Without star, Stanford brings UNC to Heel

Bryce Love took over for the absent Christian McCaffrey in the Stanford backfield, running for 119 yards and catching a 49yard touchdown pass to help the No. 16 Cardinal beat North Carolina, 25-23, in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

Stanford (10-3) held on after North Carolina (8-5) pulled within two with 25 seconds left on Mitch Trubisky’s 2-yard pass to Bug Howard, sacking Trubisky on the 2-point conversion try.

McCaffrey skipped the bowl game to focus on his NFL career.

Stanford took a 25-17 lead on Conrad Ukropina’s 27yard field goal with 3:23 left. North Carolina was forced to punt on its next series but used two timeouts to get the ball back.

After taking over at their own 3, the Tar Heels drove 97 yards in 10 plays and 1:11. After competing passes of 44 and 27 yards, Trubisky capped the drive with the 2-yard scoring pass to Howard.

Stanford then sacked Trubisky on the 2-point try, a rush led by Solomon Thomas forcing the quarterback to retreat before being taken down. Thomas was selected the game’s MVP.

Stanford safety Dallas Lloyd intercepted two of Trubisky’s passes, returning the second 19 yards for a touchdown to give Stanford a 22-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee 38, Nebraska 24

In Nashville, Tenn., Joshua Dobbs ran for three touchdowns and 118 yards and threw for 291 yards and another score in Tennessee’s victory over No. 24 Nebraska in the Music City Bowl.

The Volunteers (9-4) beat a Big Ten team in a bowl for the third straight year and notched their first win in three tries against the Cornhuskers. It’s the first time Tennessee has won three straight bowls since 1994-1996 when Peyton Manning was quarterback for the Vols.

Georgia 31, TCU 23

In Memphis, Tenn., Nick Chubb ran for 142 yards and a touchdown, sending Georgia past TCU in the Liberty Bowl, the Bulldogs’ third bowl victory in three years.

Georgia (8-5) sent TCU (6-7) to its third losing year in Gary Patterson’s 16 full seasons as coach.

Rodrigo Blankenship put Georgia ahead for good with 13:27 left on a 30-yard field goal. Blankenship’s kick was set up by Chubb’s 48-yard burst on the final play of the third period.

Air Force 45, S. Alabama 21

In Tucson, Ariz., Arion Worthman threw for 207 yards to balance out Air Force’s run-heavy offense, Jacobi Owens scored two touchdowns and the Falcons overcame a sluggish start to beat South Alabama in the Arizona Bowl.

Air Force (10-3) struggled to get its triple-option going, falling into an 18-point deficit. Once the Falcons got rolling, they scored 42 straight points to turn it into a rout.