Insider Reveals Arizona State's Non-Conference Scheduling Strategy

TEMPE -- The Arizona State Sun Devils are in the midst of a run to a second consecutive Big 12 title in the 2025 season after a win over Texas Tech last week - the future has to be at the forefront of head coach Kenny Dillingham's mind despite the present being predicated on finishing 10-2 in the regular season for the second straight year.

The non-conference schedule is of great importance for the future of the Arizona State program - as road games in hotbed recruiting pipelines certainly wouldn't hurt making a case for players to commit to play in Tempe.

For now, Arizona State has a trio of SEC programs scheduled out - those being Texas A&M, LSU, and Texas-Austin.

Florida previously canceled the home-and-home series between the two programs - which only magnified the increased importance of scheduling in the modern college football landscape moving into the future.

Dillingham recognizes the vitality of not only scheduling challenging opponents, but also reaching states that are a key emphasis for recruiting - the 35-year old hinted that he would like to re-engage the state of California in the years to come - local insider John Gambadoro confirmed that interest is real on X on Thursday morning.

"Kenny Dillingham wants some California schools on the ASU schedule down the road for recruiting purposes. Some schools they are looking at are Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA and Sacramento State. ASU does have San Diego State scheduled for 2028/29."

What Scheduling in California Would Mean for ASU

From a purely historical perspective, the re-entrance in California has the ability to briefly resume rivalries that were formed as members of the Pac-12 - specifically if UCLA or USC were the programs that were scheduled.

Playing against Sacramento State on the road would be fascinating, as the Sun Devils have hosted them on several occasions in the past - the program is currently making a major push to get promoted to the FBS behind major facilities and NIL upgrades.

There would be different advantages to scheduling the Los Angeles teams and Bay Area squads - the ACC pipeline is different from the Big 10 one, but both would ultimately benefit Arizona State.

Players such as southern California product AJ Ia serve as proof that the potential to get back into the state's pipeline is attainable for Dillingham - that is compounded by the fact that the now head coach was a grad assistant under Todd Graham when recruiting in the state was arguably at its peak.

Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on three major takeaways from the win over Texas Tech here.

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