Sun Devils to Face Blue Devils in Sun Bowl
The No. 15 Arizona State Sun Devils will head to El Paso, Texas on December 27 to take on the Duke Blue Devils in the Sun Bowl.
After being the No. 6 team in the nation in mid-November Arizona State will have to settle for a pre-New Year’s Day game after going 1-2 in the last three games of the regular season. This will be the fifth appearance for the Sun Devils (9-3) in the Sun Bowl and the Blue Devils (9-3) will offer great competition.
Duke had a key victory on the road against Georgia Tech, but had losses to Miami, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina to drop them to second place in the Coastal division of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Dual-threat quarterback Anthony Boone heads the Blue Devils offensive attack with a solid running back committee to complement his abilities. Boone finished the regular season with 2,507 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, and seven interceptions, while rushing for 346 yards and found the end zone five times on the ground.
Oct 11, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Duke Blue Devils quarterback Anthony Boone (7) runs the ball against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the second quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Boone’s running back committee consists of leading rusher Shaun Wilson, who had 590 yards and five touchdowns on the season. Shaquille Powell received the most carries for the Blue Devils with 105 and ran for 501 yards for a 4.8 yards per carry average. Josh Snead also chipped in with 79 carries, 399 yards, and five touchdowns. Fresh legs in the backfield is the key to the Duke offense as they rushed for 2,199 yards as a unit this season.
Jamison Crowder is Boone’s key wide receiver on the offense as he led the team in receptions, yards, yards per catch, and touchdowns. Isaac Blakeney is the second target for Duke as he ranked second on the team in each of the categories just listed above.
It will be interesting to see how Arizona State will respond to the call of this year’s bowl game after last year’s end-of-season collapse after losing the Pac-12 Championship game with a similar feeling after losing to Arizona in the last week of the regular season this year.
More coverage will be provided in the upcoming weeks on this bowl game as the Sun Devils will begin preparations for the bowl game.