4. Arizona State Solar Devils
11-2 (7-2 Giant 12 steady season)
What is subsequent: First-round bye; vs. winner of No. 12 Clemson-No. 5 Texas at Peach Bowl, Jan. 1.
Head trainer: Kenny Dillingham (2nd season, 14-11 total)
About Dillingham: A graduate of Arizona State and local Phoenician, Dillingham returned to Tempe in 2023 after 5 spectacular seasons as an offensive coordinator, with stops at Memphis and Florida State along fellow former Solar Devils assistant Mike Norvell.
Resume
Highlighting a late-season push with six immediately wins are Arizona State’s signature victories over fellow Best 25 groups Kansas State and BYU. The 24-14 and 28-23 wins adopted a development of shut calls throughout the Solar Devils’ season, with 9 in their 12 regular-season video games made up our minds by means of 10 issues or fewer — together with the 2 losses at Texas Tech (30-22) and Cincinnati (24-14). They busted out of the craze of shut calls with a dominant 45-19 shellacking of Iowa State within the Giant 12 championship.
Postseason historical past
Arizona State’s remaining look in some of the postseason occasions that was a part of the Bowl Championship Sequence and four-team Playoff generation’s New Yr’s Six predates both machine. The 1996 Solar Devils got here a ownership clear of a countrywide championship with their Rose Bowl Sport loss to Ohio State. This season’s Playoff is the nearest Arizona State has come to returning to that prime watermark because the 2013 crew misplaced to Stanford within the Pac-12 championship recreation.
The street to Atlanta
Leisure is the 1st order of industrial for Arizona State after a shockingly lopsided win within the Giant 12 name recreation. No. 5 Texas hosts Clemson on Dec. 21 and the winner meets the Solar Devils on Jan. 1 in Atlanta on the Peach Bowl.
Names to understand
RB Cameron Skattebo
He stocks a convention with the highest Heisman Trophy contender (Colorado’s Travis Hunter) and a place with the opposite (Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty), or else Skattebo may well be within the dialog himself.
His 172.8 all-purpose yards consistent with recreation within the steady season have been second-most within the country. He’s simplest 74 yards shy of tying the convention single-season dashing document after hanging up 170 yards within the Giant 12 name recreation, and his 3 TDs in opposition to Iowa State put him atop the single-season TD document checklist.
QB Sam Leavitt
Quietly some of the most efficient dual-threat quarterbacks within the country, Leavitt heads into the postseason having finished 192 of 304 cross makes an attempt for two,663 yards and dashing for 383 yards. Leavitt has 24 passing touchdowns in opposition to simplest 5 interceptions and 5 dashing touchdowns, moment at the crew simplest to Skattebo’s 19.
“Sam’s aggressive so if you happen to inform him he is tied for the first-best participant within the nation in one thing he will get annoyed about,” Dillingham mentioned to journalists this week. “Which is just right.”
WR Xavier Guillory
Teammate Jordyn Tyson was once having a Biletnikoff Award-caliber season for Arizona State, however the 6-foot-1 sophomore receiver sustained an unspecified arm damage within the regular-season finale vs. Arizona that required season-ending surgical treatment. With Tyson’s 1,101 yards, 10 touchdowns value of manufacturing out, Guillory appeared the a part of the main pass-catching choice in opposition to the Cyclones.
The fifth-year senior, who had 17 receptions and 3 touchdowns within the steady season, hauled in a bonkers TD catch in opposition to Iowa State that made the rating 38-10.
NB Shamari Simmons
Simmons’ teammate within the Arizona State secondary, Xavion Alford, garnered First Group All-Giant 12 honors. Alford’s presence at loose protection has helped Simmons be competitive at nickel again, manifesting in Simmons racking up seven tackles for loss and forcing 3 fumbles.
DT C.J. Fite
The Arizona State run protection has been superb all over the season, restricting combatants to 117.5 yards consistent with recreation and three.8 yards consistent with raise within the steady season. Fite’s physicality at the internal units the tone for the Solar Devils in opposition to the frenzy. The large guy additionally supplied some of the spotlight moments of the season along with his scoop-and-score landing in Week 2 in opposition to Mississippi State, going airborne to succeed in the pylon.
–Box Stage Media
