Duke Tops Arizona State, 42-39, to Claim Sun Bowl

Wednesday, December 31

El Paso, Texas

2 p.m.

Duke University

9-5 , 6-2

Arizona State

8-5 , 6-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Arizona St.

Duke

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl celebration shot

Duke Tops Arizona State, 42-39, to Claim Sun Bowl

12/31/2025 6:38:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Purchase Bowl Champions Merchandise Coach Diaz, Darian Mensah and Que'Sean Brown Press Conference Photo Gallery

EL PASO, Texas – Duke closed the 2025 season on New Year's Eve with a 42-39 victory against Arizona State to claim the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. The Blue Devils finished with nine wins in consecutive years for just the second time in program history.

Duke quarterback Darian Mensah capped a fantastic outing with his fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon, hitting Que'Sean Brown for an 18-yard strike to put the Blue Devils ahead for good. Luke Mergott iced the victory with his second interception of the campaign.

Mensah threw four touchdown passes to extend his school single-season record to 34 and tallied 327 yards to lift his season total to 3,973 to set the program mark. Mensah's 327 passing yards rank fourth in Duke bowl game history, while his 29 completions tied for third on the charts. Brown scored on a 69-yard touchdown catch in the opening quarter en route to a career-high 178 yards, the second most in a bowl game in Duke history.

The Blue Devils have won five of their past six bowl games and ended the campaign on a four-game winning streak for the first time since 1954.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After forcing Duke into a three-and-out to open the game, Arizona State marched 83 yards on eight plays and scored to go ahead 7-0 at the 10:11 mark. Quarterback Jeff Sims ran it from four yards away to give the Sun Devils the early lead.
Duke answered immediately with Mensah hitting Brown for a career-long 69-yard reception for a score, knotting the game at 7-7 with 8:53 left in the opening quarter.
The Blue Devils halted the Sun Devils on fourth down on the ensuing drive and scored again to take their initial lead, 14-7. Brown came up clutch again with a 46-yard reception to set up Duke at the three-yard line. Cooper Barkate caught a Mensah touchdown pass on the following play for the Duke lead.
Arizona State evened the score at 14-14 with 5:05 left in the first frame on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Sims to Jalen Moss.
Duke forced consecutive turnovers on downs by Arizona State before cashing in on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Mensah to Jeremiah Hasley to regain the lead at 21-14 with 6:06 to play in the half. The Blue Devils covered 60 yards on 12 plays, including a clutch 10-yard reception by Brown on third-and-three and an Anderson Castle four-yard run on fourth-and-one. During the drive, Mensah joined Daniel Jones as the only Duke quarterbacks to throw three touchdown passes in a half of a bowl game.
The Sun Devils evened the score again at 21 apiece with 3:29 remaining as Sims ran for a 38-yard score.
Duke regained the advantage on a Castle three-yard touchdown rush with 1:50 to go in the half for a 28-21 lead.
ASU ended the highest-scoring first half in Sun Bowl history with a 54-yard field goal with 32 seconds left.
After forcing the Sun Devils to fumble and punt on their first two possessions of the third quarter, the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 35-24 with 5:20 left in the stanza on a Nate Sheppard three-yard rush.
The Sun Devils immediately answered with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Sims to Khamari Anderson. Sims ran in for a two-point conversion to make it a 35-32 affair with 4:09 remaining in the third.
Arizona State regained the lead early in the fourth on a Sims six-yard pass to Malik McClain to go up 39-35 with 12:31 to play.
The Blue Devil defense came up huge down the stretch, holding Arizona State without a score for the final 12 minutes.
Duke came up with a fumble and an interception on the final two Sun Devil possessions, while Mensah and Brown combined for the winning score.