ASU football is off to a blistering 3-0 start which many wouldn’t have expected to happen but for the coaching staff and players, all of the difficult times they have gone through have helped them be where they are today.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Culture change boding well to start new season
From the grueling days during fall training camp when the weather was 110-plus degrees outside in Tempe to heading to Camp Tontozona and focusing strictly on football with no distractions, the Sun Devils have shown they have developed and built a new, competitive culture than in years past. Arizona State finished 3-9 in each of the past two seasons and has already matched that win total in 2024.
Constructing a group that revolves around togetherness and a “next man up” mentality, Sun Devil football head coach Kenny Dillingham has been pleased with how the players have bought into what the program is trying to establish more than ever before.
“The relationships on this team are stronger significantly, the ‘want to’ is stronger on this team,” Dillingham said after beating Texas State on Thursday. “I think the work that has been put in, these guys put in a lot of work. I’d say there is a difference between confidence and cockiness. If you are cocky, then you just think you are going to win. If you are confident, you put the work in and you’re prepared. That way, whatever happens, you’ll be confident. We want to be a confident football team.”
After two big wins over Wyoming and Mississippi State to begin the year, Arizona State controlled the momentum in each game other than the second half against MSU where the Bulldogs clawed back late. Regardless, the team had not dealt with much adversity and was in line to be tested when they went up against a fellow undefeated team at the time, 2-0 Texas State.
When adversity strikes, Sun Devils respond
In a back-and-forth affair on Thursday, Texas State looked as if they were about to run away with it in the second quarter. Quarterback Jordan McCloud was excelling and the defense thwarted ASU running back Cam Skattebo and the rest of the Sun Devil offense from producing much of anything.
But to break out of the slump and ultimately pull off a huge victory, Arizona State tied the game just before halftime and the defense stepped up as they held the Bobcats to just seven points in the second half en route to a 31-28 win.
Embodying what it means to be a leader who guides Arizona State by example, Sun Devil defensive back Xavion Alford expressed that it wasn’t about what Texas State was doing but what his own team wasn’t doing. Once they came together as a group to discuss what they needed to fix, however, Arizona State found a way to overcome the adversity thrown at them and prevailed.
“We made changes ourselves, we really had to look at ourselves in the mirror,” Alford said. “Credit to them, they [Texas State] really did everything that we [had] seen on film. It was really just us, we have to be the best us we can be. That’s what Coach Dillingham, the team and the leaders pride on, ourselves. Once we really locked in, you saw we came out with a different fire and different passion to play differently in the second half.”
Adversity means a lot to the Sun Devils as the word has been mentioned a plethora of times from the start of training camp to now. Some players have suffered injuries, some never got a fair opportunity to show what they could provide at other schools and some have been on teams that have not won many football games.
No matter what the case may be, adversity is something that ASU embodies on a day-by-day basis and tough times don’t last but tough people do.
“We tough,” Alford said. “Adversity is a big word in our program. A lot of teams say that word but I feel like we breathe, sleep and eat that word. They [ASU’s coaching staff] try to create adverse situations for us every day in the offseason, create adverse situations for each other, making each other uncomfortable. I know the offense and defense got each other’s back because we have been through tough, adverse times together. A lot of teams try to just flip the switch but we are a team that is built off of adversity. Whether that is injuries or being somewhere they wanted that was the best for them or just moving around, the whole team is assembled around adversity.”
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
