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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The Nebraska Cornhuskers claimed they weren't
mad about being left out of the Bowl Championship Series.
Yeah, right.
No. 9 Nebraska (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) ended a disappointing season by setting a bowl record for points in a 66-17 victory over Northwestern (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night.
"We would have liked to be in a BCS game, but we put ourselves
in this position," said Matt Davison, who had two touchdown
catches. "Hopefully, with an overpowering football game like this
we can leave our legacy."
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Most points in bowl games
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66 -- Nebraska vs. Northwestern (17), 2000 Alamo Bowl.
65 -- Texas A&M vs. BYU (14), 1990 Holiday Bowl.
63 -- Illinois vs. Virginia (21), 1999 Micronpc.com Bowl.
62 -- Colorado vs. Boston College (28), 1999 Insight.com Bowl.
62 -- Nebraska vs. Florida (24), 1996 Fiesta Bowl.
62 -- Oklahoma State vs. Wyoming (14), 1988 Holiday Bowl.
61 -- Alabama vs. Syracuse (6), 1953 Orange Bowl.
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The Cornhuskers (10-2) broke the bowl record set by Texas A&M in
a 65-14 victory over BYU in the 1990 Holiday Bowl. Nebraska's
previous bowl high came in a 62-24 victory over Florida in the 1996
Fiesta Bowl.
"Finishing 10-2 is a great record. This is a great football
team and hopefully everybody can see that," Davison said.
Dan Alexander ran for 240 yards and two touchdowns and Eric
Crouch ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more scores for
Nebraska, which shut out Northwestern (8-4) in the second half.
After falling behind 10-7 early in the first quarter, the
Huskers outscored Northwestern 59-7 the rest of the way.
Nebraska coach Frank Solich, hoping to finish with a Top 5
ranking, didn't pull his starters until about 10 minutes were left
with Nebraska leading 59-17.
"We felt all year long like we were one of the best teams in
the country. We still feel like that," Solich said. "This team
showed what it was capable of."
Correll Buckhalter scored twice and Bobby Newcombe caught a TD
pass and threw another to Davison as the Cornhuskers set several
records for the 8-year-old bowl. Davison had two TD catches.
Damien Anderson ran for 149 yards and a touchdown for
Northwestern.
The overmatched Wildcats helped Nebraska by routinely giving up
great field position in the first half. Nebraska's worst field
position of the half was its own 36. The Huskers opened three
drives in Northwestern territory and one on the 50 while taking a
38-17 halftime lead.
"We're not going to internalize this failure, but we're not
going to burn the tape, either," Northwestern coach Randy Walker
said. "This one game doesn't diminish in any way what we
accomplished."
|  | | Huskers head coach Frank Solich and his players celebrate their 66-17 Alamo Bowl victory over Northwestern. |
The Wildcats, who were 3-8 last year in Walker's first season,
were in just their fourth bowl.
"Any time I sensed a little bit of a momentum change they just
struck right back. That's what great football teams do," Walker
said.
Nebraska set a school bowl record with 31 points in the second
quarter, topping the 29 points the Huskers scored in the second
against Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.
The Huskers didn't let up in the second half, scoring 21 points
in the third quarter while improving to 2-1 in bowl games under
Solich and 20-19 overall in bowls.
Nebraska needed only five plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 15-yard
run by Alexander just 2:11 into the game. Alexander added a 2-yard
touchdown run in the second and had 119 yards by halftime, setting
an Alamo Bowl record.
Crouch had a 50-yard TD run and Buckhalter and Newcombe each
scored before halftime. Newcombe caught a short pass and easily
outran the Wildcats for a 58-yard score with 20 seconds left.
Newcombe set up Buckhalter's 2-yard run that put the Huskers up
28-10 with a 32-yard punt return to the Northwestern 10. He added a
69-yard TD pass to Davison that made it 58-17 late in the third
quarter. Wildcats fans booed the pitch pass from the former
quarterback, who had no trouble hitting a wide-open Davison for the
touchdown.
"Bobby and I have been together a long time," said Davison,
who along with Newcombe was playing his final game for Nebraska.
"We always talk about it and we practice that play all the time."
Josh Brown set a personal best and Alamo Bowl record with a
51-yard field goal late in the second for Nebraska. His previous
best was 42 yards and the Alamo Bowl record was 49 by Texas A&M's
Kyle Bryant against Michigan in 1995.
Northwestern had taken advantage of a special teams blunder by
Nebraska for a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. Keyuo Craver
was called for pass interference on a fake punt, setting the
Wildcats up at the Nebraska 21. Zak Kustok hit Teddy Johnson with a
10-yard pass for the Wildcats' only lead of the game.
Northwestern also had a 44-yard field goal by Tim Long in the
first quarter.
Alexander broke his personal best of 208 yards set in the season
opener against San Jose State and he shattered the Alamo Bowl
record of 113 yards Iowa's Sedrick Shaw had against Texas Tech in
1996.
"Any running back in the nation could have run for 240 yards
behind our offensive line tonight," Alexander said. "When you had
the holes I had it was easy."
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Nebraska Clubhouse
Northwestern Clubhouse
Northwestern at least can point toward next year
Alamo Bowl: Nebraska vs. Northwestern
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Dan Alexander takes the pitch and goes 15 yards for a Nebraska touchdown.
avi: 1089 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Zak Kustok finds Teddy Johnson in the end zone for a 10-yard Northwestern scoring strike.
avi: 733 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Eric Crouch answers a Northwestern TD with a 50-yard option keeper for a Nebraska score.
avi: 1455 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Eric Crouch passes back to Bobby Newcombe, who hits Matt Davison for a 69-yard score to put Nebraska up 59-17.
avi: 1731 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Damien Anderson gets loose for 69 yards and a Northwestern score.
avi: 880 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Bobby Newcombe takes the Eric Crouch pass 58 yards for a Nebraska touchdown.
avi: 1844 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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