Captains Jamil Douglas, Taylor Kelly, Jaelen Strong, Damarious Randall and Mike Bercovici walk before the Sun Bowl against Duke, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso. ASU went into the half up 20-17. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)EL PASO -- After taking an early 20-3 lead, ASU looked to be approaching blowout level before eventually surrendering 14 straight points to go into the half at 20-17 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.
ASU's defense had contained opposing senior quarterback Anthony Boone to 15 yards on nine throws, and Duke rush had been contained 51 yards overall.
The rushing numbers, though high, weren’t enough to make up for Boone’s inaccuracies and overthrows.
Suddenly, Boone turned on his game. He completed a pass to junior running back Shaquille Powell, who extended the play and took it for 32 yards. He then completed a pass to his star receiver senior Jamison Crowder, just his second reception of the game, and finished with a screen pass to Powell for a 14-yard touchdown.
The Duke defense then managed to contain the ASU offense for the first time. After redshirt senior quarterback Taylor Kelly overthrew redshirt junior wide receiver Jaelen Strong on a long route, two short passes to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Fred Gammage did not provide enough.
For the first time of the game, ASU was forced to punt.
On Duke’s first punt return of the game, they returned it 68 yards for a touchdown.
With momentum slipping away, ASU offense got one last crack to salvage its once dominant half. They couldn’t. A Kelly interception was overturned, giving ASU a chance at life, and a few plays later, Kelly fumbled for the second time. Despite the quarterback falling on it, he was moved back to the 34-yard line on a loss of nine.
ASU managed to run out the clock.
The first 23 minutes of the game were anything but the remaining seven. ASU’s offense was aggressive and as up-tempo as they had been in practice over the past weeks. Their first drive was a five-play, 51-yard sprint that lasted a mere minute and a half.
Kelly was looking like his pre-injured self. He found openings on quarterback keeps: in the opening drive, he had a 16-yard rush. Early in the second quarter, he kept the drive alive at four-and-two, faking a handoff and taking the ball himself into the two-yard line. Freshman running back Demario Richard scored on the next play.
Kelly finished the first quarter 7-9 with 98 yards. At the half, despite struggling with consistency to end it, he finished 16-23 with 163 yards.
First half notes:
- Sophomore wide receiver Cameron Smith was unable to play due to a hamstring injury. Redshirt senior tight end De’Marieya Nelson left the game midway through the first quarter due to a shoulder injury.
- Zane Gonzalez’ first field goal of the half gave him 20 field goals in both of his first seasons.
- Kelly’s first-quarter 49-yard completion to Strong gave him 10,000 total yards in his career.
In the first quarter, junior running back D.J. Foster broke the 2,000 yards plateau for career rushing. He also became just the third Sun Devil to have 60 catches or more in more than one season, having had a catch in every game of his career.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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