- Slug: Sports–ASU Football Ascension. 740 words.
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By Tucker L. Sennett
Cronkite News
TEMPE – The last time Arizona State football finished the season undefeated at home came in 2004. Kenny Dillingham, then a 14-year-old freshman in high school, reflected Monday on what he was likely up to 20 years ago.
“I was either watching games or probably playing Halo 2 with people in high school,” Dillingham said.
The Master Chief, the Halo franchise’s iconic main character, is known for making miracles happen on science-fiction battlefields. While the gridiron isn’t the same as a sci-fi war, what the Arizona State head coach has done with the program in his second year is nothing short of a miracle.
On Saturday, the 8-2 Sun Devils, now ranked No. 21 in the AP poll, square off against No. 14 BYU with a chance to essentially control their destiny in pursuit of a Big 12 Championship game bid.
But Dillingham never looked at this season like that.
“You always expect to win … I don’t look at the macro very much of like how many wins are you going to achieve,” Dillingham said. “We’re four plays away from having four losses … I always look at it like, ‘Man, we could win every game on our schedule. No, we can lose every game on our schedule too.’”
From a national media standpoint, ASU flew under the radar throughout much of the season. Now, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and Pat McAfee, the Ringer’s Ryen Russillo and many other sports media staples have given the Sun Devils their flowers in one way or another.
Emotions will be high for both teams, but for different reasons.
“We’re coming off an emotional win, they’re coming off an emotional loss,” Dillingham said. “So which team should have a little more piss and vinegar in them? Probably the team that just came off some negative. Not the team that’s being told how great we are.
“They definitely have an advantage when it comes to mindset based off of the last week’s game. They’re going into this game like it’s the Super Bowl, which it is.”
While Dillingham is right to be nervous about the importance of the game for BYU, it’s hard to ignore how long it has been since the Sun Devils hosted a game with this level of importance.
In 2014, a little over 10 years ago, No. 9 ASU hosted No. 10 Notre Dame at then-Sun Devil Stadium for a massive ranked matchup which the Sun Devils won 55-31. The season marked the inaugural playing of the College Football Playoff. ASU reached No. 6 on the CFP rankings after the Notre Dame win but collapsed down the stretch with two losses in Pac-12 play, ultimately earning a berth in the Sun Bowl.
Ten years later, a path to another inaugural version of a college football playoff looks to be in reach for Arizona State with a win in a crucial ranked matchup in November.
But as he has all year, Dillingham wants his players to stay composed.
“Don’t get lost in the sauce,” he said. “Just be the very best we can be over and over again and wherever we end up is the best we could have ever done.”
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