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Ahead of the 2024 season, the Arizona State football team was picked to finish last in the Big 12. We all know what ended up happening. The Sun Devils were the surprise team of the season, and they went on to win the Big 12 and make the College Football Playoff. Now, the Big 12 has abolished its preseason poll, and Arizona State is expected to be a CFP contender once again. There are big expectations for the program, but head coach Kenny Dillingham is blocking out the outside noise.
The Arizona State football team made the College Football Playoff last year, so people on the outside are expecting it to happen again. Well, what about the expectations that the program has? Kenny Dillingham doesn't think about expectations much, he just wants his guys to give it their all.
“I think the funny thing about that is, what is expectations? What when people say expectations, expectations are external, like, the only expectation of our program is to be the very best version of yourself every day, all the time, and compete,” he said at Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday, according to a post from PHNX Sun Devils. “If you compete, you want to win. If you lose, you lose. There's no solace in losing. So compete, compete.”
In terms of the outside expectations, that is something that Arizona State is ignoring. Dillingham will be satisfied with what his team does as long as his players are always leaving it all on the field.
“I think expectations aren't aren't real to us, because we don't talk about them,” Dillingham continued. “I don't care if we're picked to win nine games, two games, one game, ten, it's irrelevant. Be the best version of us, and if the best version of us wins three games this year, then guess what? I can sleep at night. If the best version wins 12, that's freaking awesome, right? But just be the best version of us, that's our expectation.”
Arizona State isn't paying attention to what the rest of the college football world is expecting from the program, but those expectations are still there. The Sun Devils are a very popular pick to win the Big 12 title, and that would mean another trip to the College Football Playoff. This team is returning a lot of good talent from last year's squad, and it's hard to pick any other Big 12 team over Arizona State. Kenny Dillingham has another terrific team on his hands.
