Arizona State: The college football dark horse no one saw coming

Upon putting these first weeks of the college football season behind us, we have learned two things. One is that Georgia and Texas are precisely the title contenders we thought they would be. Two is that everyone else who could ever dream of being in that conversation ranges anywhere from being simply unproven (like Ohio State or Ole Miss) to downright unwatchable (like Florida State or Oregon).

That may sound like criticism—and I suppose if you fall into the “unwatchable” category, then it is—but it’s probably not all that bad from most fans’ perspectives. Seeing more flawed teams opens the door for more chaotic twists and upsets (see: NIU at Notre Dame), while also leaving folks more company to share their heartache with.

Speaking of chaos and shared emotions, there is one team that has stood out with the seemingly rare act of doing much better than expected, and that’s Arizona State.

The Sun Devils are now 2-0 after getting a blowout win over Wyoming and hanging on to fulfill a booming start against Mississippi State.

Are either of those teams great? No, far from it actually, but are they coming off of considerably better seasons than ASU? Yes, so to see the Devils not just beat, but outplay them is something surely no one had on their 2024 bingo card.

With that in mind, we have to question where the ceiling is for Arizona State, especially with the school fixing to begin its first-ever Big 12 slate in a couple of weeks.

Such a discussion topic is probably one that many would shrug off upon first hearing, as having to face several foes that saw greater heights than you last year (most notably Kansas, Utah, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and, of course, Arizona) points quite confidently at your current momentum soon fading out. However, these games are far more manageable than we would’ve recently thought.

For starters, the Sun Devils host the Jayhawks—who just lost to Illinois—off a bye, then host a Utes team that’s still dealing with health concerns at QB the very next week.

As for the Cowboys, they have home-field advantage, but not without the Devils coming off their second bye. Not only that, but OK State failed to wow people with their scary-close win in Stillwater over the Arkansas Razorbacks this past Saturday.

That just leaves K-State and Arizona who, believe it or not, also have doubt staring them in the face early this season, as the the purple Wildcats just squeaked past what was supposed to be a declining Tulane squad, while the blue Wildcats haven’t been able to shut down a single opponent yet (despite having only faced New Mexico and Northern Arizona).

When taking all of this in with the fact that everyone else on ASU’s calendar appears nonetheless surmountable than those already mentioned, there’s no telling as to how high the Sun Devils can reach.

Their résumé is only so grand, and we have many opportunities left to learn more about them, but I can confidently say that if this were 2023, the Devils would be 0-2 right now, so the goose egg being in their loss column this time around still means a lot. With that said, be sure to keep them on your radar, because the mumbling coming out of Tempe today could soon become a deafening yell.

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