Nebraska Wins in Alamo Bowl Rout

S A N&nbsp A N T O N I O, Dec. 31 -- Nebraska’s high-powered offense setan Alamo Bowl scoring record with a 66-17 rout of Northwesternon Saturday.

Eric Crouch ran for two scores, including the go-ahead50-yard jaunt in the second quarter, and fired two touchdownpasses for the Cornhuskers (10-2).

Northwestern (8-4), shooting for their first bowl win since1949, appeared poised to go punch-for-punch with the perennialnational championship contender when Teddy Johnson caught a10-yard TD pass from Zak Kustok to give the Wildcats a 10-7lead 44 seconds into the second quarter.

But after a long runback on the ensuing kickoff, Crouchtook off from midfield on Nebraska’s next play from scrimmageand outran the Northwestern secondary to the end zone, puttingthe Huskers ahead to stay.

Two-yard runs by Dan Alexander and Correll Buckhalterpadded the lead before Josh Brown’s 51-yard field goal made it31-10 with 1:28 left in the first half.

Alexander rushed for 241 yards—the most by any Husker ina bowl game—and two scores on 21 carries as the nation’sbest ground game shredded Northwestern’s defense.

The Wildcats again showed some fight when Damien Andersonripped off a 69-yard TD run on the ensuing drive, pullingNorthwestern back within two touchdowns.

But Bobby Newcombe hauled in Crouch’s 58-yard scoring tossjust 20 seconds before intermission.

Crouch opened the second-half scoring with an 11-yardstrike to Matt Davison to make it 45-17.

Late in the third quarter, Crouch rumbled in from two yardsand threw a lateral to Newcombe, who fired a 69-yard TD pass toDavison that made it 59-17 with 1:14 left in the period.

Anderson ran for 148 yards on 18 carries for Northwestern,which slipped to 0-3 in bowl games since winning the Rose Bowlmore than a half-century ago.

The Huskers have won six of their last seven bowl games andare 19-19 all-time.