Pittsburgh faces UCLA on Friday, Dec. 30 in the Sun Bowl. The game will be live streamed on Paramount+ (free trial) and fuboTV (free trial).

Pittsburgh quarterback Nick Patti once again steps in for a bowl game after the guy ahead of him on the depth chart didn’t stick around.

For UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the Sun Bowl will be his first postseason experience after appearing in 45 games over the senior’s five seasons.

Patti is expected to start Friday after Kedon Slovis transferred to BYU. The same thing happened last season, on the bigger stage of the Peach Bowl, after Kenny Pickett declared for the NFL draft.

A broken collarbone ended that experience after two series for Patti as the Panthers lost to Michigan State 31-21. He gets another chance against No. 18 UCLA (9-3), which is near the bottom nationally in pass defense.

Thompson-Robinson and running back Zach Charbonnet, the national leader in all-purpose yards at 168 per game, power the nation’s No. 3 offense, averaging 508 yards per outing.

Pittsburgh (8-4) has a top 20 defense and is seventh nationally against the run, while UCLA has rushed for at least 200 yards in its past five games and nine overall this season.

When is the Sun Bowl?

The Sun Bowl with Pittsburgh and UCLA is 1 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) on Friday, Dec. 30.

Will it be live streamed?

Paramount+

Paramount+, which offers a 7-day free trial,and features more than 20,000 episodes and movies from ViacomCBS family, which includes CBS, Comedy Central, BET, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and more.

There are two tiers to the streaming service. For $4.99 per month, you get limited commercials. For $9.99 per month, there are no commercials. Both tiers come with the 7-day free trial.

FuboTV

The game will be live streamed on fuboTV, which offers a free trial. The most basic of plans is the “fubo standard” package, which comprises 121-plus channels for $69.99 per month. Like all cord-cutting alternatives, there are plenty of options, especially for sports. It comes with more than 1,000 hours of cloud-based DVR, and up to 10 screens at once.

What TV channel will broadcast?

The Sun Bowl with Pittsburgh and UCLA will be broadcast on CBS.

Preview

MISSING PIECES: Panthers running back Israel Abanikanda, who rushed for 1,431 yards and led FBS with 21 total touchdowns entering bowl season, opted out of the game.

So did offensive linemen Gabe Houy and Warren Carter, defensive end Deslin Alexandre and linebacker Dennis Sirvocea. All are preparing for the NFL draft.

“You just use the 12 games that they’ve played so far,” said Kelly, seeking his first 10-win season at UCLA. “You’re not making things up and dreaming what you think they can do. It’s based on what they’ve done in the past.”

THANKS FOR THE RIDE: Pitt players Samuel Okunlola, Jake Frantl and Hudson Primus were stranded in Dallas on Christmas Day because of canceled flights when UTEP basketball coach Joe Golding reasoned from their Pitt gear they might be trying to get to El Paso.

Golding and his family had the same problem, so he offered to take the players with him when the Goldings rented a car for the roughly 600-mile drive to West Texas. The rental car company had an SUV big enough for Golding, his wife, their two sons and the Pitt players.

Golding told an El Paso media outlet he called Pat Narduzzi to make sure the Pitt coach was OK with it. Narduzzi started one of his sessions with reporters with a shoutout to Golding as an example of well-known Sun Bowl hospitality. An overnight drive got the players there in time for practice.

“Out here in West Texas, that’s what we do,” Golding said. “I would hope someone would do that to (sons) Cason and Chase if they were stranded somewhere on Christmas night.”

FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Kelly was the offensive coordinator for Oregon when the Ducks blew out South Florida 56-21 in the 2007 Sun Bowl. Two years later, he started a four-year run as head coach that included a 22-19 loss to Auburn in the 2010 BCS championship game, a split of two Rose Bowls and a Fiesta Bowl victory.

“Winning,” Kelly said of his favorite part of his previous trip to El Paso. “I think that’s the favorite part of every bowl game. I think that’s the reason you go to a bowl game.”

Patti was taking his redshirt year in 2018 when Pitt lost to Stanford 14-13 in the Sun Bowl. The Panthers are 2-2 in the Sun Bowl, while the Bruins are 3-1. It’s the first meeting between the schools in 50 years and the first in a bowl.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.