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Arizona State

Anonymous Big 12 coach predicts Arizona State to remain at the top of the Big 12 'for a while'

Danby: Daniel Hager06/06/25DanielHagerOn3
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Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham whispers to quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) after Texas won 39-31 over Arizona State in double overtime in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Jan. 1, 2025. | © Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arizona State burst onto the college football national scene last season, as it won the Big 12 championship and made an appearance in the College Football Playoff for the first time ever. The Sun Devils aren’t likely to go anywhere, according to an anonymous Big 12 coach in Athlon Sports’ 2025 College Football Preview.

“They’re going to be at the top of the league for a while,” the coach said.

In his second year as head coach, Kenny Dillingham completely flipped a program that hadn’t won double-digit games since 2014. After going 3-9 in his first season (2023) and being projected to finish last in their first season of Big 12 play, the Sun Devils went 11-3 (7-2) and won a conference title for the first time since 2007.

“Our league is very volatile right now so there’s an idea another program might jump out of nowhere like these guys did, but it’s hard to pick against them as the best right now,” another anonymous coach said. “They won the league and return almost everybody.”

Arizona State does in fact bring back a large chunk of production from last season, including star quarterback Sam Leavitt, star wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, star defensive back Myles “Ghost” Rowser and defensive back Xavion Alford. Its portal haul was effective as well, highlighted by Army running back Kanye Udoh. Udoh will be replacing star running back Cam Skattebo, who was selected by the New York Giants in the 2025 NFL Draft.

“The Army running back [Kanye Udoh] is not Cam [Skattebo],” another anonymous coach said. “Different style, different mentality. You’re not looking to replace Cam, you just want the production.”

Head coach Kenny Dillingham made headlines last week when he revealed that he thinks Arizona State could be the next Oregon or Clemson, signaling that he as well thinks the Sun Devils will be atop the conference for a while.

“The whole cliche is complacency and the first sign of failure and all that stuff,” Dillingham told On3’s Pete Nakos. “For us, it’s just very simple: Why would everybody choose to come back if they want to be the same? Did people come back to do the same thing again? Was that really the goal? That shouldn’t be the goal. If everybody came back to accomplish the exact same thing, then why don’t you go take more money elsewhere? Why don’t you go to something else?”

“Our method is we don’t recruit or acquire talent,” Dillingham said. “We retain talent. We’re a talent retention organization, not a talent acquisition organization.”

Arizona State 2025 schedule