Lincoln, Neb. – The Nebraska football team practiced for 90 minutes inside the Hawks Championship Center on Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the Holiday Bowl. Interim Head Coach Barney Cotton spoke to the media after practice.

“Defensively they are probably a little bit sharper than us,” Cotton said. “Offensively we kind of reversed roles, but it was still a good day. It’s just I think we were a little sharper offensively the first three days of last week. We’ll come back tomorrow and do a better job.”

Cotton also said that defensive end Randy Gregory is “fully cleared as of today” for the bowl game. Cotton added that the odd practice times were selected during Finals Week so that “hopefully we could get 90 percent of our guys here this week.”

Cotton also talked about the depth at center and said it was “going well.”

“Paul Thurston, who finished the game up at Iowa, right now would be the leading candidate to start,” Cotton said. “We are also looking at Zach Hannon. We’ve moved Dylan Utter there from the backup left guard spot to also playing center. They are all three getting pretty equal reps right now.”

Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck also spoke to the media and talked about USC’s defense.

“They are pretty good up front, well coached, they run to the ball well and are good athletically in the back end,” Beck said. “They are different defensively than they have been, they are more of an odd team. They have done a nice job and are pretty salty.”

The Holiday Bowl between No. 25 Nebraska and No. 24 USC is set for Saturday, Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.