Nebraska rushes for 326 yards, beats UCLA in Foster Farms Bowl

Quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. has the tools to be unsafe and accounted for 27 touchdowns this season (21 passing, 6 rushing). His first collegiate game was a 351-yard, three-touchdown win against Virginia. The rushing total is the highest for Nebraska since rushing for 458 yards against IL in 2014. Ozigbo carried 21 times for 87 yards, adding a reception for another 15 yards.

Nebraska did so thanks in large part to their run game as it ran the ball 62 times for 324 yards and four touchdowns. Of the Bruins eight wins this year half of those victories came against ranked opponents and all four of UCLA’s losses came against teams that were invited and accepted bids to bowl contests (USC, Washington State, Stanford and Arizona State). He didn’t have an wonderful game, as the Huskers relied heavily on their ground attack, but Armstrong played a role in that, too.

After back-to-back 10 win seasons, UCLA (8-4) was expected to compete for the Pac-12 crown but went just 5-4 in the conference and finished third in the South Division.

The UCLA Bruins finished the regular season at 8-4 that is considered a disappointment for a team that had high expectations coming into the year. Bruins QB Josh Rosen completed 59.5 percent of his passes with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions and he rushed for two touchdowns.

The Bruins ended the first half tied, 21-21, averaging just under 9.0 yards per play.

Nick: UCLA is the better team, though Nebraska is going to make this game really fun to watch.

“I’ve seen a lot of good football plays and I thought that was a very good football play”, UCLA coach Jim Mora said.

Its touchdown drives were methodical, boring and unstoppable.

Nebraska dominated the third quarter, holding UCLA to one yard.

Yet this is Rosen’s team, and so Saturday it only figured that it was Rosen to lead them to a stirring opening and Rosen who was eventually flattened in the somber ending. It was NU’s first and only turnover of the night.

Nebraska defeated a heavily favored UCLA team that got a stellar outing from quarterback Josh Rosen.

Best play: Early in the third quarter, Nebraska WR Stanley Morgan, Jr., made a spectacular one-handed 22-yard TD catch from a perfectly delivered pass from Tommy Armstrong. Nebraska wasn’t a great team on the ground this season, but they did average 13.5 yards per play through the air. Following practice, the Huskers headed back to downtown San Francisco to attend the Foster Farms Bowl Kickoff Luncheon. He completed his first five passes, including a convincing play-action fake and pass to Thomas Duarte that set up one-yard touchdown run by Paul Perkins.

Westerkamp has now caught a pass in 26 straight games, which is the fourth-longest streak at Nebraska. He also threw an interception in the closing seconds of the second quarter. Things were new again and the season had promise with a team now headed by a man with the demeanor of Coach Osbourne. After Nebraska had taken a 21-3 lead, the Bruins scored 35 points in 16 minutes. Terrell Newby started the rally by scoring on a 3-yard run with 6:23 remaining in the first half.

Yes, the Nebraska Cornhuskers ran all over the UCLA Bruins in a Stanfordesque affair that had Bruin fans wondering if there was any hope for the run defense.

On the next UCLA drive, from Nebraska’s 26-yard line, Rosen waited and waited until running back Nate Starks could find a pocket for a swing pass. Only once Starks had found a chasm in the Cornhuskers’ zone did Rosen throw it. Starks turned, split two defenders and scampered into the end zone. The Blackshirts did the rest, sacking Rosen to end a threat on the next Bruin drive before Lou Groza Award victor Ka’imi Fairbairn misfired on a 46-yard field goal with 5:29 left.