A Pitt team that played for the ACC championship and a Stanford team coming off a victory over arch-rival Cal are set to play in the 85th edition of the Hyundai Sun Bowl.

The matchup didn't fall into place until shortly before the 2 p.m. announcement Sunday at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. It was created when the Holiday Bowl surprisingly opted to take Utah, leading to a chain of events that will send 8-4 Stanford to El Paso.

The bowl game will be on Dec. 31 at noon.

"We did not think the Holiday Bowl would take Utah, we thought they would take Oregon," Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas said. "That left Oregon for the Redbox Bowl and we got a Stanford team we really wanted."

As for the ACC part of the equation, speculation centered on Miami, but Olivas said the pull of taking a division champion — Pitt won the Coastal Division and ended up 7-6 — was decisive.

"Coastal champions, 6-2 in conference, it's good to have a division champion," Olivas said. "They are ranked ahead of all the 7-5 teams. We're excited."

And then there was this: "We gave great consideration to Miami, but we decided we didn't want it to snow again," Sun Bowl football chairman John Folmer said, referring to snowstorms that hit the game in 2010 and 2015 when Miami was here.

Pitt, the champion of the ACC's Coastal Division, was in the running for a New Year's Six bowl before its loss to Clemson on Saturday night dropped it to 7-6. Three of those losses were to three of the nation's four undefeated teams, UCF, Clemson and Notre Dame.

"This was a great season, a historic season," Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. "Before the year, people picked us to win three or four games, that's because of our schedule, one of the toughest in the country. We played 13 games, 11 were against bowl eligible teams.

"We played two of the four playoff teams, three undefeated teams. This was not an easy season but the kids persisted through everything. I like the resiliency of our football team, I like the way they compete."

As for the matchup, Narduzzi pointed out that in this era, it's fairly unique.

"This is going to be like an old 1985 bowl game," he said. "Both teams line up with two backs in the backfield and run the ball. This is two teams that both huddle, fans might not know what that is."

"The officials might not know what to do between plays," Stanford coach David Shaw said.

Another similarity between the teams is they both lost to Notre Dame. In Stanford's case that started a slump where they lost four of five games but they bounced back with three straight wins down the stretch.

"The biggest thing with this football team is battling back from adversity," said Shaw, who coached against Narduzzi in the 2014 Rose Bowl when Narduzzi was defensive coordinator at Michigan State. "This is the most injuries we've had in my 12 years at Stanford. Every game we were piecing guys together, I don't know how many lineups we used.

"Every single game was competitive. Even the two games we lost by a large margin, the game was in doubt in the fourth quarter. This team really played hard. Even when we lost four of five games, we practiced well. These guys like to be around each other."

The Cardinal were here two years ago and this will be their fifth trip to El Paso. This will be Pitt's fourth trip to the Sun Bowl, most recently their 3-0 loss to Oregon State in 2008.

"We'll have to score more points than that," Narduzzi said.

Shaw is excited to be back so soon.

"Our guys had a great time in El Paso, the environment was great," Shaw said. "The guys are already laughing about the good times they had at the Sun Bowl. The reception is the best of all the bowls."

The Sun Bowl reception will be new for Narduzzi, who has never been to El Paso.

"Mountains," Narduzzi said when asked to do a word association with the Sun Bowl. "Tradition. What better place to see mountains in the background."

He'll see the Franklin Mountains from field level Dec. 31 at noon.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at 546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @bretbloomquist on Twitter.



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