| 1 | 11:05 | 5 | 29 | 1:47 | NU | Drew Brown 34-yd field goal | 3 | 0 |
| 10:54 | – | – | 0:11 | USC | Adoree' Jackson 98-yd kickoff return (Andre Heidari kick) | 3 | 7 | |
| 8:23 | 6 | 53 | 2:31 | NU | Kenny Bell 18-yd pass from Tommy Armstrong (Brown kick) | 10 | 7 | |
| 6:05 | 8 | 42 | 2:18 | USC | Heidari 42-yd field goal | 10 | 10 | |
| 1:25 | 6 | 39 | 2:42 | NU | De'Mornay Pierson-El 9-yd pass from Armstrong (Brown kick) | 17 | 10 | |
| 2 | 13:11 | 10 | 75 | 3:14 | USC | Nelson Agholor 17-yd pass from Cody Kessler (Heidari kick) | 17 | 17 |
| 6:39 | 12 | 80 | 3:32 | USC | Javorius Allen 2-yd run (Heidari kick) | 17 | 24 | |
| 3 | 12:01 | 1 | 71 | 0:12 | USC | Jackson 71-yd pass from Kessler (Heidari kick) | 17 | 31 |
| 9:41 | 7 | 73 | 2:20 | NU | Ameer Abdullah 20-yd run (Brown kick) | 24 | 31 | |
| 8:06 | 5 | 68 | 1:35 | USC | Allen 44-yd run (Heidari kick) | 24 | 38 | |
| 2:28 | 6 | 9 | 3:25 | NU | Brown 25-yd field goal | 27 | 38 | |
| 2:03 | 2 | 65 | 0:25 | USC | Bryce Dixon 20-yd pass from Kessler (Heidari kick) | 27 | 45 | |
| 0:24 | 3 | 64 | 1:39 | NU | Jordan Westerkamp 65-yd pass from Armstrong (Brown kick) | 34 | 45 | |
| 4 | 6:52 | 9 | 77 | 2:51 | NU | Armstrong 15-yd run (Armstrong pass to Bell) | 42 | 45 |
Team statistics
| Statistic[3] | Nebraska | USC |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 28 | 22 |
| Rushes–yards | 43–144 | 34–194 |
| Comp.–att.–yards | 32–51–381 | 23–39–321 |
| Total offense | 525 | 515 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 1 |
| Punts–average | 7–44.7 | 9–34.8 |
| Penalties–yards | 7–45 | 12–97 |
| Time of possession | 34:26 | 25:34 |
Starting lineups
| Nebraska | Position[3] | USC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | |||
| 11 Cethan Carter | TE | 82 Randall Telfer | |
| 80 Kenny Bell | WR | 15 Nelson Agholor | |
| 15 De'Mornay Pierson-El | 7 Steven Mitchell | ||
| 1 Jordan Westerkamp | 9 JuJu Smith | ||
| 4 Tommy Armstrong | QB | 6 Cody Kessler | |
| 8 Ameer Abdullah | RB | 37 Javorius Allen | |
| 71 Alex Lewis | LT | 50 Toa Lobendahn | |
| 68 Jake Cotton | LG | 51 Damien Mama | |
| 66 Dylan Utter | C | 75 Max Tuerk | |
| 74 Mike Moudy | RG | 60 Viane Talamaivao | |
| 78 Givens Price | RT | 73 Zach Banner | |
| Defense | |||
| 7 Maliek Collins | DT | 52 Delvon Simmons | |
| 98 Vincent Valentine | |||
| 4 Randy Gregory | DE | 90 Claude Pelon | |
| 90 Greg McMullen | 94 Leonard Williams | ||
| 13 Zaire Anderson | LB | 10 Hayes Pullard | |
| 52 Josh Banderas | 56 Anthony Sarao | ||
| 58 J. R. Tavai | |||
| 23 Daniel Davie | CB | 2 Adoree' Jackson | |
| 5 Josh Mitchell | 6 Josh Shaw | ||
| 28 Byerson Cockrell | S | 27 Gerald Bowman | |
| 6 Corey Cooper | 21 Su'a Cravens | ||
| 25 Nate Gerry | 24 John Plattenburg | ||
References
- ↑ Ed Zieralski (December 27, 2014). "Nebraska shows heart in loss". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- ↑ "Nebraska vs USC Odds". Vegas Insider.
- 1 2 3 4 "Huskers come up short in high-scoring Holiday Bowl". HuskerMax. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
- ↑ Eric Olson (December 21, 2014). "Interim college football coaches seemingly live in limbo". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Associated Press. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
- ↑ "USC Wins Holiday Bowl 45-42 Over Nebraska". KPBS. Associated Press. December 27, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
- ↑ "Dizzying stats in Holiday Bowl". The San Diego Union-Tribune. December 28, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2025.
- 1 2 3 Sam Mckewon (December 27, 2014). "Out of reach: Valiant effort without desired result mirrors NU in the Pelini era". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2025.