Kenny Dillingham Discusses Challenges Big 12 Presents

TEMPE -- The Arizona State football program was not expected to be a force in the Big 12 conference.

Not this abruptly, at least.

Kenny Dillingham's team has gone 13-4 in 17 league games since the beginning of the 2024 season - with the 2024 title game included in the figure.

Of those 13 wins, nine of them have been of the single digit variet, which truly shows how competitive the conference has been even after the departure of Texas and Oklahoma.

Dillingham spoke on the challenges that the league presents in his weekly press conference on Monday - particularly from a play-style perspective.

"Yeah, it's tough, because everybody's so much different. There's so many different play styles in this league, you know, and in other leagues, play styles are similar, like, Oh, you're gonna get a four down. They're gonna jump to odd weak side overhang. They're gonna play, you know, three match play, man free. They're gonna bring simulated pressures, right?

It's almost like you get a very similar picture every single week, and the challenge is, how do you change how you attack a team is more the challenge in this league. Everybody's so much different. I mean, we really haven't played a team that's been the same defense or the same philosophy in back to back weeks yet."

Big 12 Truly is Unique

On the offensive front, the Sun Devils have faced several uniques schemes and individual quarterbacks. Brian Ward's defense has dealt with a burly, physical group of offensive lineman with a potent plus-one rushing attack in Utah. They have faced vertical passing offenses in TCU and Baylor. They faced a balanced, yet potent Texas Tech offense that previously paced the nation in scoring prior to the matchup on October 18.

Defensively speaking, Arizona State has regularly faced defenses that are very different from one another - Texas Tech is once again a prime example. The Red Raiders' defense is predicated on an incredible defensive line/pass rush and is complimented by one of the best linebackers in the nation in Jacob Rodriguez. Houston's defense created much pressure from the start of the game on October 25 - while also being incredibly disciplined in coverage. Iowa State forced the Sun Devils to win with the plus-one game due to how the team typically operates on defense.

The Sun Devils are set to play the penultimate game of the 2025 regular season this coming Saturday against the Colorado Buffaloes.

Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on how the culture that has been cultivated by coach Dillingham showed up against West Virginia here.