Arizona State Football head coach Kenny Dillingham no longer has to try to “activate The Valley” — Tempe is activated.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!No. 12 ASU (10-2,7-2) has shocked the nation, set to play in the Big 12 title match Saturday, after being predicted by many to finish last in the conference. Dillingham and his platoon of transfer portal finds turned a 3-9 team with no identity into one of the hottest attractions in college football in just one season.
BREAKING: After the conclusion of the regular season, Arizona State will face Iowa State in the Big 12 Conference Championship next Saturday. #ASU #SunDevils #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/ln7APrXK79
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) December 1, 2024
It’s a great time to be a Sun Devil, especially for Arizona State faithfuls who haven’t seen their team ranked this high in a decade.
ASU had not seen this much success since the 2014 season, where the excitement and wins rivaled what this year’s team has brought to The Valley. The Sun Devils took down four nationally ranked opponents that season, finishing the year at 10-3. NFL veteran and current AZ Compass Prep high school football head coach Jaelen Strong caught a hail mary pass to make arguably the most memorable play in program history to take down USC; back-to-back victories against nationally ranked Utah and top ten Notre Dame situated the Sun Devils at No. 7 for a brief moment, and capped the season off with 36-31 victory over Duke in the Sun Bowl.
October 4, 2014: Mike Bercovici (@MikeBerco) hits Jaelen Strong on a 46-yard hail mary as time expires in the game to give @ASUFootball a 38-34 win at USC. pic.twitter.com/63bBLXd1Pe
— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) October 4, 2023
That year is the last time ASU truly was a nationally recognized program before going through years of challenges.
The Sun Devils hadn’t been able to find the same success since, being ranked no higher than No. 15 since the 2015 preseason. Between 2016-2023, Arizona State wasn’t ranked at all in four of those eight seasons.
Tempe has not seen anything like what Dillingham and his team have done in 10 years. With a Big 12 title in sight, they have an opportunity to make this year even more special than that one.
The 2014 regular season ended with a 45-32 loss to rival Arizona, that set the Wildcats up to play in the PAC-12 championship instead of the Sun Devils. ASU has already checked off that box this season with an emphatic 49-7 beating over Arizona (4-8,2-7) Saturday to claim their spot in the Big 12 championship.
But there is so much more at stake than just getting there.
If ASU can defeat No. 16 Iowa State (10-2,7-2), they would not just match the number of ranked wins the 2014 team was able to eclipse, they’d claim a conference championship their predecessors weren’t able to. In fact, a win over the Cyclones would not just be the first Big 12 title for the Sun Devils, but the first conference championship for the university since 2007 when the PAC-12 was still the PAC-10, and only their second this century. The win would also place Arizona State in the College Football Playoff for the first time since its 2014 inception, and a strong run through the playoffs could even see ASU finishing in the top 5 in the country — a feat they haven’t matched since 1996, when the Sun Devils were ranked as high as No. 2, finishing the year at No. 4.
It’s been a while since Arizona State garnered this type of attention, and it’s very well deserved. The keys are in Dillingham’s hands to make an even bigger mark in history than this team already has. But regardless of how the next several weeks turn out for the Sun Devils, this team has already shined a light on The Valley that hasn’t been lit in quite some time.
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Reporter Jordyn Bennett covers Phoenix area sports and sports related topics. You can follow him on his X account, @j_bennett_live
