In a game that set Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl records for offense, Duke's late touchdown tops Arizona State.
The new era of bowl games, in an era of playoffs, opt-outs, NIL money and transfer portals, isn't very popular, well, anywhere, but Duke's 42-39 victory over Arizona State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl did present a counterpart.
When the product hits the field, it is awfully entertaining.
Duke and Arizona State produced a classic Wednesday, Dec. 31, in front of 44,975 fans, combining for 81 points, a Sun Bowl record 1,160 yards and no end of big plays.
In the end, a Duke team that did bring most of its roster to the game came back on, then held off a largely no-name Arizona State squad down 35 players from its regular roster. After suffering a fourth-and-goal stop on the Sun Devil 8 in the final 3:00, trying to take the lead, a Duke defense that had been poor forced and recovered a fumble on the Arizona State 22 with 2:42 left.
Two plays later, Que'Sean Brown completed a spectacular 178-yard receiving game with a 17-yard touchdown for the winning points with 2:10 remaining. The Duke defense then made a stop to seal the win, which avenged their 2014 Sun Bowl loss to Arizona State in another thriller.
Arizona State running back Jason Brown, who came into the game with 120 yards on the season but had to play because of absences, rushed for 120 yards to double his season total, but had the key fumble as the Sun Devils were looking to run out the clock following its goal-line stand.
Arizona State set a record with 619 yards, but turned it over twice in the final minutes. Quarterback Jeff Sims, who threw three touchdown passes, ran for two and accounted for 455 yards of offense, threw an interception with 1:47 remaining.
Duke leads 28-24 after record-setting first half
Arizona State and Duke combined for the highest-scoring first half in Sun Bowl history, as the Blue Devils took a 28-24 lead into halftime. The teams combined for 619 yards and alternated points, with no one taking a two-score lead.
Arizona State controlled the first quarter, but Duke hit two long bombs and stopped the Sun Devils three of four times on fourth down as the Blue Devils went up 14-7.
The Sun Devils later failed on an onside kick to set up a Duke touchdown, but also had a 54-yard field goal from Jesus Gomez, the third-longest field goal in Sun Bowl history.
Duke receiver Que'Sean Brown was the big gun in the first half, as he had receptions of 69 and 46 to score and set up Duke's first two touchdowns and finished the first half with five catches for 137 yards.
The player covering Brown on those two big plays, Kyndrich Breedlove, was ejected late in the first after his second personal foul, a few plays after Duke tight end Landen King was ejected for spitting on a Blue Devil touchdown.
Up next
The Sun Bowl will begin negotiating contracts for conference affiliations in the coming weeks and hopes to retain its New Year's Eve playing date (a Thursday). The next game at Sun Bowl Stadium is Sept. 12 with UTEP against Texas Southern.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Duke football rallies past ASU State in 2025 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Category: General Sports
