The Nebraska Cornhuskers lost their bid to play in the Big Bowl Championships when they lost last Sunday and fell down to 5th place in the Big 12 rankings. The team which is currently in slot 17 of recruiter rankings was expecting an invite to the Insight Bowl to play against Iowa, a member of the Big 10. Things turned out differently, however, and it was Missouri which got in. That was no great loss for the Nebraska Cornhuskers considering that they are playing in the Holiday Bowl instead. The Insight and Holiday Bowl are the same in prestige but the pay is better with the Holiday Bowl. This year's Holiday Bowl finds the Nebraska Cornhuskers facing Washington University again. They had to win over Washington state to qualify for the bowl. For its part, Washington University needed to humble, California, UCLA and Washington State to be eligible to play the bowl. The last time the Nebraska Cornhuskers played the bowl was when they defeated Arizona by a score of 33-0. This coming game is the third one for them with the Holiday bowl. The Washington Huskies have also participated in the Holiday bowl thrice in the past. The last occasion was in 2007. This year's playoff continues the grudge match between the two teams. In all a total of eight games have been played, the last one was on September, 2010. In that game Washington was defeated by 35 points. The current score for these grudge matches is 4-3-1 in Nebraska Cornhuskers' favor. In the previous two games before the September, 2010 match, Washington also lost. Following this latest game, the grudge match is scheduled to be continued next season. It is a requirement imposed on the Holiday bowl that they get teams, one from the PAC-10 and another from the Big 12. These teams should have played a total of 6 games in all. Among the other bowl games, the Holiday Bowl is next in line to the Insight Bowl games for choosing the teams it wants to invite. Apparently, this year, The Holiday Bowl ran out of options and had to settle for Nebraska Cornhuskers and Washington. Normally, the same two teams are not made to play in the same bowl consecutively. All the more so if the two had already matched previously in the season, as is the case with the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Washington. But because Washington was the last available eligible team, they were forced to do that. Had either the Nebraska Cornhuskers or Washington failed to qualify, the Holiday Bowl would have been forced to get an at-large team, or any team that is eligible and has a minimum of 9 wins to its name. This team is taken from a group of teams in the conference. These have to be included in the highest 14 teams for the season and should have won at least 9 games.
It seems the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Huskies are anticipating this repeat playoff between the two grudging teams. The coaches are certainly anticipating the event. the excitement is heightened by the fact that both teams have to come up with new moves and new playing techniques to surprise the opponent who, by this time, has become familiar its routine. That is partly causing the eager anticipation of both fans, spectators and the team management itself for the Holiday bowl games this year. Doc No: 1103-FB-ULT20-ornblk Freddie Brister is a retired high school coach who writes for SportsFanTreasures. Check out his Ohio State Bedding or his Texas Rangers Blanket
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