Duke is headed to El Paso, Texas, with the chance to break a 53-year bowl victory drought.
After a 9-3 season, including a 5-3 record in ACC play the Blue Devils will play No. 15 Arizona State for the first time in program history in the Hyundai Sun Bowl Dec. 27 at 2 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on CBS, the first time the network will feature Duke in a football game during the 21st century.
“To be selected to participate in the Sun Bowl is both a privilege and honor for our program,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said in a press release. “I could not be any more thrilled for our seniors, who together become the first class in Duke history to play in three bowl games. That means a lot, and it should. This group has earned this. Winning 25 games in three seasons and 19 games over the past two seasons hasn’t been easy.”
This will be Duke’s first appearance in the Sun Bowl and the first against a Pac-12 team since the Blue Devils lost to then-No. 25 Stanford 50-13 Sept. 8, 2012 in Palo Alto, Calif. Duke is 3-6-1 all-time against Pac-12 opponents and is 0-2 against Pac-12 opponents in the Cutcliffe era. The Blue Devils appeared twice against now-Pac-12 schools Southern California and Oregon State in losing performances in the 1939 and 1942 Rose Bowls.
The Sun Bowl will be the program’s third straight bowl game in as many years, but Duke has not won a bowl game since Bill Murray led the team to a 7-6 Cotton Bowl victory against Arkansas in 1961. Most recently, the Blue Devils fell 48-34 to Cincinnati in the 2012 Belk Bowl and 52-48 to Texas A&M in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve. In both of those games, the Blue Devils led by at least 16 points in the first half.
Arizona State (9-3) has notched wins against three ranked opponents this season and features one of the nation’s most dynamic offenses, averaging 37.0 points per game. Junior D.J. Foster is a dynamic and versatile back who has rushed for 1,009 yards and nine touchdowns this season on 183 carries. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native, has also become a receiving threat, catching 59 passes for 646 yards out of the backfield this season.
Although the Sun Devils’ quarterback situation has been in limbo late in the season, both senior Taylor Kelly and junior Mike Bercovici have found a reliable target in All-American candidate Jalen Strong, who has 75 receptions for 1,062 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.
Arizona State has struggled at times on the defensive side this season, allowing 27.7 points per game, which is 75th in the FBS in scoring defense. The Sun Devils lost their final regular season game 42-35 against in-state rival Arizona.
“When we started off today, I thought there was no way in the world that we would get two 9-3 teams,” said John Folmer, Chairman of the Hyundai Sun Bowl Football Committee. “Now we have two 9-3 teams, Duke and Arizona State. This is a blessing and it’s a good thing for El Paso.”
Duke has also put up big numbers on the offensive side of the ball—averaging 32.5 points per game—but is also one of the best in the nation on the defensive side of the ball only allowing 20.6 points per game. Both strike safety Jeremy Cash and linebacker David Helton garnered All-ACC first team honors from the media this past week, and rover safety DeVon Edwards was an honorable mention.
Offensive linemen Austin Davis, Sterling Korona and Tanner Stone and defensive end Jordan DeWalt-Ondijio all hail from the state of Texas, although none of the four are from the western part of the state. Cutcliffe also has a connection to the bowl, as he was a tight ends coach on a 1984 Tennessee team that suffered a 28-27 to Maryland in the Sun Bowl Dec. 22, 1984.
The Sun Bowl is one of the oldest bowl games in the nation and is played just miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border. The bowl, which is sponsored by automobile manufacturer Hyundai, has an estimated payout of $2 million to each team.
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