SAN DIEGO -- Washington was on the verge of putting Thursday night's game well out of reach for Nebraska.

The Huskies had used 11 plays to move from their 44-yard line to the Nebraska 1-yard line, a series that lasted until the first play of the fourth quarter.

That's when record-setting tackler Lavonte David gave Nebraska hope.

The junior linebacker, who'd already broken Barrett Ruud's single-season tackle record earlier in the game, stuffed running back Chris Polk for no gain on fourth down.

What looked like a game-saving play for Nebraska, though, simply turned into another tackle -- one of many -- for David, a junior college transfer.

Nebraska regained possession but gave Washington points anyway when NU was called for holding in the end zone. That safety put the finishing touches on the Huskies' stunning 19-7 Holiday Bowl victory.

On a night very little when right for Nebraska (10-4), David put his name in the Nebraska record books. His seven tackles -- all solo stops -- pushed his season total to 152.

That's three more than Ruud had in 2003, a mark he accomplished in 13 games. David's record came over 14 games.

David had four tackles in the first half to tied Ruud at 149 tackles, then added three more in the second half.

But David's sure tackling didn't rub off on the rest of the Nebraska defense, which didn't wrap up ball carriers and had more problems tackling than it had all season.

"Tackling, I thought, was sloppy," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said.

By the fourth quarter, Washington running back Chris Polk was breaking more tackles and dragging other Blackshirts along the way. Polk ran for 177 yards on 34 carries, and Washington ran for 268 yards as a team.

"He's been a war daddy for us," Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said of Polk. "It happened to be against a very good defense."

Washington quarterback Jake Locker was only 5-of-16 passing for 72 yards but ran for 85 yards, including a 25-yard TD run to cap the opening drive of the first half.

"We knew it would be hard. We didn't think it would be easy," Sarkisian said. "We had to have a lot of variety, especially in the run game, because they make a lot of adjustments. We had to mix it up the best we could."

Pelini labeled his team's overall performance "ridiculous," but said the defensive didn't play horribly.

"It was just one of those games. We couldn't get over the hump," Pelini said. "The first drive of the second half, I put that one on me. I made a bad call on third down. Then we didn't execute well on the touchdown from Locker. I put that drive on me.

"The other (touchdown) drive was 20 yards."