In a 2024 season defined by stark contrasts, Arizona State (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) has transformed Mountain America Stadium into a hostile environment for opponents, delivering momentous plays and producing victories that consistently showcase perseverance. An unblemished record in Tempe has seen the Sun Devils harness the energy of their passionate fans and successfully overcome adversity.
Its performance on the road, however, has been devoid of all those traits. ASU has grappled with poor play, experiencing early game extended periods where they come undone in a flash, and consequently has recorded its only two losses to date away from home. As they prepare to face their next challenge, a road game at Oklahoma State (3-5, 0-5), the disparity between their home success and road woes raises questions about the Sun Devils’ resilience and ability to perform under pressure.
"We're having big waves of negativity on the road,” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham noted. “It's like, ‘Oh, we're playing good football. Oh, crap, we just lost 17 straight points or 24 straight points. What just happened?’ 12 minutes or 15 minutes from hell gets us down all these points and then we play another three quarters of good football on the road.”
The Cowboys, a team that ASU is now set to play three years in a row, is a program desperate to find its footing. With eight games elapsed this season, Oklahoma State is riding a five-game losing streak, sitting at the bottom of the Big 12 standings with no wins in conference play thus far, and an average margin of defeat of nearly two touchdowns. During a turbulent inaugural season as ASU's head coach, Dillingham’s 3-9 team in 2023 suffered its first loss of the year in Stillwater, as the 27-15 defeat ignited a six-game losing skid, demising the Sun Devils conference record to 0-4 through the four weeks of league play.
Although the conditions may appear analogous on paper, coach Kenny Dillingham has no doubt about which Oklahoma State team the Sun Devils will affront on Saturday.
“I don't think you can compare our team last year to Oklahoma State's program in any way, shape, or form,” Dillingham said. “This a team that's won seven games for almost 20 years in a row. It's their homecoming, so they still have the ability to achieve that and to keep that streak going. We're going to get their very best, and Coach Gundy's been doing this a long time at one of the highest levels amongst anybody in college football. A team's homecoming, which means we're going to get the best crowd that they have all year, and the most motivated those players will really be is when you play at homecoming.”
In ASU’s most recent victory, a 27-19 win over Utah, the Sun Devils contained a similar style offense to the Cowboy's expected gameplan. Using the passing game to spread the defensive unit thin before pouncing on rushing lanes to exploit the scattered defensive alignment has been an element that is common to both of Arizona State’s Big 12 foes.
“From a scheme perspective, how they're playing football is probably a Utah; that would probably be the most similar from a schematic standpoint,” Dillingham commented. “They're changing quite a bit from earlier in the year to now so you got to kind of prepare for not what they're currently doing but what they have in their arsenal.”
Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon is usually a matchup nightmare waiting to be unleashed. The 6-foot-2 junior exploits defenses using his explosive power and size, making him defiant to tackles and prospective to earn big gains time and again. This season, though, the reigning 2023 Doak Walker Award winner finds himself ranked 9th among all Big 12 running backs, averaging 71 yards.
“They try to run the football,” Dillingham described. “They try to have a controlled passing game with efficiency. Always have bigger backs, and I think the style of play when you spread A team out and then have a bigger back right runs go for four-five 18 right you break one tackle. I think that's just the philosophy behind the style, so it makes it a challenge because you have to tackle this gigantic dude who's one of the best backs in college football with one dude, sometimes not as many people around them because the RPO and the space that they produce.”
The Sun Devils' strength on both sides of the ball will derive from their dynamism in patterns. They utilize formations to offset the opponent while running similar stets from the established playbook. Dillingham noted the importance of mastering the entrenched plays seven games through the season in an attempt to maximize his team's strengths. To perfect the minor details, the coaching staff has reminded its players of effective study habits, using the intricacies of collegiate football rules to act as a competitive advantage while deriving information from opposing systems.
“There are a few coverages that we're not great at, and there are a few coverages that we're really good at,” Dillingham admitted. “There are a few things that that we've got to lean on more and a few that we got to take out. From a running the ball perspective, I would say the same thing, there are a few rushing schemes that have been really high productivity for us and that haven't been called a lot, and then a few that have been called a lot that haven't had as high productivity rate.
“We got to really lean on what we're good at this point. When you're battling this late in the season, the scheme is important, but you may be in a little bit of a repeat mode, so now it's about execution and then how you make something look different and get to the same thing that you've already done or that you've repped 40 or 50 times.
“I study rules, and there are so many little nuances of college football that are different than the NFL because of the stoppage rules with first downs and out-of-bounds that it's actually a little bit more difficult to work the clock in four-minute and two-minute drills. So you just got to know the rules and you got to know the referee mechanics of how the ball is going to get spotted and when the clock is going to roll based off that. It’s just stuff that I've studied over time and learned from different people every week I learn something else from a different coach that they do when we watch all these weird scenarios.”
An adjustment the Sun Devils have calculated are its fourth downs. On the road, they're just 1-7 on fourth down attempts and, conversely, are 7-8 on those conversions at home. The significant swing of trying to execute those plays from a home crowd to a hostile environment is a microcosm of the team's challenges away from home. Dillingham was straightforward regarding the effects of the aggressive playcalling, forcing a cautious outlook on seemingly overt opportunities.
“Maybe the statistics and common sense are not common sense to the general fan because teams are going for it now more than ever,” Dillingham commented. “But our team is struggling to handle emotional swings on the road. So, for our team, maybe that's a punt on the road; who knows? Those are the things that when you get to know your team and get to know that ‘Okay if we can just manage this downward spiral on the road, limit it, and get out of it, we play really good football.’So how do I limit that and not get caught up in the analytics or what over time should be successful? And what is successful for our team, even from a mental standpoint?”
The game week preparation for a pivotal away game that can shape ASU’s season outlook, are likely to enjoy a major reinforcement, as redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt has been medically cleared following his rib injury suffered in the Utah a game a few weeks ago. He has returned to practice and will likely suit up as the starting signal caller on Saturday. Boasting a healthy roster through eight weeks of the season is gratifying for Dillingham, as he is cognizant of the workload he can impose in practice with five consecutive game weeks taking place in November.
“Sam should be back, but it's still, I'd say, 60/40,70/30 that he'll play this week,” Dillingham noted. “It's one of those (situations) we got to see him practice and stuff like that. But he's cleared to play, he wants to play, he's excited about playing, he's been putting in a lot of work to play, so we'll see how that transpires.
“At this time of the year, there are some programs that can keep their foot on the gas and go, and if they get some guys dinged up, they can survive. Then other programs it's a battle of health, who is the healthiest and the freshest in weeks 8-12, what guys take the field and play hard and physical for five more weeks and we've got to make sure our guys are in the best position to do that.
“We've had a pretty physical spring, a physical fall Camp, pretty physical first four to five weeks of the Season; I think it's time to take it off of the guys a little bit and make sure we can stay as fresh and healthy the rest of the way. I told him when we say we're going to go we better go, there better be contact it better be physical we can't turn that down. We just got to take a little of it off but you can't manage yourself let us manage that.”
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