San Diego, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - The 2014 Holiday Bowl is the first postseason venture pitting a pair of ranked foes against each other, as No. 25 Nebraska takes on No. 24 USC on Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium. Nebraska comes in sporting a 9-3 record (5-3 Big Ten), which by many standards would be considered a success, but to the Cornhuskers and their faithful fans, it meant another season of failed expectations. As a result, and partly due to his somewhat abrasive personality, Bo Pelini was relieved of his duties as head coach after seven solid seasons. The school has hired a new coach in former Oregon State head man and USC assistant Mike Riley, and while the Huskers will play this game under the direction of interim coach Barney Cotton, Riley has already begun to lay the groundwork for his tenure. Cotton had a pretty simple message for the team moving forward, four basic things that the team should rely on as it prepares for this game. I am basically telling them four things -- honor God with your effort. Honor your teammates with your effort. Honor Coach Bo (Pelini) with your loyalty and love and support, along with your effort. Cotton said. And lets reveal our character one last time in the Holiday Bowl. Nebraska has a long history of performing well in bowl games, this being the teams 51st postseason appearance (25-25). The Cornhuskers will be seeking their second straight bowl win after beating Georgia in the Gator Bowl last January, 24-19. USC won twice as many games as it lost this season (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12), but the team too underachieved in the eyes of its supporters. Still, head coach Steve Sarkisian isnt going anywhere as he had been entrusted with ushering in the next phase of the Trojans championship-or-bust run. USC is making its 49th official bowl appearance (32-16), and it blasted Fresno State in last years Las Vegas Bowl, 45-20. The Trojans are playing in the city of San Diego for just the seventh time, and the first since 1992. We are excited to go play in the Holiday Bowl and be the first USC team to do so, said Sarkisian, who previously guided Washington to the 2010 Holiday Bowl, where his Huskies beat Nebraska, 19-7. We get to play close to home and our fans will show up in force. Theyll get to see a pair of Top-25 teams with storied football heritages. Having been to the Holiday Bowl when I was at Washington, I know this bowl experience will be a good one for our players and fans. The series between these two stories programs features four previous meeting, with USC leading 3-0-1. The most recent encounters occurred during a home-and- home series in 2006-07, with the Trojans winning both times. Nebraska was one of the top scoring offenses in the Big Ten this season, putting up 37.4 ppg behind typical outputs of 248.2 ypg rushing and 198.0 ypg passing. The Cornhuskers relied heavily on star RB Ameer Abdullah to carry much of the load, and he responded by totaling 1,523 yards and 18 TDs. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong, Jr. was next on the teams rushing list with 664 yards and five scores, while throwing for an additional 19 TDs and more than 2,300 yards, despite completing only 51.7 percent of his passes. Jordan Westerkamp and Kenny Bell were the guys Armstrong looked to most often, as they combined for 81 catches, 1,383 yards and nine scores. The Nebraska offensive line did a nice job in helping the backs average 5.5 ypc, while at the same time yielding only 19 sacks. The defense was middling unit compared to the other 13 teams in the Big Ten, the Huskers allowing 24.8 points and 372.8 yards per contest. Foes ran for more than 176 ypg against the Blackshirts, scoring 23 TDs on the ground to rank Nebraska fourth from the bottom in that category. The effort against the pass permitted fewer than 200 ypg, and the team recorded 27 sacks while ranking fourth in the league in opponents third-down conversion percentage (.307). The Cornhuskers were also among the league leaders in red zone defense (.805). Zaire Anderson has amassed 95 tackles to pace the unit, and that includes 12 TFL and two sacks, while Nate Gerry is second with 85 stops to go along with his club-best five interceptions. Randy Gregory has the most sacks of anyone on the roster with seven, and Josh Mitchell has been credited with a dozen PBU. Even though they averaged 35.1 points and 452.8 yards per outing, the Trojans were a middle-of-the-pack offensive team compared to the others calling the Pac-12 Conference home. Five teams churned out more yardage, although it wasnt for a lack of effort on the part of standout QB Cody Kessler, who hit the mark on an impressive 70.7 percent of his passes, doing so for more than 3,500 yards, 36 TDs and only four INTs. Also turning in sensation seasons were WR Nelson Agholor, who caught 97 balls for 1,223 yards and 11 scores, and RB Javorious Allen, who rumbled his way to 1,337 yards and nine TDs. Allowing 23.8 points and 400.2 yards per contest ranked the Trojans third and second, respectively in the conference, with their effort against the run (132.5 ypg) being the better of the two pursuits. USC ranked eighth in pass defense (267.7 ypg), but finished second in pass efficiency defense (118.5). Hayes Pullard logged a team-best 87 tackles during the 2014 campaign, while Sua Cravens had 16 of the squads 73 TFL. J.R. Tavai tallied seven of its 30 sacks. USC led the Pac-12 in opponents third-down conversion percentage (.352), while also pacing the league in interceptions with 13, although no player had more than two. Nike Air Max 90 Rabatt . The Red Wings hadnt played the night before. The Boston Bruins had. A month from now, or two months from now, it doesnt matter. But right now it does matter, when you start and you play back to back, its wear and tear on you for sure, Babcock said. Nike Air Max 90 Herr Billigt . Kansas City became the first team in baseball history to win four extra-inning games in a single postseason on Friday, as Alex Gordon crushed a leadoff homer in the 10th and Mike Moustakas added the deciding two-run blast in the Royals 8-6 win. http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/air-max-...ite-rabatt.html. Blatter, a 75-year-old Swiss executive who has been in office since 1998, was handed a final four-year term as head of footballs governing body in a vote at FIFAs congress. He won 186 votes out of 203 ballots. Nike Air Max 97 Billigt . -- Sonny Grays fastball wasnt as sharp as it usually is, and the Oakland Athletics young pitcher even had a quirky replay go against him. Nike Air Max 95 Dam Rea . In the Brewers six games this season, no starter has allowed more than three runs. "We see the guy in front of us do a great job and we want to do even better," Gallardo said after the Brewers beat the Red Sox 4-0 on Sunday, his second straight scoreless start.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Nick Foles and Philadelphias high-scoring offence needed a little help from the defence to make sure it was the same old sad ending for the Dallas Cowboys. Foles threw two touchdown passes, one to NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy, and Brandon Boykin had a game-sealing interception to help the Eagles beat the Cowboys 24-22 in a win-or-go-home game for the NFC East title Sunday night. The Cowboys lost to a division rival with a playoff berth on the line for the third straight year, and nobody can blame Tony Romo for this crushing loss. Kyle Orton, filling in two days after Romo underwent back surgery, had Dallas about 40 yards from field goal range with 1:49 remaining. But he threw behind Miles Austin on the first play, and into the arms of Boykin. "We kept fighting. We believed in each other," said Foles, who was 17 of 26 for 263 yards after throwing for only 80 in a 17-3 loss to Dallas at home. "When the offence was struggling, the defence picked us up." The Eagles (10-6) will host New Orleans in a wild-card game Saturday night, while the Cowboys (8-8) have now dropped a finale to each division rival the past three seasons and have missed the playoffs four straight years. Dallas is 136-136 since the start of the 1997 season. "Its unthinkable, really, to me to be sitting here three years in a row and this game ends up putting us at .500 and this game eliminates us from going to the playoffs," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. McCoy, who had a 3-yard scoring catch, rushed for 131 yards to finish with 1,607 yards and become the first Philadelphia running back to win the rushing title since Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren in 1949. "With the stats and the records, none of that stuff means anything, if you dont win in the end," McCoy said. "Thats the most important thing." The Eagles won the division for the first time since 2010 a year after going 4-12, which led to Andy Reids departure and the hiring of Chip Kelly and his fast-paced offence from Oregon. Dallas trailed 24-16 when Orton threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant. Orton went back to Bryant for the 2-point conversion, but Cary Williams dove to punch the ball away. But the Eagles, with the second-ranked offence in the NFL, couldnt run out the clock against the leagues worst defence. Foles even tried to throw on third down, but had to slide shoort of the first down when nobody was open.dddddddddddd Boykin took care of things from there. "It definitely wasnt our best, but some guys came up with some huge plays when we needed them to," said Connor Barwin, who knocked down a fourth-down pass earlier in the fourth quarter. Romo was the quarterback for losses the past two seasons to the New York Giants and Washington -- and against the Eagles in the same scenario in 2008. The Cowboys were down 10-0 early in the second quarter and never led, but still found a way to make it interesting without Romo and defensive leader Sean Lee, who was out with a sprained neck. Regardless, Dallas is only the third team in NFL history to finish with three straight 8-8 records, according to STATS. And those are in Jason Garretts three full seasons as coach. "You feel a tremendous sense of pride about how the team played, how they fought, how they scratched, how they clawed, how they battled," Garrett said. "But having said that, we didnt get the job done." Orton, who was 30 of 46 for 358 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in his first start in two years, was the first Dallas starter not named Romo in an elimination game since a playoff loss to Carolina with Quincy Carter under centre during the 2003 season. The Cowboys werent shy about throwing without Romo. Trailing by one, Dallas tried to pass on fourth-and-1 from the Philadelphia 40 early in the fourth quarter, and Barwin knocked down Ortons throw to DeMarco Murray, who was open in the flat. That decision came after Garrett called a timeout moments before the Eagles would have been called for a false start on fourth down from the Dallas 1. The defence bailed him out by stuffing Foles on a sneak. After the Cowboys failed fourth-down try, Foles led a steady march to Bryce Browns 6-yard run for an eight-point lead with 6:09 remaining. Notes: Cowboys K Dan Bailey had three field goals and made his last 21 of the season. He was 28 of 30. ... McCoy had 134 yards from scrimmage and finished with 2,146 to break Brian Westbrooks team record of 2,104 from 2007. ... Murray had 51 yards rushing and finished with 1,124, the most for Dallas since Emmitt Smith had 1,203 in 2000. ... Eagles WR DeSean Jackson had 28 yards for No. 2 on the franchises single-season receiving yardage list with 1,332. Mike Quick had 1,409 in 1983. ' ' '