Nebraska hopes to cap a down season with bowl win over UCLA

Mike Riley is no stranger to coaching but this is his first year at Nebraska as he takes over the proud program.

UCLA (8-4, 5-4 Pac-12) is set to embark on its 35th overall bowl appearance, having first punched its ticket to the postseason in the 1943 Rose Bowl Game. The Bruins are dependent on maintaining drives: In wins this season, the Bruins are converting 50.8 percent of team third downs; in losses, they’re converting 34.9 percent.

Look, a win in the Foster Farms Bowl won’t make this season all that much better for UCLA or Nebraska. Well, first things first, if Mazzone can not be at the game, the Bruins should still have a game plan.

This will be the 13th meeting between the two schools and the series is even at six wins apiece. Their student section let off blue and gold balloons, there were signs everywhere honoring Nick.

Nebraska: QB Tommy Armstrong Jr.

UCLA holds the advantage on paper in almost every category except Nebraska’s run defense.

After playing the 2013 and ’14 seasons with quarterback Brett Hundley, his childhood pal and teammate at Chandler (Ariz.) High School, Perkins was matched this year with freshman quarterback Josh Rosen. They also gave CFB playoff team Michigan State its only loss, albeit on one of the worst non-calls of the the 2015 college football season.

UCLA and Nebraska will meet for the third time in four years. And I think him just being more comfortable with another year in the system will help him grow. The anchor of the front line is second/third-team All-Big Ten left tackle Alex Lewis.

The Cornhuskers total defense ranks #69 just 8 spots lower than the Bruins, allowing 401.3 yards per game. Could this game be a last minute win for either team? Armstrong ran for one touchdown and threw for another in the final 1:47 as Nebraska upset the then-No.

While Cethan Carter’s yardage statistics popped out a little more in November, Langsdorf said one of the biggest differences in the junior tight end has been his presence on the grunt work part of the game.

UCLA’s Attrition: After a hot start to the season that saw the Bruins go 4-0 and ranked as high as No. 7 in the country, UCLA’s injuries finally caught up to the team.

The total has gone OVER in 16 of Nebraska’s last 23 games.

One of McKinley’s running mates on the defensive line is sophomore Matt Dickerson. He also is tied for ninth with 20 TD passes. The pass defense allowed more completions than expected.

“That’s the offense”, Banker said regarding UCLA’s penchant for finding favorable matchups. UCLA’s Rosen, on the other hand, has thrown only nine interceptions in 2015 and he is a true freshman.

UCLA’s Paul Perkins, the Bruins’ third all-time leading rusher who had almost 3,000 yards in the last two seasons, is considering entering the National Football League draft.

The Cornhuskers didn’t have a winning record at any point and never won more than two games in a row. Perkins became the first UCLA player to lead the Pac-12 in rushing since DeShaun Foster in 2001.

LInebacker Jayon Brown emerged to fill the void at linebacker to lead UCLA with 88 tackles on the season. Expect senior WR Jordan Payton to have a nice send off with plenty of yards and hopefully so too will Thomas Duarte. He netted 820 yards on the year for an average of 68.3 yards per game.