Cats Get Win They Wanted

1998 Holiday Bowl

Arizona defenders, including Joseph Tafoya, No. 99, and Chris McAlister, No. 11, converge on NU's DeAngelo Evans.SAN DIEGO - Arizona got the win its coveted Wednesday night with a 23 - 20 victory over Nebraska in the Culligan Holiday Bowl.

Kelvin Eafon's 1 - yard touchdown run with 6:08 remaining produced the winning points for the Wildcats. All - America cornerback Chris McAlister then ended the Huskers' hopes for a comeback with an interception at the Arizona 7 - yard line with three minutes to play.

In falling to the Nos. 5 and 6 Wildcats, Nebraska finished its season with four losses for the first time since the 1968 season.

The loss also kept Frank Solich from becoming the first coach in Nebraska history to win 10 games in his debut season.

Nebraska, ranked 14th and 16th entering the game, finished 9 - 4 in front of a record Holiday Bowl crowd of 65,354 at Qualcomm Stadium.

All 70,500 tickets to the game were sold.

Nebraska took a 20 - 16 lead with 10:55 to play on Tracy Wistrom's 4 - yard touchdown catch. But Arizona came storming back, driving 68 yards in nine plays to pick up the winning score.

Arizona Coach Dick Tomey had talked repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the game what a victory over Nebraska - the program with the second most wins this decade - would mean to his teams in terms of national respect and recognition.

Quarterback Keith Smith and tailback Trung Canidate produced the big plays on Arizona's winning touchdown drive. Smith scrambled for 20 yards on the third play of the possession, and Canidate followed it with a 15 - yard run that gave Arizona a first down at the Nebraska 21.

Three plays later, Smith rambled for 8 yards and a first down at the Nebraska 9 - yard line. He followed that run with another 8 - yard scramble when he couldn't find an open receiver. Eafon then scored on the next play, touching off a wild celebration among the Arizona fans in attendance.

Nebraska came back to move from its own 30 to the Arizona 41. A 5 - yard sack on second down left the Huskers facing third - and - 11, and Crouch, under pressure, unleashed a long pass down the middle of the field that was intended for Shevin Wiggins.

McAlister stepped in front of the throw at the 7, and returned it 23 yards. The Wildcats then picked up a first down, forcing Nebraska to burn all of its time outs. The Huskers did get the ball back with 30 seconds to play, but couldn't pull off one of the miraculous finishes that have characterized past Holiday Bowls.

Nebraska, which spent most of the first two quarters on its heels, danced into halftime with a 13 - 9 lead, scoring all of its points in the final 4:58 of the second period.

Meanwhile, Arizona had to be kicking itself for squandering scoring opportunities that could have put four touchdowns on the board. Instead, the Wildcats had to settle for field goals of 38, 25 and 48 yards by Mark McDonald.

The first came six plays after Chris McAlister recovered Wiggins' fumble on a punt return at the Nebraska 21 - yard line. Arizona picked up a first down, and appeared to have a touchdown when Keith Smith threw 7 yards to Brad Brennan on a third - and - goal play.

But the Wildcats were called for holding, wiping out the first of two touchdowns that were nullified by penalties. The second came in the second period when an illegal block erased McAlister's 89 - yard punt return.

Nebraska actually had its second - most productive offensive possession of the half following McDonald's first field goal. The Huskers moved from their 35 - yard line to the Arizona 32 before the drive stalled. Arizona's Peter Hansen then blocked Kris Brown's 51 - yard field - goal attempt to protect the 3 - 0 lead.

Arizona increased its lead to 6 - 0 when McDonald capped a six - play, 64 - yard drive with his field goal from 25 yards. The Wildcats got 63 of the yards on a pass from Smith to Brennan, who split Nebraska rover back Mike Brown and free safety Clint Finley on the play. Finley eventually brought Brennan down at the Huskers' 14 - yard line.

Nebraska's defense again held, forcing McDonald to come on for his 25 - yard field goal with 52 seconds left in the first quarter.

Arizona then squandered another big opportunity when linebacker Scooter Sprotte recovered quarterback Monte Christo's fumble at the Huskers' 15 - yard line.

Three running plays later, the Wildcats appeared to have a first down at the Nebraska 2 - yard line after a 4 - yard run by tailback Kelvin Eafon. But a scuffle in the end zone involving Nebraska rush end Mike Rucker and Arizona tight end Mike Lucky resulted in a pair of dead - ball fouls that wound up pushing the Wildcats back to the Nebraska 16.

The Huskers were penalized half the distance to the goal line for Rucker's personal foul, taking the ball to the 1. But the Wildcats' next snap came from the 16, as Arizona was assessed a 15 - yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Rush end Chad Kelsay then sacked Smith for a 15 - yard loss, leaving Arizona facing fourth and 25 from the Nebraska 31 - yard line. McDonald kept the possession from being a total failure when he drilled his third field goal of the game, from 48 yards, with 13:41 left in the second quarter.

The Wildcats appeared to add to their lead when McAlister took a pitch from Dennis Northcutt on a punt return and caught Nebraska on the reverse. McAlister raced 89 yards to the end zone but Derek Hall's illegal block on Nebraska's Brian Shaw erased the effort.

The Huskers cut their deficit to 9 - 3 when Brown kicked a 25 - yard field goal with 4:58 left in the half. Brown's kick came seven plays after defensive tackle Loran Kaiser had recovered Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins' fumble at the Wildcats' 34 - yard line.

The Huskers picked up a first down when Crouch completed a 24 - yard pass to Matt Davison to the Arizona 9. Two incompletions and a 1 - yard gain by Correll Buckhalter stalled the Huskers, bringing Brown in to kick his field goal.

The Huskers got the ball back with 2:37 left after an Arizona punt wobbled out of bounds at the Wildcats' 49 - yard line. Makovicka gained 4 yards on first down, then Crouch and Shevin burned Arizona with a play - action pass that covered the remaining 45 yards and produced Nebraska's first touchdown.

Wiggins beat the coverage of Sprotte, an inside linebacker, and scored untouched on the play. Brown converted the extra point, giving Nebraska its first lead at 10 - 9 with 1:53 left in the second quarter.

Nebraska got the football back immediately when senior fullback Billy Legate delivered the hit of the game - and maybe the postseason - when he clobbered Northcutt on the kickoff return.

Northcutt was heading upfield when he ran smack into Legate, fumbling the ball on impact. Legate then scrambled after the loose ball, recovering it at the Arizona 9.

Arizona's defense kept Nebraska from the end zone, surrendering 3 yards on the Huskers' next three snaps. Brown then delivered his second field goal of a half, a 23 - yarder that marked the fourth time he ended the first half of a game with a successful kick. He also converted field - goal attempts to end the first half against Missouri, Texas and Colorado this season.

The first - half statistics reflected the defensive nature of the contest. Nebraska had 142 yards, 66 of it coming on 19 rushes.

Arizona's 21 first - half rushing attempts yielded a minus - 1 yard, and the Wildcats had 99 total yards - 63 of them coming on Smith's pass to Brennan.

Neither team picked up the offensive pace early in the second half. Nebraska's first three possessions produced 22 yards and one first down, while Arizona's first two resulted in 20 yards and a first down.

The Wildcats got in gear late in the quarter, using runs of 16 and 15 yards by Trung Canidate to move to a first down at the Nebraska 30. The Wildcats kept the drive alive when Eafon gained 2 yards on fourth and one from the Nebraska 21 - yard line, again showing impressive second effort to pick up the first down.

Two plays later, on the opening snap of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats had the lead when Brennan made a leaping catch in the end zone to snag Smith's 15 - yard touchdown pass. The catch capped a 10 - play, 66 - yard drive, and McDonald's point - after gave Arizona a 16 - 13 lead with 14:56 to play.

Nebraska came roaring back, driving 88 yards in eight plays to recapture the lead. Crouch completed four passes on the drive, including back - to - back throws of 33 yards to Wistrom and 22 yards to Makovicka. The latter completion gave Nebraska a first down at the Arizona 5 - yard line.

After Crouch gained 1 yard on a keeper, Wistrom gave the Huskers the lead with a twisting, over - the - head catch in the back of the end zone of Crouch's 4 - yard pass. Brown's conversion made it 20 - 16 with 10:55 remaining.