Well, a bowl loss was bound to happen. The Big 12 is no longer unbeaten in bowl games this season as the Arizona State Sun Devils, the one team that managed to beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders this season, couldn’t outscore the Duke Blue Devils in the Sun Bowl.
I mean, this was an impressive game with plenty of points and both the Duke Blue Devils and the Arizona State Sun Devils should be proud of how they played in this matchup. Both the Sun Devils and the Blue Devils were able to march up and down the field and take advantage of explosive plays and if you like points, this was your bowl game to watch this season.
But if you were hoping that the Big 12 would be able to go unbeaten through the bowl season, this game put an end to that streak, unfortunately.
The Arizona State Sun Devils fell short against the Duke Blue Devils to give the Big 12 its first bowl loss of the season
Quarterback play was particularly impressive in this matchup as Jeff Sims probably played the best game of his career, completing 27 of 38 attempts for 375 yards and three touchdown passes against just one pick. Sims also ran for 70 yards on seven carries and scored a couple of touchdowns on the ground.
Darian Mensah provided 327 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air while also throwing just one interception.
These two teams went back and forth scoring as they matched each other for 14 points apiece in the first quarter and set the score at 28-24 in Duke’s favor at halftime.
The score was set at 32-35 in the Blue Devils’ favor rolling into the fourth quarter, but Duke was able to walk away with a 42-39 win thanks to a 17-yard touchdown pass from Mensah to Que-Sean Brown with a little over two minutes left in the game.
Outside of the four turnovers between these two teams, there was a ton of impressive offense in this game. Arizona State and Duke combined for 1158 yards. And unfortunately for the Big 12, Arizona State’s offensive effort just wasn’t enough.