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Holiday Bowl
Nebraska vs. Washington
Betting Line: Nebraska -14 o/u 52
12/30/10
After a 3-6 start the Washington Huskies looked down for the count. However, HC Steve Sarkisian has led them to three consecutive wins and they will compete in the Holiday Bowl at 6-6. Star QB Jake Locker would have competed with Steve Bradford to be the #1 pick had he entered the draft last year. The junior finds himself in his first bowl with his last chance to impress the scouts. He will have to rely on help from WR Jermaine Krease. The junior has 62 catches for 1,001 yards and 12 TDs this year. Sophomore Chris Polk will also play a big role at RB. He finished the year with 284 yards and 2 TDs against Washington State. The Huskies enter this Game with nothing to lose as they have already lost to Nebraska by a score of 56-21 early in the year.
All signs point to Nebraska winning this Game. Their biggest problem could be staying focused. The Huskies will come into the Game with a chip on their shoulder. Nebraska may not be coNCentrating well enough due to infighting between HC Bo Pelini and QB Taylor Martinez. The star freshman has been considering a transfer. Throw on top of that the fact that they led Oklahoma 17-0 in the Big XII Championship Game before blowing it. These kids feel they should be in the Fiesta Bowl. The Huskers defense has been rock solid all year long. They are facing a team here that they held to 21 points early in the season. If they can do that again they will almost assuredly win.
Some of Our readers may be discOuraged that we haven’t had more key releases on these bowl Games. We are as well. We’d love to find what we feel are significant edges on all the Games. Unfortunately, that is not the case this year. We will however, tell you this. This Game between Nebraska and Washington would have been a Key Release on Nebraska -14 if not for the unusual circumstaNCes surrounding this Game.
If you’re looking for the superior team, look no further than Nebraska. They are the better team by a mile on both sides of the ball. We have them winning this Game by at least a score of 35-14. But every year we see this type of a set up in the Bowls. One team happy as heck to be there and the other pissed off because they think they deserve better. In this case we have the additional factor of Nebraska having already blown Washington off the field oNCe this year. That sets up the possibility of Nebraska taking this Game too lightly.
Too many motivational factors to get involved here. Nebraska has the better talent. But Washington has nothing to lose and they also have a QB that will be playing on Sundays very soon. If we had to lean one direction here we would go against Our own numbers and lean towards Washington +14. But this one is a no play for us.