The Duke Blue Devils defeated the Indiana Hoosiers in the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl by a score of 44-41 in overtime at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Blue Devils improve to 8-5 with the win becoming the Pinstripe Bowl champions. The Hoosiers fall to 6-7 to finish the season below .500 with the loss.
On Duke’s first possession of the game they went down the field and kicker Ross Martin nailed the 52-yard field goal, which without the net behind the uprights would’ve sailed past the center field fence to put Duke up 3-0. On Duke’s next possession, while on the Indiana 20 yard line, quarterback Thomas Sirk threw an interception to Rashard Fant. Duke got the ball immediately, as on the Duke 12 yard line Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld’s pass was intercepted by Dwayne Norman.
The Blue Devils immediately responded, as running back Shaun Wilson to the handoff on the first play of the drive and ran it 85 yards for the touchdown, giving Duke a 10-0 lead.
After an Indiana turnover on downs and a Duke punt with 11:47 left in the second quarter, Sudfeld for the Hoosiers threw his second pick of the day to Phillip Carter. On Indiana’s next possession they finally got on the board when wide receiver Luke Timian caught a 27-yard touchdown to make it a 10-7 ballgame.
With 1:25 left in the second quarter after a Duke turnover on downs, Indiana running back Devine Redding ran the football 17 yards for the score to make it a 14-10 Hoosiers lead. With 1:00 left in the second half, Thomas Sirk took off on his own and ran it 73 yards for the touchdown to go into halftime with a 17-14 Duke lead.
Indiana didn't phone it in before the first half ended, as they would get into field goal range and Griffin Oakes would proceed to nail a 45-yard field goal, making it a 17-17 tie before the first half came to an end.
Duke got the ball after the intermission and could only get a field goal as Ross Martin nailed the 34-yard field goal to make it a 20-17 game. Indiana would respond as quarterback Nate Sudfeld would throw his second touchdown pass of the game, this time a three-yard score to make it a 24-20 ballgame.
On Duke’s next possession, they were forced to punt the ball and on the punt Mitchell Paige fumbled the ball and Duke regained possession. On that Duke drive, Thomas Sirk threw it to Braxton Deaver for the 10-yard touchdown to make it a 27-24 game.
After two punts, Indiana had possession of the ball and running back Alex Rodriguez ran it in for the 10-yard score to make it a 31-27 game. With 25 seconds left in the third quarter, Thomas Sirk threw another interception to Darius Latham. Indiana then went down the field and with 11:12 left in the fourth quarter, Griffin Oakes nailed the 27-yard field goal. On the ensuing kickoff, Duke’s Shaun Wilson got through the initial crowd and found an opening and took it back 98 yards for the score to make it a 34-34 game.
A few drives later after another Sirk interception, Mitchell Paige caught a 25-yard pass from Nate Sudfeld to make it a 41-34 Indiana lead. Duke got the ball and with 41 seconds left and Thomas Sirk ran for his second touchdown to tie the game up.
The game went to overtime and in the extra period Ross Martin nailed a 46-yard field goal to win the game for Duke.
This game was very high scoring and both quarterbacks didn’t play well and turned the ball over a lot. Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld went 28-of-51 for 389 yards and three touchdowns in addition to two interceptions. Duke quarterback Thomas Sirk went 17-of-37 for 163 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
This was Duke’s first bowl win since the 1961 Cotton Bowl. After the field goal by Martin to put Duke ahead in overtime, Oakes for Indiana missed a field goal which would’ve sent it to double overtime.
Oakes did protest that the field goal was good but Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson said it was not good, saying, “No explanation --- was it good? You can sit there and look at it, you don't win games with FGs. We had enough errors we were on the wrong side, and that was the message to the team."