• Video: Postgame press conference with Bo Pelini and selected players:



• VIdeo: Postgame press conference with Arizona coaches, players:



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SAN DIEGO — A steady stream of rain fell after halftime at Qualcomm Stadium. Of course, the Arizona Wildcats' spirits were dampened long before that.

A night that began for Arizona like this — incompletion, incompletion, interception — only got worse for Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles and his teammates.

Arizona now has the dubious distinction of being the only team ever shut out in the Holiday Bowl after Nebraska's 33-0 whipping.

“It's been a long time since we played a game like this,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. “I don't know if we were just content getting here, but we sure didn't show up in any way.”

The Wildcats' longest reception of the night was when Foles caught a pass on the sidelines that Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee was throwing away in the second quarter. Arizona's best rush of the night was heading to the stadium tunnel moments after the game ended.

Nebraska came into the game as the nation's second-ranked scoring defense and No. 9 in total defense — and was even more dominating.

The Wildcats managed just 109 yards of total offense — the fewest by a team in Holiday Bowl history.

The shutout was even more impressive. Arizona averaged 29.7 points a game during the season, the Wildcats' lowest scoring output of the year coming in a 24-16 loss to California.

Foles, who came into the game with a 66.1 percent completion percentage, completed just 6 of 20 passes (30 percent) for 28 yards before backup Matt Scott came in for him in the fourth quarter.

“You never want to start a game throwing a pick and having it returned to the 5,” said Foles, who watched Nebraska's Matt O'Hanlon do just that in the game's opening minute. “We still had our chances to come back. They just kept scoring points and their defense stopped us.

“I never imagined playing like that. Hats off to Nebraska. That's the best defense I've seen all year.”

A desperate scramble in the third quarter typified Foles' night. On third-and-19 from his own 41-yard line, Foles weaved and dodged to buy himself time but was too harried to find a receiver.

Nebraska defensive end Pierre Allen finally tackled Foles, with teammates Jared Crick and Dejon Gomes adding a couple of hits before Foles went down.

“They didn't give us anything,” Foles said.

Said Arizona running back Nic Grigsby: “We prepared well, but nothing we did was working. They took away our game.”

Arizona had 36 yards of total offense before running back Keola Antolin finally got loose for a 36-yard run on the Wildcats' last possession.

That was the only drive in which the Wildcats sniffed the end zone. But less than two minutes remained in the game by then. Stoops went for it on fourth down from the Nebraska 8-yard line. The pass fell incomplete.

“If we weren't able to get into the end zone,” Stoops said, “I felt they deserved a shutout. That's why I went for it.”

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