The Arizona State Sun Devils are less than two months away from kicking off a vital 2025 season that could go a long way towards dictating the future of the program in terms of potentially becoming a national powerhouse.
Kenny Dillingham is officially in year three of his stint in Tempe after graduating from the university in 2012, and found a near-instant formula to remedy the losing ways that the program had grown accustomed to over recent seasons.
The Sun Devils took college football by storm in 2024 – winning 11 games, the Big 12 conference, and securing a four seed in the College Football Playoff.
The format of the playoff will still allow for an automatic qualifier from the Big 12, although the conference winner will no longer be guaranteed a first-round bye after the Sun Devils secured one last season and proved to be worthy after nearly defeating Texas.
Utah is an intriguing choice to reach the 12-team bracket, as Kyle Whittingham could be close to calling it a career as head coach – he returns a great coaching staff, a standout defense, and potentially upgraded an offense that had struggled the two years prior by adding Devon Dampier via the transfer portal.
Regardless, it could be seen as disrespectful to not gift the Sun Devils the benefit of the doubt – especially since the entire coaching staff and 17 starters return for the program.
Sam Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson comprise one of the best duos in the country – the talent doesn’t end there either, with potentially as many as 10 players that could be selected to All-Big 12 preseason teams next week.