Kenny Dillingham Opens Up About Arizona State's Battle With History
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TEMPE -- Kenny Dillingham knows what's at stake for his 11th ranked Arizona State squad heading into the 2025 regular season.
The pressure to repeat what was done last season - winning the Big 12 championship and reaching the College Football Playoff - is at the forefront of virtually everyone's minds - the expectations are not being taken lightly.
Dillingham dove into the elephant in the room after Saturday night's scrimmage when asked if the 2025 Sun Devils are a largely player-lead team.
"Yeah, I mean, our players, we're a tight football team, and you can feel it, you can see it. So it's definitely a player led team. There's no doubt about that. Question is, where do we where do we lead each other? I think that's the greatest challenge. You know, I've challenged these guys multiple times."
"I've showed them the stats on Arizona state when they're ranked top 15 and in the last 50 years, what happened? It's never good, never. And we're trying to beat history, right? We're not just facing not facing opponents, right? We're facing 50 years of history. And anytime you face 50 years of history, that's not an accident. It's 50 years of history, and that's difficult to overcome. And I try to reiterate to them how hard that is and how this is going to be one of the most challenging tasks they'll ever face, because they're facing 50 years of history. They're coming to work every day and go out and get to coaching."
The closest the Arizona State program ever came to reaching the promised land of college football was in 1996 - when they came within a minute of beating Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and potentially securing a national title. The three succeeding decades weren't very kind to the program - a strong double-digit win season in year one under Dennis Erickson in 2007 was the peak of his tenure. The program got off to a quick start under Todd Graham, but a swift defeat in the 2013 Pac-12 title game, an unbelievable upset loss to Oregon State when the program was ranked number six late in the 2014 season
The disastrous Herm Edwards experience put the stamp on setting the Sun Devils up to be considered volatile.
The 2025 squad is absolutely in position to buck the trend and set the program on a different course despite the precedence that has been set.
This team is tight-knit, built around continuity, and is lead by an all-around standout coaching staff that has a proven track record. This roster is also arguably possesses the most raw talent since 2021 - the connectivity and coaching staff obviously give this rendition of the Sun Devil program an advantage heading into year two of Big 12 play.
Whether the Sun Devils will break down decades of falling short of goals in 2025 is still up in the air - but if anyone can set the program up for a prosperous future, it is undoubtedly coach Dillingham.
Watch the entire exchange between Dillingham and the media here.
Read ASU on SI's exclusive interview with Jordyn Tyson here, and on where Sam Leavitt lands on the NIL merchandise sales leaderboard here.
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.