Arizona State

The 2024 season was the most joyful out-of-nowhere run the desert has had since Jake Plummer took Arizona State to the Rose Bowl in 1996. Dillingham — a Tempe kid coaching his hometown school — rebuilt a 3-9 roster into an 11-3 Big 12 champion in three years, picked last in the preseason and treated as a fluke all season long. Cam Skattebo carried the offense, finishing as a Heisman finalist. The blue-chip programs that had never taken Tempe seriously were looking at a program that had beaten them to a Playoff berth. The Fork Up was genuine.

The 2025 answer was more complicated. Leavitt broke his foot against Baylor and eventually entered the transfer portal; backup Jeff Sims started down the stretch and then declared for the NFL Draft. Skattebo was gone. A Sun Bowl loss to Duke, 42-39, closed the year at 8-5. The internal fracture is a real one: the faction that sees a sustainable Dillingham program, culture-built and energy-driven, versus the faction bracing for the regression now that the two players who powered the breakthrough are both gone. Dillingham's answer entering 2026 is to find the next quarterback and prove the system creates stars rather than depending on them.

The 2026 Big 12 season will adjudicate the real question, which is not whether Arizona State can win 11 games again — it is whether the program has enough infrastructure to compete for the league title when it is not the team nobody respects until kickoff. Being the overlooked pick was Tempe's fuel in 2024. Getting picked higher changes the dynamic. Dillingham has earned the chance to manage that shift; the rebuilt quarterback room is what determines whether he gets to.