Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.
2016 Sun Bowl, North Carolina vs. Stanford: Date, time, location and everything to know
The game is actually one that’s been around the longest, as far as bowls go.
Ivan Pierre Aguirre-USA TODAY Sports
The Sun Bowl is one of the longest-running bowl games in college football history, dating all the way back to 1935, the same year that the Orange and Sugar Bowl began operation. Those two New Year’s Six bowls, though, have left the Sun Bowl in their wake in terms of prestige and history — but that doesn’t mean the 2016 Sun Bowl won’t be fun.
Hyundai is the Sun Bowl’s title sponsor now, a fourth different major sponsor for a game that was variously sponsored by the John Hancock insurance company, the maker of the Brut cologne and Vitalis hair products, and Wells Fargo.
Pac-12 outfits have won four of the last five Sun Bowls, with Washington State downing Miami in an ironic snowstorm in the 2015 Sun Bowl.
Here is everything you need to know to get ready for this year’s Sun Bowl:
Date and time: Friday, Dec. 30, 2 p.m.
TV channel: CBS
Location: El Paso, Texas
Stadium: Sun Bowl Stadium
Last year’s score: Washington State 20, Miami 14
Last year’s attendance: 41,180
Last year’s payout for each school: $2.15 million
Teams with the most all-time appearances: Texas Tech, 9
Teams with the most all-time wins: UTEP, 5
North Carolina (8-4, 5-3 in ACC)
After opening the season with a 33-24 loss to Georgia in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic, the Tar Heels went on to look like favorites to win the ACC Coastal, especially after upsetting No. 12 Florida State at Doak Campbell during Week 5.
However, the loss to Virginia Tech the following week put those Coastal hopes in jeopardy, and the game that finally did the Tar Heels in was when Duke upset UNC at home, 28-27, which marked the Blue Devils’ first ACC win of the whole season. UNC finished the year with a loss to NC State, as well.
North Carolina’s offense thrived under first-year starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who’s thrown for over 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns with just four interceptions. The junior finished the regular season second in the ACC in passing, behind Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.
North Carolina’s inability to clinch a seemingly wide open Coastal division, which the Tar Heels won last year, is unfortunate. But the Heels continue to look like a strong program.
Stanford (9-3, 6-3 in Pac-12)
Perhaps you forgot about Stanford. Our future Fortune 500 CEOs struggled in the beginning of the season, but as any Stanford grad will tell you, the market eventually corrects itself. The team had a down Q2 of the season in which it lost two of three games, including an absolute domination by Washington.
The one game the Cardinal did win was against a 4-8 Notre Dame team in a game in which the Cardinal scored one offensive touchdown. Q3 didn’t get off to a rosy start, either, after scoring just five points against Colorado.
Then RB Christian McCaffrey finally got healthy, and by the end of the season what once looked like a broken and inept Stanford squad bounced back from its recession and finished third in the Pac-12 North.
It was almost immediately apparent to start the season that McCaffrey wasn’t going to be winning the Heisman. Then he was limited by an undisclosed injury that caused him to miss the Notre Dame game. But when he returned, the uptick was noticeable. McCaffrey’s 300 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns against Cal were a pleasant blast from the past for a Stanford team that needed a while to mature, just like any other investment.
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