Predicting every 2016 college football bowl game

Sun Bowl: Stanford vs. North Carolina – Dec. 30, 2 p.m. ET

If both the North Carolina Tar Heels and Stanford Cardinal came into this game at their peak performance, this would be an exciting matchup. Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford offense are dangerous at their best as he continued his all-purpose dominance this season. At the same time, the attack of quarterback Mitch Trubisky and Elijah Hood has been dominant when they’re clicking.

The problem for North Carolina, though, is simply the fact that they looked like a team that had given up to close their season. Meanwhile, the Cardinal finished the year strong with a five-game winning streak. As Larry Fedora’s future in Chapel Hill seems up in the air, I suspect the Tar Heels remain lackluster and get pounded by McCaffrey all day long.

Prediction: Stanford: 45, North Carolina: 30

Music City Bowl: Nebraska vs. Tennessee – Dec. 30, 3:30 p.m. ET

There’s no team in college football that’s been more simultaneously frustrating and exciting than the Tennessee Volunteers. They’ve been ravaged by injuries on the defensive side of the ball, robbing them of their best interior linemen, linebacker, and defensive backs. However, they still have an explosive offense with the dual-threat Joshua Dobbs at quarterback and are more than familiar with pulling out close games in the clutch.

For the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the question is whether quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. will be ready to go after missing the end of the year due to injuries. But, in fact, it might not actually matter as this game should come down to senior running back Terrell Newby for the Huskers. While not insanely productive this season, Tennessee has been gashed by the run all year with the interior of their defense and linebacker core depleted. As such, I give the slight edge to Nebraska.

Prediction: Nebraska: 34, Tennessee: 30