College Football 2024: Winners and Losers from Week 12 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

When Arizona State hired Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham to be their head coach before last season, the program was in shambles. The Herm Edwards regime was riddled with NCAA recruiting allegations, and the roster was decimated.

Following one 3-9 season, though, Dillingham has the Sun Devils right in the thick of the race to get to the Big 12 championship game. What he’s doing in year two is nothing short of magic.

Though they’re currently on the outside looking in at BYU and Colorado, there’s no question they’re right up there with Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes for the biggest story in the league and one of the nation’s top up-and-coming programs. Saturday night, they took their biggest step yet.

Star running back Cam Skattebo returned from injury, but when the Sun Devils went on the road to the “Little Apple” of Manhattan, Kansas, and beat Kansas State 24-14, it surprisingly wasn’t Skattebo who was the catalyst.

Instead, young quarterback Sam Leavitt tossed three scoring passes as the Sun Devils built a 24-point lead, and the Arizona State defense was dominant, as well. Skattebo wound up with just 73 rushing yards, but it didn’t matter.

By the time Avery Johnson finally found the end zone late in the third quarter, the game already was in hand. Even though the Wildcats didn’t give up, the gap was too wide.

You may not be paying much attention to the Sun Devils right now, but you should be. This program is one to watch for the future, and the future may be right now. They are 8-2, and one of the losses was when Leavitt didn’t play.