Dillingham in ‘uncomfortable’ spot with hyped Arizona State

ORLANDO, Fla. — It will be impossible for Arizona State to escape preseason buzz after making the College Football Playoff last year and returning a strong nucleus of its best players.

That has left coach Kenny Dillingham feeling a little uncomfortable.

Asked Thursday during Big 12 spring meetings how much fun it was to be among the favorites after being picked to finish last in the preseason media poll in 2024, Dillingham said, “It’s less fun, to be honest.

“It’s naturally motivating for people to say, ‘You suck,’ and it’s way more difficult to people to say, ‘You’re good.’ I’m not one who actually likes the limelight or people telling me I’m good anyway. So to me, it’s more uncomfortable. I’d much rather be an underdog. I want to try to be somebody people count out. So I’d say this is definitely uncomfortable to always get positive praise. I would prefer it to all be about the players, and then for me to just try to navigate our players and make sure they stay focused on them, trying to be the best version of themselves.”

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Dillingham remade his roster a year ago through the transfer portal, and the results took the nation by surprise: Behind up-and-coming quarterback Sam Leavitt and veteran running back Cam Skattebo, the Sun Devils won the Big 12 and made their first CFP appearance. Though they came up just short in a 39-31 double-overtime loss to Texas in the quarterfinals at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, they finished 11-3 after going 3-9 in Dillingham’s first season.

“We got guys that were hungry. They liked each other; they were friends,” Dillingham said. “The power of people is powerful, and the power of connection is real, and I think our guys just really grew together. I don’t think it was anything I did, or our staff did. It’s a credit to our players and the work that they put in, which is why they had the success that they had.”

Arizona State ranked No. 12 in the final CFP standings a year ago but ended up as the No. 4 seed as one of the top four conference champions. But this year, the CFP will move to straight seeding. Had there been straight seeding last year, Arizona State would have been negatively impacted, but Dillingham said he supports the change.

“I think it was a great change,” Dillingham said. “You should get what you’ve earned that season. And last season, maybe we didn’t earn the right to be the fourth seed. Maybe we earned the right to be the eighth seed. I don’t know where we finished — ninth, 12th, whatever that was, I believe you earn your way to those seeds.”

Arizona State did earn the playoff spot, and now that means it will no longer be viewed as the underdog, the way Dillingham prefers. Especially since the Sun Devils return Leavitt, leading receiver Jordyn Tyson and top defensive player Xavion Alford.

Dillingham knows outside expectations will be higher, but the success last season has not changed the approach.

“I mean, a sailboat doesn’t sail on yesterday’s wind,” Dillingham said. “You can be as good as you want last year, nobody cares. We were picked dead last, last year and we won it. So who cares where we’re picked this year. We could finish dead last. This league is so competitive.”