Is Arizona State Among Most Overrated Teams?

Arizona State football is in a completely different place now compared to even 10 months ago.

A late-season surge and some outside help landed the Sun Devils in the Big 12 title game - a battle with Iowa State that was won in resounding fashion over Iowa State.

Kenny Dillingham's team has several tangible advantages in terms of potentially repeating as conference champions and reaching the College Football Playoff once again.

Not everyone is convinced.

CBS Sports college football analyst David Cobb believes the Sun Devils are the most overrated team in all of the nation in his part of the preseason roundtable on Monday.

More below:

"The Big 12 is too wide open to reasonably expect that Arizona State will replicate the success it enjoyed in 2024. Games at Baylor, at Utah and at Iowa State will be treacherous, and home dates against TCU and Texas Tech are no cakewalk, either. The Sun Devils have a high floor with star quarterback Sam Leavitt returning."

"But replacing the do-it-all stardom of running back Cam Skattebo will be tough in a muddy league race. ASU is transitioning from the hunter to the hunted while still relatively early in its promising transformation under Kenny Dillingham, and that paradigm shift will bring a bit of regression."

Let's start with what is correct.

The Big 12 is wide open - Iowa State, Baylor, Utah, and others will very much factor into the race for the conference crown. The Sun Devils also conveniently play virtually all of the purported contenders.

Arizona State does, in fact, have a high floor as well. Eight wins feels like the absolute floor of the 11th-ranked team heading into the season. A team that possesses Leavitt, Jordyn Tyson, Xavion Alford, and other stars, along with great depth, is too strong to fall short of that mark.

The replacement of Skattebo will likely bring an in-game adjustment period - at least briefly - but the offense is talented and versatile enough to overcome the loss. The expected progression of Leavitt and Tyson surely can't be detrimental either.

The 'hunted' narrative is one that appears valid at the surface, but the Sun Devils are too well-coached, too talented, and too experienced to get exposed on a consistent basis. 10 wins once again appears to be a benchmark that the team should strive to reach.

Read more on the case for Leavitt to be an All-American selection at season's end here, and if Dillingham has any built-in recruiting advantages in his role here.