The Sun Bowl gave us another exciting college football matchup as we close out the 2025 calendar year. It was a shootout in El Paso, Texas as Duke squeaked by Arizona State with a 42-39 victory.
Both offenses showed up big time, but the Blue Devils’ defensive playmakers made the difference in the end. We saw records broken, two ejections, and players had career days in this Sun Bowl game.
Duke Wins 2025 Sun Bowl
Records Set
There were some new records set in this year’s Sun Bowl game by each team. Both individual and team records.
Starting with the game overall, the 2025 matchup saw the third-most total points scored in the Sun Bowl with 81. Of those points, 52 were scored in just the first half. This game also saw the most total yards of offense ever in the Sun Bowl. Both teams accumulated 1,158 yards overall. Each team had over 500 yards of offense on the day. Arizona State set the record for the most total yards by a single team in the Sun Bowl, with 619 yards of offense.
Duke quarterback Darian Mensah came into this game already on the brink of setting a couple of program records. He made sure to put his name in the record books by the end of it. Mensah’s 327 passing yards helped him break the Duke record for most passing yards in a single-season. He also had his sixth game in 2025 with three or more touchdown passes. That is the most in program history.
The quarterbacks for both teams put every bit of their talent on display, trying to win this game.
Jeff Sims Has a Career Game
Arizona State quarterback Jeff Sims has had a crazy career. ASU is his third school in six seasons. The culmination of it all was more than anyone could have expected.
Sims had the best showing of his six-year college football career in the Sun Bowl. He completed 27 of his 38 passes for 375 yards, three touchdowns, and ran the ball seven times for 70 yards and two more touchdowns. It was the first time in his career that Sims had at least two passing and rushing touchdowns in a single game.
A late interception thrown by Sims is what ultimately ended the game. But, up until that point, Sims was the star of the day. He had the best game of his career throwing the ball. He also showed what made him such a dangerous player early in his career by using his legs. While the final play will sting, Sims should hold his head up high for the way he played in the final showing of his career.
Duke Makes Just Enough Plays
Unfortunately for Sims and the Sun Devils, Duke was able to make just enough plays to get the win. It took both sides of the ball stepping up in the final two minutes of the game.
A forced fumble by the Blue Devils’ defense was recovered near the red zone. That opened up the door for them to punch in the score to take the lead. They got it when Mensah went to his number one target of the day Que’Sean Brown. It was a screen pass Brown took 17-yards for the final touchdown of the game. Brown had a great day of his own, catching 10 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
On the following Arizona State drive, it took an interception by Duke linebacker Luke Mergott to ice it. Much like he did in the ACC Championship game.
This season, there’s been so much discussion around the importance of Bowl games. The Blue and Sun Devils showed how much this one mattered to them. Duke also won another close game, proving they will be a threat to win the ACC again in 2026.
Main Image: Gaby Velasquez/ El Paso Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images