The Sun Bowl stadium roared with excitement, packed from top to bottom, leaving no seat unoccupied. In the 90th Sun Bowl game, El Paso and Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl hosted the 19th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-3) and 21st ranked Oregon State Beavers (8-5).
Over 48,000 people were in attendance leading to a sellout and largest crowd the bowl game has seen since 2011. This would mark Oregon State’s third appearance in the Sun Bowl and Notre Dame’s second. The first game in 2010 saw the Sun Bowl’s record attendance broken with 54,021 people.
Prior to the game, the story was about the number of players who chose not to play or who weren’t able to play for various reasons. For Notre Dame, starting quarterback Sam Hartman opted out. For Oregon State, their top two quarterbacks D.J. Uiagalelei and Aidan Chiles entered the transfer portal making them unable to play.
This paved the way for Notre Dame sophomore quarterback Steve Angeli and Oregon State junior quarterback Ben Gulbranson, as they each drew the start.
First Quarter
After an Oregon State punt, Notre Dame came out swinging, going 96 yards on 11 plays and scoring a touchdown on their first possession. After forcing another punt, Norte Dame drove the ball 48 yards and attempted a field goal in which they missed leaving their lead at 7-0 to finish off the quarter.
Second Quarter
Notre Dame was able to secure another touchdown on a 44-yard drive capitalized by a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Jadarian Prince. Oregon State was once again unable to get their offense going as their three possessions during the quarter resulted in a punt, a turnover on downs and a late interception.
Third Quarter
Offensive struggles continued for Oregon State with time of possession becoming a major factor. Norte Dame possessed the ball for more than double the time Oregon State did during the quarter and scored 10 points to their lead and brought the score to 24-0.
Fourth Quarter
Oregon State is able to get on the board with a 33-yard pass from Gulbranson to Jimmy Valsin III. They were able to convert the 2-point conversion on a Tyler Voltin run. It was a little too late for the Beavers as Norte Dame was able to score 16 points of their own and cruise to a 40-8 victory.
Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli finished with 232 passing yards and three passing touchdowns while Oregon State quarterback Ben Gulbranson finished with 180 passing yards and one passing touchdown.
With the tradition of every Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, at the conclusion of the game, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman had Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes poured upon him. After dusting himself off and a few handshakes he headed to midfield to join his team to receive and hoist the winning trophy, capping off Notre Dame’s season with a bowl win.
Joel Molina is a staff photographer and can be reached at [email protected]
