Aaron Curry — 7:45 a.m. The 6’2, 275-pound defensive tackle will choose Nebraska and Iowa.

Alonzo Moore — 9 a.m. Nebraska, Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech. 6-’2, 175-pound athlete.

Devian Shelton — 11 a.m. 6’2, 185-pound cornerback, is considering Nebraska, Washington and Oregon State.

Andrus Peat — ESPNU will carry his live announcement at 12:30 p.m. The 6’7, 305-pound offensive tackle will pick between Nebraska, Stanford and USC

Vincent Valentine — 1 p.m. The 6’4, 313-pound defensive tackle narrows choices to Nebraska, Illinois and Florida

Raymond Ford — TBD. Nebraska, Washington State, Cal, or Utah are among the 5-’10, 165-pound cornerback’s choices.

The shootout defeat ends Creighton’s first season under head coach Elmar Bolowich, who was appearing in his fifth College Cup while leading the Bluejays to their fourth appearance in college soccer’s final four. The Bluejays end the year with a 21-2-1 record, with Friday’s resulting going in the record book as a draw. The shutout was Creighton’s 19th of the year, falling one shy of the NCAA record, while CU’s 0.20 goals against average on the year set an NCAA record. Senior All-American goalkeeper Brian Holt also set an NCAA record by posting a 0.206 GAA to top the former mark held by Northern Illinois’s Joe Zimka (0.207).

Creighton had plenty of opportunities to score in regulation, but could not find the back of the net, playing to its first draw of the season, while getting held without a score for just the third time in 2011.

The closest Creighton came to scoring after halftime came in the 61st minute, when Ethan Finlay’s header hit the cross bar off of a corner kick from Bruno Castro.

As it had done all year, Creighton carried the possession throughout most of the match, not allowing a Charlotte shot in the second half until the 76th minute. From that point though, the 49ers would take the final six shots of the contest, including four in regulation. The 49ers didn’t create a dangerous shot attempt until the 85th minute, when Holt denied a shot from Giuseppe Gentile.

Holt’s save in the 99th minute kept Creighton’s season alive, as he turned away a blast from Donnie Smith after the 49er had carried the ball deep into the Bluejay defense. After an early 49er shot in the second overtime, Creighton owned most of the run of play for the final nine minutes, but the Bluejays could never get a shot off.

In the shootout, the unseeded 49ers and No. 2-seeded Bluejays exchanged goals in the first round, with Bruno Castro converting for the Jays. After Isaac Caughran hit his attempt for Charlotte, which glanced off of Holt, Kris Clark stepped up. The Bluejay senior’s shot was stopped by Charlotte’s Gavin Dawson, who entered in net solely for PKs. The 49ers again scored on their third attempt, before Finlay stepped up and sent his attempt high. Isaac Cowles then sent the 49ers to the NCAA title match by converting Charlotte’s fourth shot.

Through the first half, the Bluejays put a few scoring chances on net, but Charlotte goalkeeper Klay Davis was up to the challenge stopping three shots and using a teammate to stop another. One of Creighton’s best scoring chances in the opening half came off of a corner kick in the 32nd minute, when Andrew Ribeiro connected on a header from Castro’s serve, but Davis made the save.

That save on Ribeiro’s header came 11 minutes after the Jays had back-to-back shot attempts, the first by Jose Gomez. Gomez unleashed a shot, but it was stopped by a 49er defender. The 49ers then knocked the ball off the crossbar while trying to clear it and Finlay collected a rebound at the top of the box and ripped his shot just left of the frame.

Creighton was making its fourth appearance in the NCAA College Cup, its first since losing to Stanford in double overtime in 2002. The Bluejays end the season on a 12-match unbeaten streak, having entered the semifinals on an 11-match winning streak.

The Bluejays will lose five senior starters from this year’s team – Finlay, Holt, Andrew Duran, Greg Jordan and Jace Peters, while Clark also played in his last match for the Bluejays on Friday night.

In front of a sellout crowd of 85,595, the 318th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium, and an ABC National audience, Burkhead carried a career-high 38 times for 160 yards and a touchdown to increase his season rushing total to 1,268 yards. His 38 totes broke the school record of 37 by Cory Ross in the 2003 Alamo Bowl, as Burkhead went over 100 yards for the seventh time this season and 11th time in his career.

While Burkhead punished the Hawkeye defense on the ground, the Blackshirts forced two turnovers and held the Hawkeyes to just 270 total yards, including 88 yards on the ground, to hold Iowa to 100 yards below its 2011 season average of 370.4.

Senior Lavonte David led the Blackshirts with eight tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and fumble recovery in his final game at Memorial Stadium. One of 21 seniors in their final home game, the Butkus Award semifinalist now has 122 tackles on the season and 274 during his two-year career at Nebraska.

With the win, Nebraska finishes the regular season with a 9-3 record, its fourth consecutive nine-win season under Bo Pelini and 38th time in the last 42 seasons that a Husker football team has won at least nine games.

After a strong defensive first quarter, the Huskers stuck first, driving 52 yards in 10 plays before Brett Maher’s 40-yard field goal gave the Huskers a 3-0 lead. Wide receiver Kenny Bell played a major role in the drive, catching two passes for 23 yards, while also drawing a defensive holding penalty to help give the drive some early momentum. With the Huskers facing 3rd-and-6 at its own 30, Bell was held by Iowa’s Tyler Nielsen to give NU a first down at the Husker 40-yard line. Two plays later, Martinez found Bell for a 19-yard completion to get the ball into Iowa territory for the first time in the game. After an Ameer Abdullah 10-yard run, the Huskers were unable to keep the drive going and settled for Maher’s 18th field goal of the season.

Iowa looked like it was going to answer as the Hawkeyes moved into Husker territory after James Vandenberg found Keenan Davis for 16-yard gain to the Husker 35-yard line. But, after an incomplete pass, Husker nickel back Ciante Evans read a wide receiver screen play and tackled Marvin McNutt for a 3-yard loss on second down before solid Husker pass coverage forced Vandenberg to scramble to avoid a sack, as Iowa was forced to punt.

Nebraska then went to the ground attack for a sustained drive, going 80-yards in 15 plays, finished off by a six-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Martinez to Kyler Reed. The catch was Reed’s first touchdown of the season after hauling in eight scoring strikes a year ago. After an Iowa pass interference call, the Huskers pounded away at the Iowa defense, running on 13 of the next 14 plays, as Burkhead carried nine times for 35 yards on the drive. Facing a 4th-and-1 at the Iowa 29, Burkhead kept the drive alive with a two-yard run to move the chains. Facing a 3rd-and-3 at the Iowa six-yard line, Martinez ran a beautiful play fake to Burkhead and found Reed uncovered in the end zone for the score to make it 10-0 with 32 seconds left in the half.

Nebraska controlled the ball in the first half, holding the ball for 17:59 and outgaining Iowa, 196-98 in the opening half.

The Huskers went on another long sustained drive midway through the third quarter before Maher’s second field goal of the game made it 13-0. Nebraska went 82 yards in 12 plays, relying on a punishing ground game along with the big play ability to Bell. The redshirt freshman made a spectacular diving catch on a 20-yard catch to midfield before Martinez found Bell again on a 28-yard catch and run before a horse collar tackle spotted the ball at the Iowa 11-yard line. Nebraska got the ball to the Iowa three-yard line, before settling for Maher’s second field goal of the afternoon.

Bell finished the day by tying his career high in catches with five and a career-high 93 yards through the air. Bell’s 93 yards were the most by a Husker this season, topping Jamal Turner’s 84-yard game against Wisconsin.

On Iowa’s next possession, the Blackshirts came up big, as David stripped C.J. Fiedorwicz and recovered the fumble at the Nebraska 48-yard line, but the Huskers were unable to capitalize on the Hawkeye miscue, keeping Iowa in the game.

Nebraska extended the lead to 20-0 on its next offensive series, going 80 yards in 10 plays as Burkhead went the final two yards for his 15th rushing touchdown of the season. After six straight carries by Burkhead got the ball close to midfield, Martinez found Bell for a 22-yard catch to get the ball into Hawkeye territory. After Burkhead gashed the Hawkeyes for 12 yards, Martinez hooked up with Quincy Enunwa for a 19-yard strike to the Iowa two-yard line before Burkhead cashed in on the next play.

The Hawkeyes were able to escape a shutout late in the fourth quarter with an 80-yard scoring drive over 10 plays. Vandenberg got Iowa into the no-huddle offense and found the endzone in 1:53. After the Huskers were called for pass interference and defensive holding in the endzone over a span of three plays, Marcus Coker got the Hawkeyes on the board with a two-yard run.

Nebraska will now wait until Sunday, Dec. 5, to find out what bowl they will be selected for.

The Bluejays (5-0) started a staggering 13-for-13 from the field to lead 32-14 after nine minutes and never trailed in the win.

Creighton’s Doug McDermott tied a career-high with 31 points and also hauled down 11 rebounds for the first double-double of the year by a Bluejay. He was one of five Bluejays in double-figures, as Grant Gibbs and Ethan Wragge both scored 12 points and guards Jahenns Manigat and Antoine Young tallied 11 points each.

Campbell (5-1) was paced by a career-best 29 points and 14 rebounds by Eric Griffin.

Campbell, which won 77-61 at Iowa on Wednesday night, came in to town with its best start in the program’s 35-year Division I history, but couldn’t contain preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Creighton.

The Jays led 32-14 after less than nine minutes, connecting on its first 13 shots from all over the floor. The early flurry consisted of four three-pointers and two traditional three-point plays, as six different men entered the scoring column early on.

The Jays finally missed at the 10:32 mark on a Will Artino three-footer, but still remained well over 80 percent until missing its final three shots in the half to settle for 23-of-31 field goals (74.2 percent) at intermission. Creighton led 60-40 at the half behind 18 points from McDermott.

The Fighting Camels never fell behind by more than 23 in the second half, but couldn’t get over the hump and draw any closer than 15 points on three occasions in the second half.

As can be expected on a night with such strong shooting, Creighton’s pinpoint passing was exceptional throughout the night. The team’s 30 assists were a facility record, and one shy of a 21-year old program record. Young had nine assists, while Gibbs had seven assists and a team-best three steals. CU finished with just 12 turnovers on the night and outscored Campbell in the paint (42-34), off turnovers (22-14), off the bench (30-18) and in fast break situations (13-6).

In addition to its big night (29 points, 14 rebounds) from Griffin, Darren White scored 16 points and Trey Freeman had 11 points. The Camels, entered the game holding teams to 36.9 percent shooting and no team had shot better than 39.7 percent against them.

Creighton returns to action on Wednesday with a road trip at San Diego State (6-1). The Aztecs went 34-3 last season and advanced to the Regional semifinals of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The contest is part of the third annual Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge Series and will be televised on The Mtn.

Trailing 68-53 with 10:31 remaining, Nebraska stormed back behind Jorge Brian Diaz, as the junior center scored eight of his 12 second-half points in a 22-7 spurt to lead the charge. Nebraska kept chipping away at the Ducks’ lead before Bo Spencer’s basket with2:05 remaining tied the score at 75 and brought the Devaney Center crowd to its feet

Diaz, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three blocks, blocked Oregon’s next shot to give the Huskers a shot at the lead, but Nebraska could not capitalize. The Huskers were called for an offensive foul on the next possession, giving the Ducks the ball with 1:08 remaining. The Huskers forced a missed 3-pointer by Johnathan Loyd, but E.J. Singler got the offensive rebound and was fouled with 43 seconds left. Singler, who went 7-of-8 from the line as part of a 14-point night, sank both free throws to give Ducks a lead they would not relinquish.

Nebraska had an opportunity to take the lead but Dylan Talley’s missed a 3-pointer on Nebraska’s next possession, and Oregon got the rebound before Garett Sim’s two free throws made it a four-point game. Oregon went 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final minute to snap the Huskers’ 26-game home conference win streak and hand Nebraska just its second home non-conference loss in six seasons under Doc Sadler.

Diaz was one of four Huskers in double figures, as Talley came off the bench for 18 points, including four 3-pointers, while Brandon Ubel had 15 points, including 5-of-7 shooting. Bo Spencer was the fourth Nebraska player in double figures, finishing with 11 points and five assists.

Oregon (3-1) placed four in double figures, led by Sim’s 20-point effort which including 4-of-6 from 3-point range and all eight free throws.

Nebraska used solid long-range shooting to build an early lead, as consecutive 3-pointers from Caleb Walker and Spencer capped an 8-1 spurt to give Nebraska’s largest lead of the night at 19-12. The Ducks fought back, using a 15-2 spurt of its own to take a 27-21 lead after a Sim 3-pointer.

The Huskers quickly regained the momentum with a 9-2 run to regain the lead at 30-29 after Talley’s 3-pointer, as the junior college transfer scored 13 of his points in the opening half for Nebraska. The Huskers eventually built a 36-31 lead, but Oregon used a decisive 14-2 run in the final minutes of the first half to take control and build a seven-point lead at 45-38 and eventually took a four-point lead to the locker room.

Nebraska cut the lead to 47-45 early in the second half, but could not stay out of foul trouble and the Ducks started to pull away. Tony Woods’ jumper gave Oregon a 10-point lead, an advantage they would eventually push to 15 at 68-53 on Tyrone Nared’s 3-pointer with 10:31 left before Nebraska made its late charge.

The Huskers return to action Saturday afternoon, as Nebraska hosts South Dakota State at 1 p.m.

“I thought (this week) went good,” Pelini said. “Obviously it was a short week and I thought we got a lot done. We just have to get ready to go now.”

Pelini said that the team didn’t go with full pads this week because it’s a short week.

“It’s the last game of the year,” Pelini said. “Believe me, we had a physical practice yesterday. When you have one less day of preparation, you have to be careful. We’ve used this schedule the last couple years and hopefully it will work out the same way.”

Pelini added that the reason defensive third down numbers are down is because of execution.

“You’ve got to get some pressure on the passer and you’ve got to be able to cover,” Pelini said. “At times we’ve been good in that area and at times we haven’t. We have to work hard at it and make sure we get better at it.”

Friday’s game against the Hawkeyes kicks off at 11 a.m., and will be televised nationally on ABC HD.

A three-time breast cancer survivor-turned hero from Nebraska and a law enforcement officer with a passion for children and their personal safety will be recognized at halftime of Friday’s inaugural Nebraska-Iowa matchup, which will become the annual post Thanksgiving Heroes Game for Husker and Hawkeye fans across the country and around the world.

It’s only fitting that two states known for accomplishing extraordinary things would honor ordinary, everyday people and hold them up as role models for more than 85,000 fans at Memorial Stadium and countless more who will see them on ABC’s national telecast.

So give it up for the two heroes selected by Red Cross staff and volunteers from a field of more than 200 nominations: Kathy Griess of Fremont, Neb., and Gary Launderville of Storm Lake, Iowa. They represent families and fans, states and universities and two athletic departments that have worked closely and diligently to base the Nebraska-Iowa football rivalry on all the right things … victory, valor and a vision to uphold values that carry an equal emphasis on excellence. The game honors both states’ everyday heroes, and the trophy symbolizes the victory on the field.

Heroes Trophy Goes to Game’s Winner

In addition to announcing Griess and Launderville as charter honorees for an inaugural game, Nebraska and Iowa unveiled the symbol that will carry each hero’s name and the final score of every Husker-Hawkeye day-after-Thanksgiving game Friday and forever more.

“The trophy theme is both victory and valor, and our first two honorees definitely reflect the foundation we have in place,” said Michael Stephens, Nebraska assistant athletic director for Marketing & Licensing. “We thought it was important to recognize everyday people who have accomplished heroic acts and make the lives of those around them a safer and better place. We think both states are loaded with people who put others before themselves and reflect our shared Midwestern values each and every day.”

Athletic directors at both schools share that belief, and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne will present Griess her Hero’s Award at halftime, while Iowa’s Gary Barta presents Launderville with his award at the same time.

Griess was driving home one day when she noticed thick smoke coming from a mobile home park. She pulled off the highway and drove to the park where she found two little boys trapped in a fire. Their sister had escaped through a window and when Griess learned that two little boys were still inside, she assisted the 3-year-old, then reached inside, felt an infant’s feet and pulled the 1-year-old to safety before fire trucks arrived.

Instinctive Reaction/Lifetime Achievement

Launderville also has an innate sense of and genuine concern for children and their safety. That’s why the sheriff of Buena Vista County and his wife, Sandy, have fostered 125 children, seven of which they eventually adopted and joined their family of six. Eleven months ago, Launderville was hit by an SUV and thrown 20 feet into the air when he was rescuing a mother and a child stranded in a raging snowstorm.

Griess admits she surprised herself when she flew into action without hesitation, and Launderville simply did what he always does – whatever he could to help someone in need.

Griess and Launderville represent decidedly different but equally relevant situations that merit public acknowledgement. Griess is honored for her instinctive reaction in a high-pressure moment. Launderville’s award has a lifetime achievement feel to it. Their shared bottom line: Both are worthy of recognition from Huskers and Hawkeyes alike.