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

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 27-yard 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.

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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.

MUSIC CITY BOWL

TENNESSEE 38, (24) NEBRASKA 24: Joshua Dobbs ran for three touchdowns and 118 yards and threw for 291 yards and another score as Tennessee (9-4) defeated Nebraska (9-4) at Nashville, Tennessee.

The Volunteers 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 the quarterback.

Tennessee took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter and outgained Nebraska 521-318.

Nebraska ended the season with two straight losses. The Cornhuskers lost four of their final six after rising as high as No. 7 in the rankings.

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LIBERTY BOWL

GEORGIA 31, TCU 23: Nick Chubb ran for 142 yards and a touchdown, sending Georgia (8-5) past TCU (6-7) at Memphis, Tennessee, for the Bulldogs’ third bowl victory in three years.

Georgia sent the Horned Frogs to their 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.

Brandon Hatfield was wide right on a 47-yard field goal attempt that would have put TCU ahead with 7:57 remaining. He had earlier missed a 41-yard field goal and an extra point.

ARIZONA BOWL

AIR FORCE 45, SOUTH ALABAMA 21: Arion Worthman threw for 207 yards to balance Air Force’s run-heavy offense, Jacobi Owens scored two touchdowns and the Falcons (10-3) overcame a sluggish start to beat South Alabama (6-7) at Tucson.

Air Force struggled to get its triple-option going, falling into an 18-point first-half hole. Once the Falcons got rolling, they couldn’t be stopped, though, scoring 42 straight points to turn it into a rout.

Worthman was the trigger, jump-starting Air Force’s option while completing 7 of 10 passes, including a 75-yard touchdown to Jalen Robinette to open the second half. He also had 71 yards on 21 carries.


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