The Last Outright Conference Champion to Play in the Sun Bowl

The Sun Bowl will do something it has not done in the last 50 years of its illustrious history, welcome an outright conference champion. In 1994, Texas played in the Sun Bowl as one of five co-champions in the Southwest Conference. While Texas A&M went 10-0-1, NCAA sanctions made them ineligible for the postseason and SWC title. Thus, the conference crown went to Baylor, Rice, TCU, Texas, and Texas Tech.

Although it is the second-oldest bowl in the land, the Sun Bowl fell behind the Rose, Sugar, Orange, and Cotton Bowls in attracting big names. Still, the perfect set of circumstances landed the Sun Bowl a rare outright conference champion.

A lucky set of tiebreakers and a win in the ACC Championship Game made 8-5 Duke the miracle ACC Champions. Unfortunately, its win over 10-3 Virginia was not enough to break into the College Football Playoff as the fifth conference champion and the ACC’s first tier of bowls, the Gator, Holiday, and Pop-Tart, all passed on the Blue Devils. Hence, Duke spends its Bowl Season as the first conference champion to play in the Sun Bowl since 1972.

Coincidentally, the last Sun Bowl conference champion also came from the ACC. North Carolina went 10-1 in 1972 with an unblemished 6-0 record in ACC play. Their lone loss came against then-#5 Ohio State, who would win the Big Ten and make the Rose Bowl.

These Tar Heels were not flashy, with quarterback Nick Vidnovic throwing for just over 1000 yards, and leading rusher Ike Oglesby leading the team with 707 yards. However, the team thrived on elite offensive line play and an opportunistic defense. On the offensive line, Ron Rusnack was a consensus All-American, while Jerry Sain was a second-team Football News All-American. The Tar Heels intercepted six passes in a 14-0 win over Duke.

Entering the Duke game, the #16-ranked Tar Heels received interest from the Fiesta Bowl. Ultimately, they accepted an invitation to the Sun Bowl on November 17th. Against Texas Tech, the Tar Heels came back from a 21-9 deficit to win 32-28 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Nick Vidnovic to Ted Leverenz with 60 seconds left in the game. North Carolina added a game-clinching safety with 43 seconds left and ran out the clock.

While the ACC did not envision its champion participating in the Sun Bowl at the season’s start, the chaos created a nearly unprecedented occurrence. Duke hopes to defend the conference’s honor in El Paso, like the 1972 North Carolina team.

The 2025 North Carolina Football Media Guide was an exceptional resource in the making of this article. You can read it here.