El Paso, Texas - Duke’s Darian Mensah threw his fourth touchdown of the day, a 17-yard strike to Que’Sean Brown, to take the go-ahead lead with just over two minutes to play as Duke came back to defeat Arizona State, 42-39, in front of 44,975 rowdy fans at the 92nd Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl on Wednesday afternoon.
The two teams combined for a Sun Bowl record 1,158 yards of total offense. Despite the loss, Arizona State (8-5) set a Sun Bowl record with a season-high 619 yards of total offense, while Duke (9-5) put up 539 yards. The 81 combined points were the third most in Sun Bowl history, marking the third time the score combined for 80 or more points.
Mensah, the C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player, finished 29-of-51 for 327 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Mensah tied a Sun Bowl record with his four passing scores, tying with three other players. Arizona State’s Jeff Sims threw three touchdowns as the two combined for seven TD passes. The pair of field generals set a Sun Bowl record for combined TD passes by starting quarterbacks. Sims threw for 375 yards on 27-of-38 passing.
Brown racked up 178 yards on 10 receptions and two touchdowns, including a 69-yarder. Brown’s receiving yards are the fifth most gained in Sun Bowl history, and his 10 catches are tied for sixth most.
With the score 39-35, Arizona State leading, drama unfolded late in the fourth quarter. Duke started at its own 14-yard line and took the ball down to the ASU 8 before Mensah threw an incomplete pass in the end zone on a fourth-down play to give the Sun Devils the ball back with 2:51 left in the game.
The Blue Devils’ defense stepped up with a big play as Kendall Johnson forced a Jason Brown Jr. fumble, recovered by Ma’khi Jones at the ASU 22 with just over 2:40 to play.
It took only two plays for Duke to regain the lead as Mensah found Brown on a 17-yard scoring strike. Todd Pelino’s point after touchdown attempt was good to make it 42-39 with 2:10 left to play.
ASU got the ball back at its own 25 and took it to its own 39; however, Sims threw an interception to Duke’s Luke Mergott with 1:47 left in the contest. The Blue Devils were put in a fourth-and-4 situation at the ASU 35 with just over a minute to play, but Mensah completed an eight-yard pass to Sahmir Hagans to seal Duke’s first win in the Sun Bowl.
The first half featured the most combined points scored (52) in Sun Bowl game history.
Arizona State struck first with a nine-play, 83-yard scoring drive that was capped by a Sims four-yard touchdown rush followed by Jesus Gomez’s PAT for an early 7-0 lead at the 10:11 mark of the first quarter. The key play was a Sims’s 51-yard completion to Jalen Moss to the Duke 29 on a third-and-13 play. It was the Sun Devils’ first opening drive touchdown this season.
Duke answered with a back-to-back scoring drives. The Blue Devils used only three plays (75 yards) to tie the game on Brown’s 69-yard touchdown catch from Mensah. Todd Pelino’s PAT tied the score at the 8:53 mark. It was the longest offensive touchdown in the Sun Bowl game since 2019.
The Blue Devils then took a 14-7 advantage after ASU turned the ball over on downs. Duke went 49 yards on four plays. Mensah tossed a three-yard TD pass to Cooper Barkate and Pelino connected on the PAT at the 6:43 mark. The drive was kept alive on a third-and-10 from the ASU 49 on a Mensah 46-yard completion up the middle to Brown to the three to help set up the score.
The Sun Devils came right back to tie the contest at 14 apiece on a Sims’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Moss and Gomez’s PAT made the score even with 5:05 left in the first quarter.
The 28 points were the second-most points scored in the first quarter in Sun Bowl history. The most points were 29 (Northwestern 22, UCLA 7) on December 30, 2005.
Duke jumped out to a 21-14 edge, following a 12-play, 60-yard drive that resulted in Mensah’s third TD toss of the half, this time a 14-yard pass to tight end Jeremiah Hasley (Pelino PAT) with just over six minutes to play in the first half.
The game was tied again when ASU drove 75 yards on six plays, capped by a Sims’s 38-yard touchdown rush and Gomez’s PAT to knot up the game at 21-21 with 3:49 left.
Duke responded with its fourth scoring drive of the half, going 75 yards on six plays as Anderson Castle found paydirt on a three-yard rush with 1:50 left in the half. Pelino’s PAT made the score 28-21.
The Sun Devils helped make Sun Bowl history when Gomez connected on a 54-yard field goal to get within four points (28-24) with 32 seconds remaining in the half. For Gomez, it was his longest in an ASU uniform, while the combined 52 points in the first half are a new Sun Bowl record. The previous high was 51 points in 2005 (UCLA 29, Northwestern 22). Gomez’s FG was the first in the Sun Bowl game since 2022. Gomez’s 54-yarder was the longest in the Sun Bowl since 1990.
The Sun Devils opened the second half with multiple long plays into Duke territory. On the first play from scrimmage, Jason Brown Jr. took a rush attempt 44 yards to the Duke 31. Brown Jr. then ran for 10 yards to the 21. On the fourth play of the drive, Moss took a pass 13 yards before Caleb Weaver forced a fumble, giving the Blue Devils the ball at their own 8.
Following an exchange in punts, the Blue Devils took their 10th drive 64 yards on seven plays to take a 35-24 lead. Nate Sheppard’s three-yard touchdown rush put Duke up 11 points with 5:20 left in the third quarter. A key play came on a fourth-and-3 at the ASU 6 when Arizona State was called for offsides to extend the drive.
ASU got within three points (35-32) after Sims found Khamari Anderson on an eight-yard scoring reception. Sims then took the ball himself for the two-point conversion with 4:09 left in the third.
The Sun Devils captured their first lead since the first quarter. Sims threw his third touchdown toss, a six-yard toss to Malik McClain, followed by Gomez’s PAT to make the count 39-35 with 12:31 left in the contest.
Duke DT Aaron Hall earned the Jimmy Rogers, Jr. Most Valuable Lineman Trophy and Duke punter Kade Reynoldson was named the John Folmer Most Valuable Special Teams Player. Hall finished with five tackles and a tackle for loss, and Reynoldson averaged 45.2 yards on five punts with a long of 51 yards.
Mergott led with a game-high 10 tackles, while also picking off a pass. ASU’s linebackers Jordan Crook and Martell Hughes each led with nine tackles.
Brown Jr. rushed for 134 yards on 13 carries to lead ASU, while Moss led the Sun Devils with 129 yards on five receptions and a score. McClain finished with 63 yards on nine catches.
Nate Sheppard paced Duke with 170 yards on 22 carries (7.7 avg.) and a TD. Hasley tallied 50 yards on six receptions and a score.
There were only nine accepted penalties (ASU – 3 for 33 yards; Duke – 6 for 60). Duke finished 6-of-17 on third-down conversions while ASU was 3-for-10. Duke also converted 3-of-5 fourth downs.
92ND TONY THE TIGER GAME NOTES
Duke, moving to 1-1 in their Sun Bowl history, completed their 18th all-time bowl appearance (10 in the last 13 seasons) and improve to 9-9 in bowl play with their first Sun Bowl victory. Arizona State completed its eighth appearance in the Sun Bowl. They move to 15-18-1 all-time in Bowl Games. Additionally, ASU moves to 16-11-4 in games played in El Paso. They were seeking their first bowl victory since the 2019 Sun Bowl and fell to 4-3-1 all-time in Sun Bowl games. Duke and ASU were meeting for the second time all-time, and each has been played at the Sun Bowl. They are now 1-1 against each other. Arizona State defeated Duke 36-31 in their prior Sun Bowl meeting on Dec. 27, 2014. Postgame honors were given to Duke’s Darian Mensah (C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player Trophy), Aaron Hall (Jimmy Rogers, Jr. Most Valuable Lineman Trophy) and Kade Reynoldson (John Folmer Most Valuable Special Teams Player Trophy). This season’s Sun Bowl hosted a conference champion for the first time, as Duke entered the game labeled as the ACC Champions (their first outright ACC Championship since 1962). Duke’s first scoring play came off a Que’Sean Brown 69-yard touchdown reception from Darian Mensah, for the longest scoring play in a Sun Bowl since a 91-yard touchdown reception by Florida State’s Tomorrian Terry (from James Blackman) on Dec. 31, 2019 (also against Arizona State). Brown’s touchdown was the second-longest touchdown reception in Duke’s bowl history. This season’s game opened with a historic scoring pace en route to becoming the third-highest scoring Sun Bowl with 81 combined points. The teams combined for 28 points in the first quarter (14–14), tying the second-highest scoring opening quarter in Sun Bowl history and finishing just one point shy of the record 29 points set by Northwestern and UCLA on Dec. 30, 2005. The offensive surge continued into halftime, as Duke took a 28–24 lead into the break. The 52 combined first-half points set a new Sun Bowl record for most points in an opening half, surpassing the 51 points scored in the 2005 matchup between Northwestern and UCLA. ASU kicker Jesus Gomez connected on a 54-yard field goal with 0:32 remaining in the second quarter (the Sun Bowl’s first field goal since 2002), which is the longest field goal at the Sun Bowl since Southern California’s Quinn Rodriguez connected from 54 yards on December 31, 1990 (against Michigan State). The kick tied the third-longest field goal in ASU history (matched their longest in a bowl game). Duke quarterback Darian Mensah matched a Sun Bowl record with four passing touchdowns (became the fourth quarterback to reach the feat). ASU quarterback Jeff Sims completed the game with three passing touchdowns, which ties for the fifth-most in bowl history. It marks the second time in Sun Bowl history in which two quarterbacks threw at least three touchdown passes (2004, Arizona State’s Sam Keller and Purdue’s Kyle Orton each completed three touchdown passes), and the seven combined touchdown passes are the most for a pair of quarterbacks in a single Sun Bowl game. The two teams combined for a new Sun Bowl record with 1,158 total yards of offense, with Arizona State setting the Sun Bowl record for yards by a single team with 619 yards. The previous highs came from the 2005 Sun Bowl, as Northwestern and UCLA combined for 1,037 yards. Northwestern, from the same game, had the prior team’s offensive record with 584 total yards of offense. ASU’s Sims had a game-high 375 yards passing (fifth-highest total in Sun Bowl history)… Duke’s Nate Sheppard had a game-high 170 rushing yards (ninth-highest in Sun Bowl history)… Duke’s Que’Sean Brown was the game’s leading receiver and finished with 10 receptions (tied for the sixth-most in Sun Bowl history) for 178 yards (fifth-most in Sun Bowl history) and two touchdowns (tied for third-most in Sun Bowl history). For 57 years, the Sun Bowl has aired on CBS, and this year’s game marked the final broadcast for Gary Danielson — the longest-tenured college football analyst on any network — closing out 36 seasons in the booth. Danielson was honored at halftime as the newest inductee into the Legends of the Sun Bowl, becoming the first selection since 2021. He joins fellow CBS Sports broadcasters Tom Brookshier (1997), Pat Summerall (1997), Verne Lundquist (2005), and producer Craig Silver (2008) among the Legends. CBS Sports itself was inducted by the Sun Bowl Association in 2017 in recognition of the network’s 50-year partnership with the game.
