on Sunday afternoon, it was announced that Pitt would face Stanford in the Sun Bowl on December 31, 2018 .

this will not be either team’s first foray into postseason play in El Paso. Stanford has played in the Sun Bowl four times, making trips in 1977, 1996, 2009 and 2016. Pitt has been there three times before, visiting the Sun City in 1975, 1989 and 2008. During their last trip, the Panthers took part in an infamous 3-0 loss to Oregon State. It was the lowest-scoring bowl game since Air Force and TCU played to a scoreless draw at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1959.

This season, Pitt played to a 7-6 record and fell one win short of playing in a New Year’s Day bowl game. However, the game the Panthers needed to win was Saturday’s disappointing 42-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC championship.

Stanford performed similarly to Pitt this season, playing to an 8-4 record. The Cardinal did not win their division, instead coming third in the Pac-12 North behind Washington and Washington State. However, they did account for wins over ranked rivals early in the season, including No. 17 USC on Sept. 8 and No. 20 Oregon on Sept. 20. With that said, they struggled to a 38-17 loss to No. 8 Notre Dame on Sept. 29, while Pitt played the same team close two weeks later.