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Nickname: Sun Devils
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Location: Tempe, Ariz.
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Enrollment: 79,593
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Home field: Mountain America Stadium (Capacity: 53,599)
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Conference: Big 12
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2023 record: 3-9, 2-7 Pac-12
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All-time series record vs. UCF: 1-0
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Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2002 (Arizona State won 46-13)
Editor’s note: This is the 10th installment in a 12-part series highlighting UCF’s 2024 football opponents.
UCF‘s Nov. 9 game at Arizona State promises to be a No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown — in terms of undergraduate population, anyway.
U.S. News reported last November that Arizona State maintains the nation’s largest enrollment with 65,492 undergrads on campus, just over 6,700 more than UCF. When it comes to football, though, the Sun Devils are currently at the bottom of the Big 12 pile.
Arizona State was picked to finish last among the realigned conference’s 16 teams in the preseason media poll after a 3-9 campaign in 2023 in which 31 players missed a combined 143 games due to injury. The schedule does the Sun Devils no favor this fall, either — tricky nonconference games against Wyoming, Mississippi State and Texas State, plus head-to-head bouts with each of the five Big 12 teams that debuted in the US LBM Coaches Poll (Utah, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Arizona and Kansas).
UCF football schedule highlights: 3 games that could define Knights’ second Big 12 season
“I’m not against it,” second-year coach Kenny Dillingham said. “It’s the worst three-year stretch in Arizona State history. Our job is to change it. We can either talk about it, or we can read it and be pissed off about it and change it. But it’s just not going to happen by people saying, ‘Oh, that’s not true.’ Well, it is true.
“So if you want to change it, change it. That’s kind of the message to the team.”
West Virginia made voters regret their last-place choice last year with a nine-win season, bulldozing UCF’s defense for 286 yards and five touchdowns and forcing four turnovers in a 41-28 victory at the Bounce House. So perhaps an early November trip to Tempe should create more of a scare for the Knights than anticipated.
Kenny Dillingham, former Gus Malzahn assistant, starts 2nd year at ASU
Until last month, when Nate Dreiling took over Utah State on an interim basis with Blake Anderson placed on administrative leave, Dillingham was the youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The 34-year-old is an Arizona State graduate and a former Broyles Award nominee at Oregon as the nation’s top assistant.
In 2019, prior to his stints at Florida State and Oregon, Dillingham replaced Chip Lindsey as Auburn’s offensive coordinator under current UCF coach Gus Malzahn. He coached Bo Nix to SEC Freshman of the Year honors, a 9-3 overall record and the No. 28 in scoring offense nationally (33.2 points per game).
“He’s young, but he’s got a lot of wisdom as far as football goes and his approach,” Malzahn said of Dillingham last month at Big 12 media days. “Nowadays in college football, the guys that are true to themselves and the way they go about it are going to have an advantage. Arizona State is lucky to have him. I think he’s one of those guys that is really rising up in the coaching profession.”
Dillingham is still sorting through the wreckage left from Herm Edwards’ tenure as coach, most notably the recruiting violations that resulted in four years of probation, an undisclosed fine, scholarship reductions, visitation restrictions and 10 vacated victories between 2021-22.
Though the 3-9 record is unsightly, Arizona State could make the case that it should have finished closer to .500. Oklahoma State scored 20 unanswered to overturn a 15-7 Sun Devil lead. Colorado beat them with a last-second field goal. Washington thwarted their upset bid with a fourth-quarter pick-six. California emerged victorious in a one-score battle.
Cam Skattebo, DeCarlos Brooks spark Sun Devils’ sputtering offense
Top Offensive Returners: QB Trenton Bourguet, RB DeCarlos Brooks, OL Leif Fautanu, WR Xavier Guillory, WR Troy Omeire, OL Sean Na’a, RB Cam Skattebo, WR Melquan Stovall, OL Bram Walden
Top Defensive Returners: EDGE Prince Dorbah, DL C.J. Fite, LB Caleb McCullough, LB Tate Romney, DB Shamari Simmons, EDGE Clayton Smith
Only two Power Four programs scored less than Arizona State last season — Michigan State and Iowa. The Sun Devils mustered 17.8 points per game, ranking 111th nationally in rushing (111.9 ypg), 86th in passing (210.3 ypg), 117th in third-down conversion rate (31.8%) and 127th in turnover margin (minus-11).
The offensive line produced very little push and rotated nine players in for at least 200 snaps due to the rash of injuries. Arizona State’s linemen, according to Pro Football Focus, collectively graded 80th or worse in run blocking and pass protection.
Cam Skattebo paced the team in rushing with 788 yards and nine touchdowns, while DeCarlos Brooks chipped in 259 yards and three scores in just five games. Skattebo is the Sun Devils’ top returning receiver (24 catches, 286 yards, one TDs) following the transfer departures of Elijhah Badger and Jalin Conyers to Florida and Texas Tech, respectively.
Arizona State brings back five defenders who logged at least 400 snaps. Safety Shamari Simmons had a team-high 73 tackles, adding six pass breakups and four QB hurries. Prince Dorbah tied for the top marks in the sack department (six), and linebackers Tate Romney and Caleb McCullough contributed 52 tackles and one sack apiece.
Arizona State revamps secondary, offensive skill positions through portal
Transfer Portal Additions: OL Joshua Atkins (Hawai’i), RB Raleek Brown (USC), DL Jeffery Clark (Louisville), LB Jordan Crook (Arkansas), DL JP Deeter (Purdue), TE Markeston Douglas (Florida State), LB Keyshaun Elliott (New Mexico State), LB Zyrus Fiaseu (San Diego State), TE Cameron Harpole (San Diego State), QB Christian Hunt (Arkansas State), OL Jalen Klemm (Washington), QB Sam Leavitt (Michigan State), K Parker Lewis (Ohio State), DB Cole Martin (Oregon), RB Alton McCaskill (Colorado), WR Malik McClain (Penn State), TE Chamon Metayer (Colorado), LB Roman Pitre (Purdue), DL Jacob Rich Kongaika (Arizona), DB Javan Robinson (Washington State), DB Myles Rowser (New Mexico State), QB Jeff Sims (Nebraska), OL Joey Su’a (Arkansas), DL Zac Swanson (Texas), EDGE J’mond Tapp (Texas), DB Laterrance Welch (LSU), LS Tyler Wigglesworth (Northern Arizona), DB Kamari Wilson (Florida), EDGE Justin Wodtly (Cincinnati)
Transfer Portal Losses: WR Elijhah Badger (Florida), DL Sam Benjamin (San Diego State), DB Jean Boyd III (San Jose State), WR Alonzo Brown, WR Shawn Charles, DB Jordan Clark (Notre Dame), QB Jacob Conover (Utah State), TE Jalin Conyers (Texas Tech), DB Josiah Cox (New Mexico State), LB Dylan Devito, EDGE James Djonkam (Eastern Michigan), OL Isaia Glass (Oklahoma State), EDGE B.J. Green II (Colorado), OL Isaac Haro, RB George Hart III (Western Kentucky), DB Willie Harts, RB Javen Jacobs (New Mexico), WR Andre Johnson (Miami of Ohio), DB Isaiah Johnson (Marshall), DB Lenox Lawson, OL Shancco Matautia (Arizona), LB Fritzny Niclasse, TE Bryce Pierre (UCLA), QB Drew Pyne (Missouri), QB Jaden Rashada (Georgia), DB RJ Regan (Fresno State), DB Shawn Russ (Bethune-Cookman), OL Griffin Schureman (New Mexico), LB Will Shaffer (Utah State), DL Gharin Stansbury, LB Isaac Stopke (Morehead State), DL Ashley Williams (Louisiana), DB Ed Woods (Michigan State)
Arizona State’s additions and losses in the transfer portal should both be seen as substantial.
Sam Leavitt, a top-20 quarterback recruit in the 2023 class, retained an extra year of eligibility after playing four times for Michigan State. He’s the favorite to start at quarterback after completing 15 of 23 passes for 139 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and rushing 13 times for 67 yards.
Raleek Brown adds juice and breakaway speed to the backfield, Malik McClain has six career TD catches in 39 games spent at Florida State and Penn State, and Chamon Metayer and Markeston Douglas headline an entire group of tight ends yet to catch a pass for the Sun Devils.
Keyshaun Elliott’s intelligence and durability are extremely valued at the linebacker spot, and he earned All-Conference USA second-team honors last year. The Sun Devils will roll with a new group of cornerbacks with Laterrance Welch and Winter Garden native Javan Robinson among those pushing for starting jobs.
As for the outgoings, the Arizona State chapter of the Jaden Rashada saga lasted just three games. The former Under Armour All-American transferred to Georgia, where he will be an understudy for Heisman candidate Carson Beck. Fellow signal-callers Drew Pyne and Jacob Conover also walked out the door.
BJ Green, who tallied six sacks and a team-high 56 QB pressures, bolted for fellow Pac-12 defector Colorado. Badger and cornerback Ed Woods, two of the Sun Devils’ top athletes, jumped into the portal in the spring.
Freshmen Rodney Bimage, Chris Johnson Jr. pushing for secondary spots
Top Incoming Freshmen: DB Rodney Bimage (Dickinson, Texas), RB Jason Brown (Seattle, Wash.), DB Chris Johnson Jr. (Aledo, Texas), DB Tony-Louis Nkuba (Lewisville, Texas), WR Zechariah Sample (Fulshear, Texas)
In addition to 30 transfers, Arizona State brought in a 19-player high school signing class that cracked the top-50 nationally according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. Dillingham’s staff landed players from nine different states, including four apiece from Arizona and Texas.
Jason Brown is the lone consensus blue-chipper in the group, enrolling over the summer and joining the Sun Devils for fall camp. ASU’s backfield depth, however, could reduce his opportunities for making an immediate impact.
Rodney Bimage and Chris Johnson Jr., on the other hand, rotated in with the first- and second-team defense in the spring with the competition on the boundary wide open. Starters Ed Woods, Ro Torrance and Dee Ford are gone from last year’s squad.
As for the quartet of in-state signees, Arizona State signed wide receiver Plas Johnson, defensive linemen Ramar Williams and James Giggey and punter Kanyon Floyd.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football: Opponent preview for Arizona State Sun Devils
