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MARKLAMBIE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst looks to pass under pressure against North Carolina during the first half of the Sun Bowl on Friday. ByJonWilner BayAreaNewsGroup StanfordovercameChristianMc- Caffrey's absence, Keller Chryst's in- jury, 12 penalties, several baffling play calls and an inept red zone of- fense to defeat North Carolina in the Sun Bowl, and it escaped for one rea- son: Solomon Thomas was unblock- able. Okay, maybe Thomas wasn't the only reason for Stanford's 25-23 vic- tory, which unfolded over four sloppy, mostly dull hours Friday afternoon. Running back Bryce Love, safety Dallas Lloyd, defensive tackle Harri- son Phillips, punter Jake Bailey and kicker Konrad Ukropina and a hand- ful of others made key contributions. But Thomas was brilliant, espe- cially on the decisive play. After quarterback Mitch Trubisky led a 97-yard touchdown drive to pull the Tar Heels within two points with 25 seconds remaining, Thomas charged through the line to sack Trubisky and deny UNC a conversion that would have forced overtime. "Our team played its hearts out," Thomas said. "I wanted to do it for my brothers." The victory secured a 10-win sea- son for the Cardinal, its sixth this de- cade. Here are four takeaways: THE DEFENSE DID IT The Cardinal was backpedaling early, allowing North Carolina to cover 71 yards for a touchdown on its opening drive. But from that point until the final minute, Stanford was stingy with ev- ery yard. Lloyd had two interceptions and a Pick 6. The Cardinal smothered UNC's running game, limited big plays, pressured Trubisky and gen- erally played like the unit that flum- moxed so many offenses in the Pac- 12. The Tar Heels were held 10 points under their season average. FAREWELL, OR WELCOME BACK? If this was, in fact, the final college game for Thomas, who is consider- ing a jump to the NFL, he made it a COLLEGE FOOTBALL StanfordedgesNorthCarolina Four takeaways from the Cardinal's 25-23 victory in Sun Bowl on Friday By Jerry McDonald Bay Area News Group The patron saint of backup quarterbacks has some advice for Matt McGloin. There have been seven quar- terbacks who weren't originally starters who ended up win- ning Super Bowls, but the one who most closely mirrors what McGloin is attempting is Jeff Hostetler. It was Dec. 15, 1990 when New York Giants starting quarter- back Phil Simms broke his foot against the Buffalo Bills. In came Hostetler, a little-used six-year veteran getting his big chance at age 29. "You came to realize that some- times opportunities came and sometimes they didn't," Hostetler said in a phone interview Thurs- day night. "Most of the times when opportunities did present themselves, if guys didn't take advantage of them, that was it." The Giants ended up losing to the Bills that day 17-13, falling to 11-3. Hostetler, however, directed the Giants not only to regular-sea- son wins over Phoenix and New England to finish 13-3, but then won playoff games over the Chi- cago Bears, the defending cham- pion 49ers and finally the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV. Hostetler took over a ground- RAIDERS HOSTETLER GIVES ADVICE TO MCGLOIN Former Raiders quarterback won Super Bowl title with Giants, replacing Simms in Week 14 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Jeff Hostetler carries the ball in leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl win over the Buffalo Bills in 1991. TONY AVELAR — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt McGloin (14) drops back as Carolina Panthers free safety Tre Boston (33) applies pressure during the second half Nov. 27in Oakland. The Raiders are headed to the postseason party for the first time since 2002, but they'll be without Derek Carr a er losing their star quarterback to a broken right leg. Backup McGloin will lead them instead. Sunday: Oakland Raiders at Denver Broncos, 1:25p.m., TV on CBS, radio on 93.9FM. TUNEIN By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter REDDING The Los Molinos Bulldogs boys and girls teams and Mercy Warriors boys team each lost in tournament play Thursday at the Liberty Clas- sic at Liberty Christian High School. The Bulldogs fell to the pow- erhouse Fall River Bulldogs 89-41 in evening action af- ter falling behind 26-10 in the opening period and never be- ing able to make up ground. The Bulldogs (9-3) were sched- uled to face the Hayfork Tim- berjacks (3-6) for third place Friday afternoon. The Warriors were beaten by the Quincy Trojans 73-21 in an afternoon match-up. Dart Kingwell led the Warri- ors with eight points and seven rebounds; Marcus Keuchle had seven points and five rebounds and Jarrett Stickney had four points. The Warriors (1-8) were set to take on the Fremont Christian Warriors (3-5) on Friday morn- ing for seventh place. The Lady Bulldogs (7-3) lost to the Redding Christian Lions 49-30 in morning play and were set to face either the host Lib- erty Christian Patriots or Mercy Lady Warriors, who played Thursday morning. No score had been posted for the Patriots vs. Warriors game as of 5 p.m. Friday. BASKETBALL Bulldogs, Warriors beaten at Liberty Classic By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press SCOTTSDALE,ARIZ. Urban Meyer was giving the abridged version of the core values he has instilled in Ohio State football, the pillars upon which he has built the Buck- eyes. There is 4 to 6, A to B, in ref- erence to the effort expected on each play. Power of the unit fo- cuses on each position group. Competitive excellence, which sort of speaks for itself. "You mean the game-day un- derwear, that's not the key in- gredient?" Clemson coach Dabo Swinney chimed in, getting a smile from Meyer. "I'm not saying I don't wear them," Meyer responded. Swinney and Meyer shared the stage Friday morning for the final news conference before the sec- ond-ranked Buckeyes (11-1, No. 3 CFP) and Tigers (12-1, No. 2 CFP) face off in the Fiesta Bowl. The coaches exchanged handshakes and kind of a half-hug, pat-on- the-back thing before posing for photos with an ostentatious tro- phy that goes to the winner of Sat- urday night's game — along with a trip to the College Football Play- off championship game. The 52-year-old Meyer has a re- sume few who have ever coached college football can match. No current coach who has at least 10 seasons of experience has a better winning percentage than Meyer's .854. He has won three national championships, including the first College Football Playoff title two years ago. At the beginning of this week in Arizona, Swinney compared Meyer to Notre Dame legend Knute Rockne and joked about how he needed to quickly read Meyer's book to gain some in- sight. Swinney, 47, talks about Meyer with reverential deference, but he is on the short list of current coaches who can claim Meyer-lev- els of success. Clemson needed more work when Swinney took over during the 2008 season than Ohio State did when Meyer became coach in 2012. But since 2011, Swinney is 68-14 (.829), in- cluding a victory against Ohio State in the 2014 Orange Bowl, one of only two postseason losses on Meyer's record (10-2). The only thing Swinney and Clemson have not accomplished during this run, the greatest in the history of the program, is a national championship. Deshaun Watson and the Tigers came up just short last year against Ala- bama. Watson, the Heisman Tro- phy runner-up, was fabulous against the Tide and followed it up with another spectacular sea- son (3,914 yards passing and 37 touchdowns). "I would think that you would see his poise," Swinney said about Watson. "And to me his poise re- FIESTA BOWL Swinney looks to put loss on Meyer Clemson faces Ohio State in semifinal RAIDERS PAGE 2 STANFORD PAGE 2 FIESTA PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, December 31, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1