In its program history, Arizona State has been ranked 24 times in the AP’s preseason Top 25 poll, and just seven of those seasons have taken place since the turn of the century, and only three of those years are in the College Football Playoff era. Last Monday, when the Sun Devils came in at […]
In its program history, Arizona State has been ranked 24 times in the AP’s preseason Top 25 poll, and just seven of those seasons have taken place since the turn of the century, and only three of those years are in the College Football Playoff era. Last Monday, when the Sun Devils came in at No.11 in the 2025 preseason poll, it marked the third-highest preseason ranking in the program’s history and the best ranking since 1998.
However, when ASU is projected to be in the upper echelon of college football, it’s usually a drastic indicator of how the season will unfold. The last time ASU went wire-to-wire in the AP Poll was in 2014, when it had a preseason ranking of No. 19 and then proceeded to finish the season at No. 12.
In the other four of the Sun Devils’ top five preseason rankings, they were slotted in at No.3, No.8, No.12, and No.13, all between 1972 and 1998 under three separate head coaches. In just one of those seasons did ASU have a winning record.
When ASU was picked No.3 in 1976 under legendary head coach Frank Kush, the team finished 4-7, losing its first four games of the season. In 1998, when the team was touted at No.8 in the nation, they went on to finish 5-6, losing all four games that year against ranked opposition, and in 1984 when projected to be the No.13 best team in the country ASU finished 5-6 as well, not winning consecutive games until week 10.
For this very reason, the Sun Devils have thrown preseason hype out of the window, and according to head coach Kenny Dillingham, Saturday, defying the status quo for highly ranked teams in Tempe is a major goal for the program.
“I’ve shown (the players) the stats on when ASU is ranked in the top-15 over the last 50 years, what happens? It’s never good.” Dillingham said. “We’re trying to beat history; we’re not just facing opponents; we’re facing 50 years of history.
“Anytime you face 50 years of history, that’s not an accident; it’s 50 years of history. That’s difficult to overcome, and I try to reiterate to them how hard that is and how this is going to be one of the most challenging tasks they’ll ever face.”
On Saturday, Dillingham and ASU held an intersquad scrimmage under the lights of Mountain America Stadium. The practice was live football for nearly two hours with no tackling; however, the defense didn’t need any hard hits to set the tone.
Offensively, the gears are still shifting, and players are continuing to improve, but the productive plays are more spread out than desired. Often during the scrimmage, the offense would take one step forward, then two steps back, and despite their high level of talent, Dillingham understands that won’t be a recipe for success during the season.
“That was the definition defensively of you give up a big play and then you survive and win in the low red zone, that’s what good defenses do,” Dillingham noted. “Offense, it was self-destruct, every drive there was a false start or a low red zone (missing assignment).
“That starts with me when I look at mistakes like that, I think to myself, ‘okay, what are (the coaches) doing wrong, because at the end of the day it’s our job to get 11 people to do the right thing.”
Dillingham did give the offensive players lawful grace. Going up against a defense returning 11 starters from one year to the next is always an uphill battle, especially when those defenders know you’re every move and trick.
On top of that, the offense is calling a heap of plays, which won’t be the case during game weeks when the coaching staff narrows down a particular game plan rather than exposing the entire offense.
“We have way more new guys on offense than we do on defense,” Dillingham noted. “That’s kind of normal in camp; it’s also normal to make more (missing assignments) before a game week because you have the big arsenal of plays. We have a pretty big playbook, but we’ll get into a game plan and shrink that thing down. The MAs should shrink pretty drastically.”
The lackluster offensive plays we’re not often either. Dillingham was detailed in delivering the information, as many of the penalties and sacks allowed happened when the offense was in and around the red zone, looking to attack for touchdowns.
“It’s not every play, it’s once every four to five plays,” Dillingham said. “We’re explosive, but our consistency isn’t there, and if we wanna be a great offense, we’re going to be explosive and consistent. Which means if our explosive plays don’t score, it’s gonna lead to three points over and over and over again.”
A tangible factor to ASU’s false-starting issue Saturday could also be attributed to the changes up front. Over the last five practices during week three of camp, redshirt freshman lineman Wade Helton, who transferred from Iowa State alongside his twin brother Brent Helton, has slotted in at center amongst the first team.
The coaching staff has iterated that the starting lineup up front is not yet decided, which has seen graduate Ben Coleman shift between center and his position in 2024 left guard. When Coleman is at center, redshirt senior Jimeto Obigbo plays at left guard, and while Helton is at the helm, Coleman is back at left guard.
To give the offensive line some credit, the defensive front they are facing is a ferocious bunch. In 2024, ASU had the best run defense in the Big 12 conference, being the only team that allowed less than 115 rushing yards per game.
Finishing near the middle of the pack in the pass rushing department, however, gave many players, particularly the edge rushers, another point to prove headed into the new season, and it’s shown all camp, including Saturday. All of ASU’s primary edge rushers are in their fifth season as collegiate players; Clayton Smith, Justin Wodtly, Prince Dorbah, and Elijah O’Neal have often harassed sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt, and they’ll likely do the same to other Big 12 signal callers as well.
“Hopefully our defense is good, and that’s why it’s hard to go against them,” Dillingham laughed. “It’s always more worrisome if your offense is scoring tons of points in camp than if your defense is playing good.
“Clayton (Smith) shot me a photo of him weighing 260 today, so I mean, they want it, there’s a want to there with that group, and it shows up. You can see the chaos they’re causing in this camp.”
Category: General Sports
