The History of Arizona State's 2025 Non-Conference Opponents

After one of the best seasons in program history, it's time for the Arizona State Sun Devils football team to look ahead and build on their success.

Starting the 2025 season, the Devils will have the opportunity to get their legs under them and prepare for conference play from the fourth week of the season until the very end.

They'll have a decent amount of returnees, along with a few impact transfers, but will be missing their elite running back, Cam Skattebo, who went over to the NFL.

Let's take a look at who the Sun Devils start the season off against, and the history between these schools:

August 30 – vs. Northern Arizona

The history between ASU and Northern Arizona is more layered than you think.

Arizona State, overall, has the advantage on the Lumberjacks with a 25-14-3 record. But for a while, it was Northern Arizona who had the Sun Devils' number. From 1915 through 1950, the Lumberjacks came out on top 14 times.

After 1950, these two programs wouldn't square off until 2003, when NAU transitioned over to the NAIA for a brief period, then entered back into Division I football as part of the FCS.

From 2003 on, though, it's been all Sun Devils.

Every few years now, the programs have squared off, but it's resulted in pure domination. In the seven games played, Arizona State has come out on top by a margin of 20 points or more in six of them. The lone game? It was decided by 17.

September 6 – at Mississippi State

As crazy as it sounds, and after all these years, these two programs have only faced each other once. And just like 2025, that was in Week 2 of last season.

Arizona State was seemingly running away with this game, with a 27-3 lead at the half, until Mississippi State made a ferocious second-half comeback to make it close.

Ultimately, it was the Sun Devils who remained victorious, with Skattebo dominating on the ground and rushing for 262 yards. Quarterback Sam Leavitt also had two rushing touchdowns for ASU's only touchdowns of the game. The rest were field goals from Ian Hershey.

This is going to be a new-look Bulldogs roster, though. From the looks of it, Blake Shapen may still stay as their quarterback, but he'll have a whole new set of wide receivers to throw to.

September 13 – vs. Texas State

Similar to the Bulldogs, ASU has only squared off against Texas State one time — in Week 3 of last season.

In 2024, the Sun Devils may have been college football's Cinderella story, but they were still figuring things out as a whole. Because in yet another close battle, ASU came out on top 31-28 against the Bobcats.

The quarter-by-quarter breakdown is fascinating, as both teams scored the same amount of points in each quarter, except the fourth.

It was a total grind to walk away from this game, but the Sun Devils did it, thanks to a Hershey field goal from 22 yards with six minutes and 31 seconds left in the game.

The Bobcats had no answer.

This season's game will be held in Tempe, as opposed to last season being held in San Marcos, but it's a game to keep an eye on, given these programs' brief but exciting history.

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