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 Georgia of the SEC and No. 16 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 Alabama and Nebraska 70–31 to unranked Wisconsin.

Georgia and Nebraska met once prior to 2013, a 45–6 Cornhuskers win in the 1969 Sun Bowl.

Georgia

Nebraska

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 (a UGA bowl-record 427 yards on just eighteen completions) that included three touchdowns of 49 yards or more. Georgia set a new Citrus Bowl record with 589 yards of offense.

Scoring summary Qtr Time Drive Team Detail Score Plays Yards TOP UGA NU 1 11:39 – – – UGA Shawn Williams blocked punt out of end zone 2 0 7:54 10 80 3:45 UGA Arthur Lynch 2-yd pass from Aaron Murray (Marshall Morgan kick) 9 0 4:42 7 75 3:12 NU Jamal Turner 14-yd pass from Taylor Martinez (Brett Maher kick) 9 7 4:15 – – – NU Will Compton 24-yd interception return (Maher kick) 9 14 4:04 1 75 0:11 UGA Tavarres King 75-yd pass from Murray (Morgan kick) 16 14 2 10:33 4 38 1:09 UGA Todd Gurley 24-yd run (Morgan kick) 23 14 8:48 5 46 1:45 NU Maher 39-yd field goal 23 17 4:43 6 76 1:58 NU Rex Burkhead 16-yd pass from Martinez (Maher kick) 23 24 3 9:42 13 75 5:18 NU Burkhead 2-yd run (Maher kick) 23 31 7:26 5 79 2:16 UGA Chris Conley 49-yd pass from Murray (Murray pass to Rhett McGowan) 31 31 4 14:52 6 74 2:27 UGA Keith Marshall 24-yd pass from Murray (Morgan kick) 38 31 11:03 3 85 1:22 UGA Conley 87-yd pass from Murray (Morgan kick) 45 31

Individual leaders Team Category Player Statistics UGA Passing Aaron Murray 18/33, 427 yds, 5 TD, 2 INT Rushing Todd Gurley 23 car, 125 yds, TD Receiving Chris Conley 2 rec, 136 yds, 2 TD NU Passing Taylor Martinez 16/27, 204 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT Rushing Rex Burkhead 24 car, 140 yds, TD Receiving Ben Cotton 2 rec, 69 yds

Team statistics Statistic Georgia Nebraska First downs 23 26 Rushes-yards 38–162 52–239 –yards 18–33–427 16–27–204 Total offense 589 443 Turnovers 2 3 Punts–average 3–39.0 4–34.0 Penalties–yards 7–76 8–69 Time of possession 27:33 32:27

Starting lineups Georgia Position Nebraska Offense Arthur Lynch TE Ben Cotton Chris Conley WR Kenny Bell Tavarres King Quincy Enunwa Rhett McGowan Jamal Turner Aaron Murray QB Taylor Martinez Keith Marshall RB Rex Burkhead Kenarious Gates LT Brent Qvale Dallas Lee LG Seung Hoon-Choi David Andrews C Cole Pensick Chris Burnette RG Spencer Long John Theus RT Jeremiah Sirles Defense Kwame Geathers DT Cameron Meredith Thad Randle Garrison Smith DE Jason Ankrah Cornelius Washington Eric Martin Amarlo Herrera LB Will Compton Alec Ogletree Jarvis Jones OLB NB Corey Cooper Branden Smith Ciante Evans Sanders Commings CB Andrew Green Damian Swann Josh Mitchell Bacarri Rambo S P. J. Smith Shawn Williams Daimion Stafford

References