|
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Gary Zimmerman Jersey . -- Facing third-and-14 at the 1, Nebraska had a choice: Sneak the ball in hopes of getting a little extra room to punt or take a shot deep. The Cornhuskers chose to throw -- and boy did they wing it. Tommy Armstrong Jr. connected with Quincy Enunwa for a 99-yard touchdown strike-- the longest play in school history -- and Nebraska held on to beat No. 23 Georgia 24-19 in the rain-soaked Gator Bowl on Wednesday. "I know one thing: There will never be a longer play in the history of college football than that one," Cornhuskers coach Bo Pelini said. "That was a big play for us." Equally big were Georgias failures down the stretch. The Bulldogs (8-5) dropped two fourth-down passes in the closing minutes, helping Nebraska (9-4) close out its first bowl victory since 2009. Nebraska, playing in its 50th bowl, also ended a four-game losing streak against teams from the Southeastern Conference. The streak included a 45-31 loss to Georgia in the Capital One Bowl last season. The rematch was much different. Nebraska did a solid job against running back Todd Gurley, who ran for 125 yards and a touchdown last year. Gurley finished with 86 yards on the ground. Gurley was more effective in the passing game, catching seven passes for 97 yards. His 25-yard scoring reception to open the fourth quarter cut Nebraskas lead to 24-19. The Bulldogs had two really good chances to take the lead, but Rantavious Wooten and Arthur Lynch dropped fourth-down passes in the red zone. "I think I turned my head at the last second and was thinking end zone," Lynch said. "Its one of those situations. Its not so much I dropped the pass. Its that I let my team down. At the end of the day, its one of those things that you can never forget, brush off your shoulders. "Its a win or a loss, and we lost. But I will never able to forget this one. If I run that play 49 more times, I make the catch." The drops capped Georgias woes. The Bulldogs moved inside the 21 seven times, but settled for four field goals. The final two were costly. Wooten dropped a fourth-and-2 pass around the 10 with 4:42 remaining. Georgia got the ball back with 3:18 to play and marched toward the end zone. But Lynch couldnt haul in a fourth-and-3 pass that would have moved the chains with about 25 seconds remaining. "That (stinks)," Gurley said. "To go all the way down there like that and on fourth down you just give it to them, thats a bad feeling right there." Nebraska ran out the clock from there and then celebrated wildly all over the field. Enunwa was named the games Most Valuable Player -- and for good reason. He recorded the longest play in Nebraska and Gator Bowl history. After a timeout to discuss options on third and long, Armstrong dropped back and heaved the ball as far as he could to Enunwa, who was streaking wide open down the left sideline. Georgia cornerback Shaq Wiggins let Enunwa go, but got no safety help. Quincy Mauger had a chance to tackle Enunwa, but bounced off him just past midfield. Enunwa coasted the rest of the way. "It was kind of just one of those calls where you dont have too many options out there, stuck on your own 1-yard line," Enunwa said. "Luckily our coaches trust in us as playmakers." Enunwa finished with four receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a 5-yard TD reception in the second quarter. The second was his 12th scoring catch of the season, breaking the school record of 11 set by Johnny Rodgers in 1971. Armstrong, filling in for injured starter Taylor Martinez, completed 6 of 14 passes for 163 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. Ameer Abdullah ran 27 times for 122 yards and a score. It was his 11th 100-yard game of the season. Turnovers -- along with those dropped passes -- were the difference. Reggie Davis muffed a punt deep in Georgia territory in the second quarter and Nebraska scored two plays later. The Huskers also turned Hutson Masons lone interception into a touchdown. Mason, making his second straight start in place of injured starter Aaron Murray, completed 21 of 39 passes for 320 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. "I dont think anybody wants to go out there and slosh around," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "But I thought Hutson, as time went on and got used to the elements, did a really good job." Tom Jackson Jersey On Sale . Nick Bonino and Matt Beleskey also scored in regulation and Frederik Andersen stopped 27 shots for the Ducks, who will face Dallas in the opening round of the post-season. Anze Kopitar had two goals, including the tying one with 3:12 left in the third period, and Dustin Brown also scored for Los Angeles. Peyton Manning Authentic . Now he can be had by any team willing to pay his salary. According to a report from ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shopping the veteran CB and plan on releasing him Wednesday if they cant find a trade partner.Leading up to SportsCentres Year In Review on Christmas Eve, TSN and TSN.ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at the continuing saga of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball involving Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez. In the beginning, the Biogenesis story that The Miami New Times broke in January sounded like yet another round of the steroid scandal that has plagued baseball for decades. The publication reported that it had obtained documents from the Biogenesis clinic that could link three players – newly-signed Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera along with Bartolo Colon and Yasmani Grandal – to positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs. As the days and weeks wore on, more names emerged as possible links. Bigger names including Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz and Alex Rodriguez hovered around the report, but would Major League Baseball find the smoking gun on these players that had eluded them in the past when trying to pin star players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to PEDs? Major League Baseball sued Biogenesis owner Anthony Bosch in an attempt to obtain the information it needed to bust the story open. By May, Bosch had agreed to work with MLB and by June the League began to conduct interviews with players it believed to be linked to the case. In July, some dominos began to fall. Braun wass the first to get suspended on July 22.Wes Welker Authentic. The Brewers slugger - who, after successfully appealing a 50-game ban from the 2011 season had declared he had "nothing to hide" – accepted a 65-game ban, enough to keep him out for the duration of the 2013 season. And then came the flood. A total of 13 players were handed suspensions, with 50-game bans going to All-Stars like Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera amongst others. Their punishment, however, would pale in comparison to what was headed Rodriguezs way. The League suspended A-Rod a total of 211 games, enough to keep him off the field until the start of the 2015 season. The hammer came down on Rodriguez not only for alleged use and possession of banned substance over multiple years, but also for what they called, "his attempts to cover up those violations and obstruct a league investigation." Rodriguez appealed the suspension and actually returned to the field to play 44 games with the New York Yankees at the tail end of the 2013 season. Playing through fan vitriol from fans all year long, Rodriguez posted his lowest percentages since his sophomore 1995 season as a 19-year-old. A-Rod – the only player to appeal his ban – had his appeal hearing heard over a span of 13 days in November, concluding on Nov. 21. A ruling is expected next month and the saga will be far from over. cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
