Nobody is hotter than the Sun Devils right now. They demolished their bitter rival this weekend, beating the Wildcats 49-7 in front of their own fans in Tucson to reclaim the Territorial Cup for the first time in three years. In doing so, they notched their first 10-win season in a full decade and ended the regular season on a dominant five game win streak that includes victories over ranked opponents in Kansas State and BYU.
Out of the 134 FBS teams, only eight programs have a longer active win streak than Arizona State right now. That gives you an idea of just how hot they are. But the way they've done it is what's most impressive.
During their current win streak, the Sun Devils have been very intentional about getting ahead early. They've held a lead after the first quarter in four of the last five games and each of their last three games saw them go into the halftime break with a lead of at least 21 points. Then the second half merely becomes a game of grinding out the clock, with Heisman candidate Cam Skattebo leading the way.
It's a winning formula from head coach Kenny Dillingham, who turned this program around from 3-9 to 10-2 in just his second year coaching his alma mater. And now, Arizona State will travel to Dallas to take on Iowa State in the Big 12 conference championship game.
Looking back at this last win, though, offers a valuable perspective on where this program really is right now. Arizona State has had seven games throughout this magical season decided by just one score, and nine of them were decided by 10 points or less. They had three such games immediately before making the trip down to Tucson, and fans had just become accustomed to seeing their heart rate spike on Saturdays.
The Territorial Cup was different, though. Arizona State came into the game as 7.5-point favorites, their largest spread of the year. Even once the Sun Devils started gaining traction, sportsbooks were handing out modest spreads for the team that won so many close games.
Not only did they cover that spread, they blew way past it. The Sun Devils went up 14-0 with just under six minutes left in the first quarter alone. They added 21 more in the second quarter to really pad the halftime lead. And while the defense gave up a touchdown on Arizona's opening drive in the second half, they pitched a shutout the rest of the way, forcing six punts on the day.
The significance of this game is more than just blowing out your top rival. Close wins are sometimes heralded as the mark of great teams, since very few championship caliber teams just cruise through their opponents. You have to be battle-tested, and tight games that come down to the wire often reflect that.
However, close wins can also represent the finnicky nature of luck. The 2022 Minnesota Vikings in the NFL were a perfect example of that. They won 13 games that year, with 11 of them coming in one score games. Vikings fans insisted this meant they were battle-tested, but the team was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. The next year, they started out 1-4 in one score games before their starting quarterback was injured.
It's important for a team to balance close wins against good teams with blowout wins against bad teams. Coming into this game, Arizona State had just two wins by more than three scores, and both came against objectively bad teams. The first was the season opener against Wyoming, who finished the year 3-9 and failed to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2015. The other was Oklahoma State, who began the year with lofty expectations but also went 3-9 and failed to win a single conference game.
Rivalries have a way of becoming close regardless of how each team is playing, though. Just look at this past week of action for proof. No. 15 South Carolina knocked off No. 12 Clemson; unranked Georgia Tech took No. 7 Georgia to eight overtimes before falling to the Bulldogs; and unranked Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State to knock them out of the Big 10 title game.
No such thing happened in Tucson, though. Dillingham had his players ready to go from the very start, and the Sun Devils never once let up throughout the entire game. This was an important moment of growth for Arizona State. They're not just the scrappy team that can win a knife fight. They can also blow out inferior opponents and look good doing it.
That's a significant development as the Sun Devils prepare to contend for the program's first conference title since 2007.