The 2014 edition of the Hyundai Sun Bowl might as well be called “The Devil Bowl,” featuring the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Blue Devils of Duke.
Arizona State was seven points shy of a Pac-12 South Championship last time they were on the football field. A win against state-foe Arizona would have given the Sun Devils a likely Fiesta Bowl bid at minimum, but here they are having to spend Christmas in El Paso.
In that last game, head coach Todd Graham lifted senior quarterback Taylor Kelly in favor of junior Mike Bercovici in the middle of the third quarter, and Bercovici significantly out-performed Kelly. The senior will get the start again on Saturday, but will Graham go to his promising junior in the middle of the game to get him some bowl experience heading into next year?
Whoever is playing quarterback will target Jaelen Strong, who will be playing in his final collegiate game after announcing he will forego his senior season to enter the NFL Draft. Part of ASU’s problems against Arizona was that Strong injured his shoulder in the second quarter, and was unable to make big catches when they needed him to. While he’s likely not full strength by now, he’ll still be out there trying to make plays in his final game wearing maroon and gold.
On the Duke side, ASU fans can’t be happy with who Todd Graham compared the Blue Devils to. He compared their character to that of Stanford, while saying the schemes Duke uses are similar to Oregon and Arizona.
Duke is a lot more run-oriented than Oregon or Arizona are though. The Blue Devils average over 183 yards per game on the ground, while putting up a less-stellar 215 passing yards per game. This plays right into the strengths of ASU’s defense. The Sun Devils have struggled to consistently cover decent passing threats in 2014, but have been able to force plenty of turnovers on the lackluster teams.
Duke’s running success isn’t dependent on one guy. Two different Blue Devils have put up over 500 yards this season, with two more guys currently sitting in the 300s. In the passing game, Jamison Crowder will be the main focus of ASU’s secondary. The senior Crowder is 58 yards shy of 1,000 receiving yards for the season, so you’ll know he’ll be looking to get over that hump in his final season.
With how these offenses set up, I would expect ASU to dominate this game. Of course, that may not happen if Taylor Kelly goes out there and lets the lingering effects of the broken foot he suffered earlier this season shape his game. Even then, I think Graham would waste no time in getting Bercovici out there. ASU is favored by 7.5 points in this game, and there’s no reason to believe that they won’t win by a larger margin than that.
The game kicks off at 2 P.M. eastern time on CBS, on Saturday, December 27.
*Section Photo credit to Christian Petersen, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Charles LeClaire, USA Today Sports
