SAN ANTONIO - The Nebraska running game that was just about ready to be reported missing turned up Wednesday night at the Alamodome.

Getting it back resulted in Nebraska beating Michigan 32-28 in the Alamo Bowl and I-back Cory Ross being named offensive most valuable player.

"It was just working," Ross said. "When you got that offensive line clicking the way they were, and creating holes the way they were, there's nothing to do but play running football. All I did was run through the holes."

There were enough for Ross to rush for a season-high 161 yards. That was a significant total considering:

• The senior hadn't reached the 100-yard mark in the Huskers' previous eight games.

• Nebraska had spent the better part of the past five games wondering what happened to a rushing offense that was doing OK earlier in the season.

Ross credited an NU line that had trouble protecting quarterback Zac Taylor but managed to open holes for him.

"They were big guys up front, but we knew our O-line could move them," Ross said. "Once we realized that it was happening the way we wanted, we just kept doing it."

Behind 28-17 in the fourth quarter, Ross had the 31-yard touchdown run that pulled Nebraska within 28-25. Taylor threw a 13-yard TD pass to Terrence Nunn to complete the comeback before an Alamodome crowd of 62,016.

Ross' 28 carries accounted for his biggest workload since running 32 times for 153 yards against Pittsburgh in September. The native of Denver didn't make it to 1,000 yards as he did as a junior, but he gave himself a memorable finish.

In a memorable place.

Two years ago, Ross carried a school-record 37 times for 138 yards when Nebraska beat Michigan State 17-3 in the 2003 Alamo Bowl.

"I don't know, there's something in the air, man," Ross said. "I think I might have to move to Texas."

Ross had two second-half runs of 20 or more yards. Before Wednesday night, no Husker back had broken a run of 20 yards since the second game of the season.

Offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said he thought Nebraska could run if Michigan played its nickel defense. When the Wolverines started blitzing more than NU expected, Norvell said, the Huskers found a way to beat it.

"They were totally out of character tonight," Norvell said. "We had to adjust to that, and our kids did. That was the biggest thing."

After running 12 times for 59 yards in the first half, NU called on Ross for more duty after halftime.

"We just had to keep fighting," Ross said. "Coach (Bill Callahan) was like, 'Be ready, we're going to do this and we're going to do that. We're going to get it done.'"

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