2013 Capital One Bowl


The 2013 Citrus Bowl, known as the Capital One Bowl for sponsorship purposes, was the sixty-seventh edition of the college football bowl game, played on January 1, 2013 at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Part of the 2012–13 bowl season, it featured No. 7 2012 [Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia] of the SEC and No. 16 2012 [Nebraska Cornhuskers football team|Nebraska] of the Big Ten. The game began at 1:00 p.m. EST and was broadcast on ABC.
A record-breaking performance from UGA quarterback Aaron Murray led the Bulldogs to a 45–31 victory in a game that featured over 1,000 combined yards of offense.

Teams

Each team lost its conference championship game, Georgia 32–28 to eventual national champion 2012 [Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama] and Nebraska 70–31 to unranked 2012 [Wisconsin Badgers football team|Wisconsin].
Georgia and Nebraska met once prior to 2013, a 45–6 Cornhuskers win in the 1969 Sun Bowl.

Game

Georgia took an early lead when Shawn Williams blocked a Brett Maher out of the back of the end zone – though several Bulldogs missed an opportunity to recover the ball for a touchdown, Aaron Murray led a ten-play drive on the ensuing possession to give UGA a 9–0 lead. Nebraska, which entered as a double-digit underdog, mounted a strong response, marching 75 yards to get on the board. It was followed by a Will Compton pick-six of Murray to take a 14–9 lead, but on Georgia's next play from scrimmage, Murray hit Tavarres King on a downfield strike to reclaim the lead.
After intercepting Taylor Martinez in NU territory, Georgia stretched its lead back to nine on a Todd Gurley touchdown. The Cornhuskers again responded to a two-possession Georgia lead, scoring ten unanswered points to take a 24–23 lead into halftime. After the break, NU added to its lead on a thirteen-play drive capped by Rex Burkhead's second touchdown. UGA answered quickly on its ensuing drive, converting a third down to King before tying the game on a deep shot to Chris Conley and two-point conversion to Rhett McGowan.
With the game tied at 31, Nebraska advanced into Georgia territory, but Ameer Abdullah lost a fumble on third down despite NU players insisting tight end Ben Cotton had recovered the ball. Officials declined to review the play, and Georgia mounted a six-play touchdown drive to take the lead. After a Nebraska punt, Murray threw his fifth touchdown in the face of a six-man blitz, a screen pass to Conley that he took 87 yards to the end zone. Nebraska was unable to mount a scoring threat over the remaining eleven minutes and Georgia won 45–31.
Murray was named most valuable player after a hyper-efficient passing performance that included three touchdowns of 49 yards or more. Georgia set a new Citrus Bowl record with 589 yards of offense.