2025 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl is set: Arizona State vs. Duke
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The 2025 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl ended with the the expected and the unexpected for its 91st matchup, as nearby Arizona State will make the short trip to El Paso to take on ACC champion Duke in a rematch of the 2014 game.
The Sun Devils were a natural fit to make their eighth trip to the New Year’s Eve game, while Duke was a bit of a surprise and now it will make its second trip to El Paso. It is coming off an overtime upset of Virginia in the ACC title game.
The announcement of the selection at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino was hours later than expected because of a scramble on the ACC side that started when Notre Dame, who is in the ACC pool, was left out of the playoffs, then eventually declined any bowl invitational.
The announcement, which was expected shortly after noon, came at 2:30 p.m. MT. Per reports Notre Dame took more than an hour to make that decision, putting the entire ACC bowl selections on hold. When they finally made their decision shortly before 2 p.m. MT all the bowls that picked ahead of the Sun Bowl began their process of reordering teams.
The Sun Devils were an obvious choice when the Holiday Bowl took Arizona, leaving 8-4 Arizona State available. The Sun Bowl had a number of options on the ACC side, and when they couldn’t get Clemson, they grabbed the ACC champions.
Arizona State’s last trip to the Sun Bowl was in 2019 when it beat Florida State 20-14. The team took a bus from Tempe to El Paso, though it flew home afterward. It’s eighth trip will tie it to UTEP for second most (Texas Tech has been here nine times).
The most highly recruited high school El Pasoan this year, Del Valle quarterback Jake Fette, signed with Arizona State earlier this week.
The Sun Bowl played its first game in 1935, making it the second oldest bowl after the Rose Bowl, and has played every year since except the COVID year of 2020. This is the 91st playing of what the Sun Bowl bills as the 92nd Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Sun Bowl ticket information
Tickets to the 2025 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com or call 915-533-4416. That includes tickets for parking.
For game day ticket purchases, ticket offices are at the northern and southern entrances of Sun Bowl Stadium and open at 8 a.m. No phone orders will be accepted on the day of the game.
Up next
The Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl kicks off at noon, Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @BrMTbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 2025 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl to feature Arizona State, Duke
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