2009 Holiday Bowl The 2009 Holiday Bowl was the thirty - second edition of the college football bowl game and was played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego , California . The game started at 5 : 00 PM US PST on Wednesday , December 30 , 2009 . The game was telecast on ESPN . The Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated the Arizona Wildcats 33 – 0 for the first shutout in the history of the bowl . This was a rematch of the two teams , who faced each other in the 1998 Holiday Bowl , where Arizona defeated Nebraska 23 – 20 . The game featured the 2nd pick from the Pac - 10 and the 3rd pick from the Big 12 . The game had recently become a type of " upset " bowl . In previous years , teams rejected by the BCS had lost to heavy underdogs . In 2005 , a 10 – 1 Oregon team ( favored by 3 points while ranked 6th in the nation ) playing without its star quarterback Kellen Clemens lost 17 – 14 to a surging Oklahoma squad that had won six out of its last seven . In 2004 , one - loss California was defeated by Big 12 Texas Tech , 45 – 31 . In 2003 , Big 12 representative Texas was knocked off by Pac - 10 representative Washington State , led by Matt Kegel . The Wildcats drew the bid the day they wrapped up an 8 - 4 season with a 21 – 17 victory at USC , a win that gave Arizona a share of second place ( along with Oregon State and Stanford ) in the Pac - 10 with a 6 – 3 conference record . Nebraska lost a 13 – 12 heartbreaker to Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game . The Cornhuskers won the conference ' s North Division with a 6 – 2 record . The 1998 meeting between the two teams was the only time that either school had appeared in the Holiday Bowl . The only other meeting between the two schools was a 14 – 14 tie in 1961 . On December 8 , 2009 , the Holiday Bowl committee announced a marketing campaign with fast food franchise Jack in the Box where Jack Box , the fictional Chairman and CEO of the company and star of its marketing campaigns , would be the Honorary Chairman of the game and the Grand Marshal of the Port of San Diego Big Bay Balloon Parade . Game summary . Nebraska wore their home red jerseys , and Arizona wore their white away jerseys with their newly introduced white helmets . Nebraska ' s 33 – 0 defeat of Arizona was the first and , to date , only shutout victory in the Holiday Bowl . Prior to the 2009 Holiday Bowl no team had scored fewer than 10 points in a game . The Wildcats were held to just 109 total yards of offense and just 6 first downs . The Cornhuskers were led on offense by wide receiver Niles Paul who hauled in 4 catches for 123 yards , including a touchdown , which accounted for 74 of his receiving yards . Quarterback Zac Lee threw for 173 yards and the TD to Paul . Rex Burkhead of Nebraska led all rushers with 89 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries . This also marked the first time in Nebraska ' s 46 bowl game history that it has shut out a team in postseason . However , this was the third time in Arizona ' s bowl history that they have been shut out , the second time in a game in San Diego . The Wildcats lost the 1921 San Diego East - West Christmas Classic to Centre College 38 – 0 and the 1990 Aloha Bowl to Syracuse 28 – 0 . The game also marked Nebraska ' s first 10 - win season since 2003 .