2nd trip in 3 years to El Paso for Sun Bowl

Hoping to do what it did two years ago in El Paso, Texas, Stanford will return to the Sun Bowl to play Pitt on Dec. 31.

In 2016, Stanford beat North Carolina 25-23 as Bryce Love — getting the start in place of Christian McCaffrey, who opted to skip the game to prepare for the NFL draft — ran for 119 yards and caught a 49-yard touchdown pass.

The Redbox Bowl at Levi’s Stadium could have taken the Cardinal (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) but chose Oregon (8-4, 5-4) despite a lesser record in the conference and a loss to Stanford in Eugene.

In an email, Redbox Bowl executive director Ryan Oppelt said, “It really came down to the fact that the Cardinal has played at Levi’s Stadium in three of the previous four years — once in our bowl game and twice in the conference championship game — while Oregon has never participated in our bowl game.”

In a Sun Bowl conference call Sunday, Stanford head coach David Shaw said, “I don’t worry about those things. I’m excited about where we’re going.”

He said his players are excited, too, even though some of them played in the Sun Bowl two years ago. “Our players had a great time in El Paso,” he said. “The hospitality was off the charts . ... The reception (for the players and coaches) is the best of all the bowls.”

The Redbox Bowl also could have taken Arizona State, but the Sun Devils had played Michigan State (the Big Ten’s representative) on Sept. 8 and the bowl didn’t want a rematch, Oppelt indicated.

That left the Sun for the Cardinal, who will be making their 10th straight trip to a bowl game, a program record.

Stanford’s opponent, Pittsburgh (7-6), was trounced by Clemson 42-10 in the ACC championship game Saturday. For the first time in school history, Pitt had two 1,000yard rushers, Qadree Ollison (1,222) and Darrin Hall (1,046).

Sunday’s bowl selection day didn’t go well for the Pac-12.

Conference champion Washington, No. 9 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, will play Big Ten champ Ohio State in the Rose Bowl as stipulated by the game’s conference affiliations.

But Washington State (10-2) was ranked only 13th and will play Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl.

The Holiday Bowl in San Diego picked Utah over Oregon to play Northwestern on Dec. 31. The Redbox Bowl then took Oregon.