Coaches Meet Media on Eve of Holiday Bowl

San Diego - Nebraska Interim Head Coach Barney Cotton and USC Head Coach Steve Sarkisian met with the media Friday morning, the day before the Huskers and Trojans square off in the National University Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium.

Cotton said he has been impressed with his team's preparation leading up to Saturday's matchup. Nebraska will conduct its final practice in prepration for the Holiday Bowl on Friday afternoon at Southwestern College.

"Our players, the way they've attacked this bowl preparation, you couldn't ask for anything more," Cotton said. "They've been first-class, they've been high energy. I hope we play that way tomorrow night, but as far as their bowl prep and the way they've handled this tough circumstance, I couldn't be more proud of them."

Cotton said USC will present a challenge Nebraska, and Sarkisian said the Huskers will also test for the Trojans.

"I said this to our team when the game got chosen and you started to look at the film, this is the best football team we've played this year," Sarkisian said of the 25th-ranked Huskers. "For a variety of reasons - and we can say the same - Nebraska is a couple of plays away from being an 11-1 football team. We know we have our work cut out for us."

Kickoff for the Holiday Bowl is set for 7 p.m. (Central) on Saturday. The game will be televised by ESPN with Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack and Samantha Ponder on the call.

Video of the press conference will be posted to Huskers.com later Friday afternoon.