The Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl might get lost in the New Year’s Eve glut of games, but it has the potential to be among the most interesting matchups of the day. – at least before Miami and Ohio State do their thing in the playoff.Duke is the ACC Champion. It should’ve been in the CFP instead of James Madison, and it didn’t exactly get a ton of love in the bowl matchups, and now’s the chance to show that, yeah, it’s a Power Four champion.Arizona State lost a ton of parts, but it’s a Kenny Dillingham-coached team. There are no excuses, and there won’t be a lack of energy.
Duke vs Arizona State Odds, Matchups, and 2025 Sun Bowl Pick
How To Watch Duke vs Arizona State
Date: Wednesday, December 31, 2025Game Time: 2:00 pm ETTV: CBSLocation: Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX@PeteFiutak- Bowl Schedule, Predictions, Lines- 2026 Early Heisman Top 10
Why Duke Will Win
The main man is back.Say what you will about the modern era and the transfer portal, but Duke got its money’s worth out of quarterback Darian Mensah. The former Tulane Green Wave came to Durham, ripped it up, won an ACC Championship, and he’s sticking around for another year.There are a few Duke opt-outs, but all things considered, this is about as close as any Power Four team can get to being close to full capacity.
On the flip side, Arizona State is missing a ton.Several Sun Devils are likely to leave, but might give it a go, but star quarterback Sam Leavitt is in the portal after missing a chunk of the second half of the season hurt. Jordyn Tyson is a future NFL star receiver, and overall, the ASU starting lineup won’t be close to what it should be.
No one gives it the old college try like Arizona State does, but it hasn’t been good all year offensively on third downs, the passing game is blah without Leavitt, and Duke should be able to set a good pace with the offense.Throw in the turnover margin factor – the Blue Devils forced multiple takeaways six times in the last ten games, and …
Why Arizona State Will Win
Again, as cornball as this sounds, it’s totally true. Kenny Dillingham teams will always bring it.Yeah, there are very, very big missing parts, and yeah, the offense should have problems if it has to open it up, but this team had no business getting to eight wins.It’s still the only team to beat Texas Tech, five of the last six wins were by single-digits, and that’s because this bunch just found a way…