Darian Mensah’s fourth touchdown pass of the day went to Que’Sean Brown for 17 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:10 remaining in Duke’s 42-39 victory against Arizona State in the Sun Bowl on Wednesday at El Paso, Texas.
Brown caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage and made his way down the left sideline for his second TD of the game as the Blue Devils (9-5) followed their Atlantic Coast Conference championship with another postseason triumph.
“That was an instant classic,” said Duke coach Manny Diaz. “We got put in position where it was all going against us in the fourth quarter. (Our guys) make winning plays.
“Our guys found a way to finish.”
Mensah was 29 of 51 for 327 yards, with Brown making 10 catches for 178 yards and two TDs – all game-highs. Nate Sheppard rushed for 170 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.
“To send our seniors out with a win like this in that kind of fashion is awesome,” said Mensah.
Arizona State quarterback Jeff Sims threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more. He was 27 of 38 for 375 passing yards. Jalen Moss collected 129 receiving yards with a touchdown on five catches, and Jason Brown Jr. rushed for 120 yards for the Sun Devils (8-5).
The Sun Devils totaled 619 yards of offense, the Blue Devils 539.
Despite all of the offense, Arizona State’s defense made big plays in the fourth quarter by stopping Duke after the Blue Devils reached the 6-yard line, so the Sun Devils regained possession with less than three minutes to play. On the next snap, Duke’s Ma’Khi Jones recovered Demarius Robinson’s fumble at the Sun Devils’ 22 and the turnover set up the winning drive.
Linebacker Luke Mergott intercepted Sims with 1:47 remaining to regain possession. Mergott also made the game-clinching pick-off in overtime of the ACC title game against Virginia on Dec. 6. The Blue Devils clinched the outcome on Wednesday with a fourth-and-4 conversion.
“That’s not anywhere near our standard,” said Diaz about the Blue Devil defense. “But we always say in this program you always have a chance to play the next play. And we talked about on the sideline before those last couple of drives … it was going to be about what happens next.”
Neither team led by more than seven points other than when Duke went up 35-24 in the third quarter on Sheppard’s 3-yard run.
It took the Sun Devils slightly more than a minute to respond, with Sims’ 8-yard pass to Khamari Anderson and Sims’ two-point conversion run.
Then Arizona State went ahead when Sims threw for 6 yards to Malik McClain with 12:31 remaining.
Duke followed with an 11-play possession that ended on a fourth-down incompletion after moving to the Arizona State 37-yard line.
Arizona State scored on its first possession of the game when Sims ran 2 yards for a touchdown at the end of an 83-yard drive.
Duke’s first two scoring drives consisted of a total of seven plays covering 124 yards, with Mensah throwing for 69 yards to Brown and then tossing 3 yards to Cooper Barkate in a span of less than 2 1/2 minutes.
Sims threw to Moss for a 44-yard touchdown play to complete the scoring in an eventful first quarter.
Duke got rolling again on a bit of a trick play, with Jeremiah Hasley taking Mensah’s pass 14 yards for a touchdown. Sims countered with a 38-yard TD run.
Anderson Castle put Duke back in front on a 3-yard run with 1:50 left in the half, but there was time for Jesus Gomez to boot a 54-yard field goal as the Sun Devils trimmed the deficit to 28-24 before halftime.
Arizona State held a 348-271 edge in first-half yardage.
–Field Level Media
