Kenny Dillingham is the man behind all the success. Arizona State’s currently enjoying either their last year’s championship run or a national dominance status; it’s all on him. But it looks like this year home games are becoming a big problem for the Sun Devils. Last week they went to Davis Wade Stadium on the road to play the Bulldogs but ended up losing with a 24-20 record. Crazy, right? But Mississippi State made things worse for them with their ringing cowbell gestures, which became very disturbing for their offense. So Dillingham is making sure no distraction could break into Sam Leavitt’s head; that’s exactly why he’s preparing him for the worst.

Now, it’s pretty evident that it’s going to be a tough road stretch for Arizona State going against Utah in Rice-Eccles Stadium in front of the hostile crowd. But this time even nature can halt their run, as nature is also in their way. Utah might face a potential rainstorm this week. That’s exactly why Kenny Dillingham is right behind Sam Leavitt during practice, spraying water in his hands with a bottle. Even CBS Sports posted a clip of practice on IG, which reads, “Gotta get ready any way you can 😂.”

Well, this move makes sense, as Leavitt’s game is constantly smacking down this year. After coming off strong against Northern Arizona in Week 1, passing for 257 yards and two touchdowns with 73 yards rushing and two more scores, Leavitt’s game took a major hit against Mississippi State. As he completed just 10 of 22 passes for 82 yards with a single touchdown and two interceptions. That’s exactly why Kenny Dillingham is making sure nothing comes in between their win against Utah this week.

But it’s not like Sam Leavitt didn’t find consistency with the team against TCU as he led the offense with almost 500 total yards and even spread the ball around pretty well, and the best moment came when he threw a big pass of 44 yards against Jaren Hamilton. Even Dillingham is pretty impressed by his development. “I mean, the last couple games, he’s been really good in structure; obviously, to say it better, I think he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country out of structure. I don’t think there’s a doubt about that. So he’s still—you’re still not wrong—like he’s great out of structure.”

Now, with that Dillingham is also stressing their show down against Utah this week.

Kenny Dillingham gets real on Sun Devils’ Big 12 showdown

Arizona State is gearing up for the most crucial faceoff of the season this week as they are going up against Utah. Both teams stand with a 4-1 record, which makes it an important game for the conference title run. After leading the Sun Devils to the playoffs last year, Kenny Dillingham is hoping for another title run, but he also knows Utah’s consistency and toughness. “Utah’s not undefeated, but their one loss was basically an unbelievably tight game versus Tech,” he said. “If not for that one play with eight or nine minutes left, it would have been a whole different football game.” That’s right; even though Texas Tech won with a 34-10 margin, Utah gave them tough competition.

This is why Dillingham also feels Utah deserves national respect after how they are coming across this season. “I think Utah should 100% be in the top 25. I mean, their one loss is to a Texas Tech team that could be a top-five team in the country,” he added. And he’s not wrong about it. Utah comes into the game as a 5-point favorite as per ESPN’s predictor, which gives them a 69.9% chance to win. Well, there’s a reason why they are coming across as such a strong team, as their offense ranks no. 18 nationally, putting up 469.2 yards per game, and their defense too is at 25 with 300.4 yards allowed.

Let’s not forget how explosive QB Devon Dampier is, who’s leading up the charge with a 72.5% completion rate, throwing for 1,027 yards with 11 touchdowns, and adding 258 rushing yards with two more touchdowns. With him, even their offensive line is pretty strong, which has Caleb Lomu and Spencer Fano in it. Best part? Even Kenny Dillingham knows it, as he said, “They’re both first-round draft picks. That’s a pretty big challenge… You usually don’t want to go vs. that. They’re both really good players, both really good families, and both really good people, so I kind of wish we got them both.” What’s interesting is even Dillingham tried recruiting them both.

Now, it will be interesting to see which team actually comes up strong against another this week.