Kenny Dillingham Discusses Arizona State's Status as Favorites

The Arizona State Sun Devils are no longer the underdog.

The program took a major jump from a 3-9 output in the final season as a member of the Pac-12 to an 11-3 season that resulted in a Big 12 championship in their debut season in the league.

Now, they will likely enter the season as favorites to repeat as champs - along with potentially being ranked inside of the top 15 of the AP preseason poll.

Third-year head coach Kenny Dillingham is well aware of the expectations that his program is facing come August - he spoke about his preference to be underdogs at the Big 12 spring meetings in Orlando.

Via Andrea Adelson of ESPN:

"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."

The Sun Devils played the underdog role to perfection last year - largely dominating the first two games of the season to put some eyes back on the program before escaping with a close victory over a smaller program in Texas State.

Losses to Texas Tech and Cincinnati took attention off of Arizona State, but the team rebounded in incredible fashion to reach the first College Football Playoff in program history.

"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."

Dillingham is simply focused on business as the season approaches - being the subject of frequent media attention is the least of his worries.

The focus of the head coach is to continue to aid in the trajectory of the team as a whole, but in particular Sam Leavitt.

The Sun Devil star is entering his second season as the starting quarterback and has shed the 'underdog' tab in his own right.

Read more about projections surrounding Tyson's second season in Tempe here, along with Kanye Udoh's debut season with the program here.

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