| Game Name: | Holiday Bowl |
| Subheader: | 33rd Holiday Bowl Game |
| Title Sponsor: | Bridgepoint Education |
| Date Game Played: | December 30 |
| Year Game Played: | 2010 |
| Football Season: | 2010 |
| Stadium: | Qualcomm Stadium |
| City: | San Diego, California |
| Visitor School: | University of Nebraska |
| Visitor Name Short: | Nebraska |
| Visitor Nickname: | Cornhuskers |
| Visitor Record: | 10–3 |
| Visitor Conference: | Big 12 |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 17 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 16 |
| Visitor Rank Bcs: | 18 |
| Visitor Coach: | Bo Pelini |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 0 |
| Home School: | University of Washington |
| Home Name Short: | Washington |
| Home Nickname: | Huskies |
| Home Record: | 6–6 |
| Home Conference: | Pac-10 |
| Home Coach: | Steve Sarkisian |
| Home 1Q: | 10 |
| Home 2Q: | 0 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 2 |
| Odds: | Nebraska by 14[1] |
| Referee: | Land Clark (Mtn. West) |
| Attendance: | 57,921 |
| Payout: | 2,130,000 per team |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers: | Chris Fowler, Todd Blackledge and Erin Andrews |
| Ratings: | 4.0 |
The 2010 Holiday Bowl (also known as Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl) was the thirty-third edition of the college football bowl game and was played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The game started at 7:00 PM US PST on Thursday, December 30, 2010, and was a bowl rematch featuring the Nebraska Cornhuskers against the Washington Huskies. The game was telecast on ESPN. The Washington Huskies won 19–7. San Diego's Bridgepoint Education became the new title sponsor of the Holiday Bowl.
See also: 2010 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team.
Nebraska entered the game at 10–3 on the season and was the Big 12 North Champions. The Huskers came close to a BCS Bowl bid for the second straight season but a midseason injury to quarterback Taylor Martinez brought the offense back down to earth. This was the second straight season that the Cornhuskers played in the Holiday Bowl. The previous season they shut out Arizona 33–0. It was the third time in school history that Nebraska played in the Holiday Bowl as they also participated in the 1998 game against Arizona-a game they lost 23–20.
See also: 2010 Washington Huskies football team.
The Huskies ran off three consecutive wins to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2002. Led by quarterback Jake Locker, Washington boasted one of the better offenses in the country. However, the defense had been less than solid. This was the Huskies' fourth appearance in the Holiday Bowl and their first win in the game. They lost to Colorado, Kansas State and Texas in 1996, 1999, and 2001 respectively (Colorado is now in the same conference as Washington).
| Scoring play | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | |||
| WASH - Polk, Chris 3 yd run (Folk, Erik kick), 09:08 | WASH 7–0 | ||
| WASH - Folk, Erik 39 yd field goal, 01:29 | WASH 10–0 | ||
| 2nd quarter | |||
| NEB - Reed, Kyler 15 yd pass from Martinez, T. (Henery, Alex kick), 10:24 | WASH 10–7 | ||
| 3rd quarter | |||
| WASH - Locker, Jake 25 yd run (Folk, Erik kick), 13:18 | WASH 17–7 | ||
| 4th quarter | |||
| WASH - Team safety, 13:38 | WASH 19–7 | ||
| Statistics | Nebraska | Washington |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 14 | 21 |
| Total offense, plays - yards | 62-189 | 71-340 |
| Rushes-yards (net) | 41-91 | 52-268 |
| Passing yards (net) | 98 | 72 |
| Passes, Att-Comp-Int | 21-10-1 | 19-6-0 |
| Time of Possession | 28:56 | 31:04 |
The two schools have played each other on eight previous occasions including earlier that season. Nebraska was a blowout winner in the September 2010 matchup between the two teams by a score of 56–21. Going into this game, the Huskers held an advantage in the overall series 4–3–1. Following the Washington victory, the series is again tied with the series standing at 4–4–1. This was the first time that the two schools had met in a bowl game.