ASU football is just a couple of days away from the biggest game of the season to date as the No. 21 Sun Devils will clash against the Big 12 leaders, No. 14 BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12).
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Arizona State (8-2, 5-2) is on a three-game winning streak and received its first ranking as a program since 2014 after beating Kansas State 24-14 this past Saturday. BYU, on the other hand, saw its perfect record vanish when the Cougars suffered a 19-13 loss to Kansas last week.
Tasting defeat for the first time this year, BYU will be coming into Tempe hungry and determined to bounce back, something ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham expects from the Cougars.
“They are ranked above us and they have one loss, very close to being undefeated on the season,” Dillingham said. “It’s a great challenge for our guys, especially at home and when we’re coming off of an emotional win and they are coming off an emotional loss. We both somewhat control our own destiny… They definitely have the advantage when it comes to mindset based off of last week’s game. They are coming into this game like it is the Super Bowl because it is, it has the same value for both sides.”
The Cougars were predicted to finish No. 13 in the Big 12 according to the conference preseason media poll. Almost instantly, however, BYU rolled through a majority of its opposition, beating No. 13 SMU 18-15, obliterating Kansas State 38-9 and destroying Arizona 41-19.
From afar, Dillingham has been impressed by BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and the work he has done to get all of his players to buy into what he preaches on and off the field.
“He is one of the best defensive minds in football. I’ve played him multiple times, he’s a phenomenal defensive coach,” Dillingham said about Sitake. “He is definitely in the top three of the best people in the profession from a head coaching perspective. You would want your child to play for him, like he is just an unbelievable person.
“You can just see the energy from his players and his connection with the players, that’s why they play really hard for him. They play extremely hard. This team plays hard and physical because of the connection you can see he builds. He’s a phenomenal football coach and he has done an incredible job there.”
When looking at both teams, there are similarities between the two programs in how they play offensively, but Dillingham agrees with why the Cougars are ranked higher than his team.
“Their football team has one loss, they find ways to win,” Dillingham said. “Their quarterback [Jake Retzlaff] extends plays, makes plays in big moments. He is hard and slippery to get down. They run the football really well. In some games, they have been really, really efficient and they are really good with the turnover margin.
“In terms of their offense, they run a lot of the things we run, there are actually a bunch of similarities between what they do schematically on offense and what we do on offense. I think the scheme is good, the players are good and there is a reason why they were undefeated until last week. It’s hard to go undefeated in college football. There is a reason why they are ranked above us right now, that is not an accident.”
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
