ASU football is about to have its first Big 12 Conference home game in program history when they host the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl champions Kansas on Saturday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Led by head coach Lance Leipold, the Jayhawks were 9-4 last season. In the highest-scoring game during the bowl season this past year, Kansas came into Phoenix at Chase Field, the home of the MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, and were victorious in a 49-36 win over UNLV on Dec. 26, 2023.
After a massively successful year overall, the calendar has flipped to 2024 and Kansas has been on the wrong side of one-score games multiple times. They blew out Lindenwood 48-3, then lost 23-17 to Illinois, 23-20 to UNLV, 32-28 to West Virginia and fell to in-state rival Kansas State 38-27.
Despite three of the defeats decided by one play, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham does not believe their record shows how good they can be.
“They were the same team that was predicted to potentially win the league to start the season,” Dillingham said. “This is a really good football team. They’ve turned the ball over a lot, and really that’s the only statistic that is much different from last year for them. It is amazing what turnover margin does.”
Kansas was ranked No. 4 in the Big 12 media preseason poll and had huge expectations going into this season. Losing star quarterback Jason Bean, who turned pro and is on the Indianapolis Colts practice squad, the Jayhawks remain competitive despite the 1-4 record saying otherwise.
ASU is coming off of a bye week after the Sun Devils lost its first game of the season, a 30-22 defeat to Texas Tech on Sept. 21. Plagued by special teams and careless penalties, Arizona State dealt with self-inflicted wounds and the mistakes came back to bite them.
With extra time off to watch film and practice, Dillingham wants his team to have a complete game against Kansas because if not, the Jayhawks will pounce.
“We’ve got to find a way to play good football for all four quarters because this isn’t a team you run away from,” Dillingham said. “This is a team that won nine games last year, including the bowl game. This isn’t like the team forgot how to play football, this is a really good football team that two plays a game are not going their way. That’s sports. Two plays flip the other direction, they are, ‘the No. 12 ranked team in the country, undefeated and favorites in the Big 12.’ When two plays don’t go their way, it’s, ‘What happened, change everything.’
“I think the one thing about Coach Leipold is that he has had a lot of success in his career. He knows how close they are. I don’t expect any drastic change because anyone who watches them play knows that if you are one or two plays away from being 5-0, you are not going to make wholesale changes. You just got to not make those mistakes on those downs, and that’s what they are. They are that close to still being the team that everyone predicted them to be.”
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HEREÂ to unlock our premium content!*
Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
