The 1994 Sun Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 29, 1994. The game pitted the unranked Texas Longhorns against the No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar Heels were led by eventual Texas head coach Mack Brown.
The game was a seesaw offensive battle. Texas, down 31–21 midway through the fourth quarter, mounted a comeback to gain a 35–31 victory, with Priest Holmes's leap into the endzone proving to be the winning points. Priest Holmes had 161 yards on 27 carries for four touchdowns to lead the Longhorns to victory and give him MVP honors. A record 50,612 attended this game, a high for both the bowl game and the stadium.
This was the first time since 1988 that the Sun Bowl was played under its original name after five years of title sponsorship from John Hancock Insurance.
Scoring summary First quarter North Carolina – Curtis Johnson 11-yd run (Tripp Pignetti kick); Drive: 10 plays, 78 yards, 11:06 remaining Texas – Priest Holmes 1-yd run (Phil Dawson kick); Drive: 9 plays, 72 yards, 4:37 remaining Second quarter Texas – Norman Watkins 8-yd fumble return (Dawson kick), 14:49 remaining North Carolina – Pignetti 25-yd field goal; Drive: 12 plays, 72 yards, 9:57 remaining Texas – Holmes 1-yd run (Dawson kick); Drive: 9 plays, 64 yards, 6:05 remaining North Carolina – Marcus Wall 8-yd pass from Mike Thomas (Pignetti kick); Drive: 9 plays, 74 yards, :28 remaining Fourth quarter North Carolina – Wall 82-yd punt return (Pignetti kick), 13:35 remaining North Carolina – Octavus Barnes 50-yd pass from Thomas (Pignetti kick); Drive: 5 plays, 79 yards, 9:13 remaining Texas – Holmes 9-yd run (Dawson kick); Drive: 8 plays, 68 yards, 6:35 remaining Texas – Holmes 5-yd run (Dawson kick); Drive: 10 plays, 68 yards, 1:17 remaining
Statistics Statistics Texas North CarolinaFirst downs 26 25Rushing yards 229 180Passing yards 196 298Total offense 425 478Return yards 98 115Passing (C–A–I) 15–32–1 23–40–1Fumbles–lost 3–1 2–1Penalties–yards 7–55 6–58Punts–average 6–35.8 5–35.4Possession time 31:15 28:45
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