Georgia 45, Nebraska 31
ORLANDO, Fla. - Aaron Murray passed for 427 yards and five touchdowns, and No. 7 Georgia rallied for a 45-31 victory over No. 16 Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl on Tuesday at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium.
Murray, a junior quarterback, was 18-of-33 and threw touchdown passes on three of four possessions in the second half, as Georgia (12-2) wiped out a 31-23 deficit against the nation's No. 1 passing defense.
Nebraska entered the game allowing 148.2 passing yards a game, the best mark in the nation. But Murray, who was spot-on on his deep ball, threw touchdown passes of 29, 75, 49, 24 and 87 yards.
The last one came when Chris Conley caught a short screen pass for a couple of yards and ran the rest of the way, with no defenders within 20 yards of him. The touchdown with 11:03 remaining was the longest passing play in Georgia bowl history, and the longest ever in the Capital One Bowl.
Nebraska (10-4) entered the game on heels of an embarrassing 70-31 loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game, when the Badgers ran for 539 yards and didn't attempt a pass in the second half.
Georgia, though, did most of its damage through the air, although freshmen running backs Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall combined to run for 161 yards.
Nebraska, led by senior running back Rex Burkhead's 179 yards of total offense, opened the second half on a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive that lasted 5:18. Burkhead's 3-yard touchdown run gave the Huskers a 31-23 lead.
But Georgia responded in five plays behind Murray, who hit Conley on a 31-yard touchdown pass off a play action pass.
Murray delivered a two-point conversion strike to Rhett McGowan to tie the game 31-31 with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter.
Nebraska, sticking with the run, drove to the Georgia 39-yard line, but Ameer Abdullah fumbled after converting on third-and-1, and Georgia recovered.
The Bulldogs then drove 74 yards in six plays, with Murray hitting Marshall on a 24-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving Georgia a 38-31 lead.
Nebraska led 24-23 at halftime after an entertaining, see-saw first half.
Georgia had a 9-0 lead after blocking a punt for a safety and scoring on Murray's 29-yard touchdown pass to Arthur Lynch on the ensuing drive after the free kick.
Nebraska took a 14-9 lead on Taylor Martinez's 14-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Turner and Will Compton's 24-yard interception return for a touchdown, when Compton perfectly read a Murray screen pass.
Nebraska's first lead was short-lived. Murray, on a deep play action pass, delivered a perfect strike to a well-covered Tavarres King for a 75-yard touchdown, putting Georgia back in front, 16-14.
Gurley's 24-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat formation gave Georgia a 23-14 lead, but Brett Maher kicked a 39-yard field goal for Nebraska, and Martinez hit Burkhead over the middle off a play-action pass for a 16-yard touchdown for a 24-23 lead with 4:43 remaining in the first half.
NOTES: Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray set a school passing record for most yards in a season in the first half, and finished the season with 3,893 yards. He set a school record with 36 touchdown passes for the season. ... Will Compton's 24-yard interception return for a touchdown was the first career interception for the senior linebacker. ... The 30 points scored in the first quarter was a Capital One Bowl record. The previous high was 21 in the 1997 Tennessee/Northwestern game.
