Georgia vs. Nebraska, 2014 Gator Bowl: ‘Huskers hold off Dawgs’ rally

Wisconsin’s final four drives: 21 plays, 88 yards (4.2 per play), three turnovers, and a turnover on downs. Phillips, who did captain the Badgers to the Big Ten title in 2012 after another Stave injury, completed just seven of 12 passes for 37 yards and was picked off twice. A kick return touchdown kept the Badgers in the game, but South Carolina scored with six minutes left to make the score 34-24, and the Badgers had no answer.

There’s nothing saying Wisconsin would have won with Stave -- South Carolina was a much better team in close-and-late situations than Wisconsin in 2013 -- but without him, there was evidently no chance.

Box Score Heroes:

Tommy Armstrong Jr: 6/14, 163 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; 10 carries, 26 yards

From the Oddsshark.com breakdown of Wednesday’s Gator Bowl:

Among others, this list doesn’t include Georgia receiver Chris Conley, who aggravated an ankle injury and is questionable. Contrary to popular belief, Nebraska and Georgia do have enough healthy, eligible bodies to form a two-deep for the Gator Bowl. But still...

Poor turnout is expected for the game, as charter flights have been canceled because of a lack of fan interest. Nebraska began the year ranked No. 18 and was seen as a contender in the Big Ten, but lost games to UCLA, Minnesota, Michigan State and Nebraska — none by single-digits.

Georgia started the year ranked No. 5, playing three out of their first four games against top-10 teams. The Bulldogs defeated LSU and South Carolina but lost their opener to Clemson, and injuries struck before a two-game losing stretch to Missouri and Vanderbilt. Georgia lost a dramatic game to Auburn on an improbable Hail Mary and won its finale against Georgia Tech in double-overtime.

The Cornhuskers (Big Ten, 8-4 SU, 6-6 ATS, 6-6 OU) finished their regular season with losses to Michigan State and Iowa wrapped around a tight 23-20 overtime win over Penn State as 1-point road underdogs. They went 3-1 ATS on the road this year, with the total staying UNDER in three of those four games.

Georgia (SEC, 8-4 SU, 3-7-2 ATS, 9-3 OU) was positioned for a deep run in the SEC this season but a rash of devastating injuries ended those plans. The Bulldogs finished with a 5-3 SU record in conference play behind both South Carolina and Missouri in the East Division.

Harvey-Clemons’ absence leaves the Bulldogs with a significant hole to fill in the secondary. He finished the regular season third on the team with 66 tackles, a number that is top among the defensive backs. He was also one of six UGA players to intercept a pass.

Dawson served primarily as a reserve this season, but he did see action in all 12 games, and he got a start in the season finale against Georgia Tech. He also had been serving as a kickoff returner.

In mid-November, it looked nearly impossible that Oklahoma could find their way to a BCS bowl. Sure, they had wins over ranked Notre Dame and Texas Tech teams, but neither was looking quite as good as the numbers to the left of their names might have suggested. The only real challenges the Sooners faced were against Texas and Baylor -- both resulted in blowout losses.

But Oklahoma recovered, easily defeating Iowa State and Kansas State before pulling out a dramatic upset win in Stillwater to rob rival Oklahoma State of the conference crown while simultaneously taking away their BCS berth.

Also, our Syracuse site is trying to raise money to send 1,000 kids to the game. Pitch in!

Michigan started the season 4-0, with tight wins over suspect opponents like Akron and Connecticut balancing out a win over a ranked Notre Dame. A four-overtime loss to Penn State ruined the team’s perfect record, and Michigan would end up losing to Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio State. The Wolverines will hope to get more consistent play on both sides of the ball against Kansas State.

There’s a reason you don’t often see rematches in bowl games be they from the regular season or the prior postseason -- it’s hard to drum up excitement for a matchup you’ve already seen.

The 2014 Gator Bowl is learning this the hard way, as this year’s rematch between last year’s contestants (Georgia and Nebraska) is having a hard time drumming up the kind of interest that bowls need for ticket sales to thrive.

Fun fact! The Gator Bowl is not played at the home of the Florida Gators, in Gainesville. It is played in Jacksonville, between an SEC school and a Big Ten school. The game has generally hosted at least one ranked team (with a stretch of six games in a row between two ranked squads in the early 2000s) and is a marquee matchup in the bowl slate.

Date and time, ET: January 1 at 12 p.m.