Some rebuilds are silent. Arizona State wasn’t one of them. When Kenny Dillingham took over the Sun Devils in December 2022, he inherited a roster scraping rock bottom and a locker room starving for identity. A year and a few months later, that 3–9 punchline became an 11–3 powerhouse that looked like it had found religion in toughness. But turn to 2025, and that identity seems to be slowly coming apart as the Devils and Kenny Dillingham continue to just “get by” without their heartbeat Cam Skattebo and a bucket full of injuries.

So right now the question at Tempe is simple: Standing on a 6-3 season with nowhere near the same offensive beat that ASU had last season, how will Dillingham replace it all? The answer, as Dillingham told David Pollack, isn’t something that fits neatly in a scheme. “I mean, passionate people are not replaceable,” Dillingham said on See Ball Get Ball. “If you don’t love the game, you better find enough people on your team that are going to play this game with so much passion it’s infectious to other people… that passion Cam had — that’s really hard to replace.” 

You can recruit speed, power, or technique, but you can’t fake what Skattebo brought. Averaging at least 100 yards in every single game, Cam brought a different energy to the 2024 ASU offense.

And that is what Dillingham was trying to replicate with Raleek Brown. Although not quite the same numbers as Cam, Brown still brought in amazing speed, and his game-winning touchdown against the Red Raiders managed to become the only blemish on Texas Tech’s near-perfect season.

But that ain’t all. Dillingham has managed to do wonders at the QB position in the form of Jeff Sims. Dropped in the gridiron against Iowa State, shattered ASU’s QB rush record with 228 yards on the board, and got Dillingham the win on 24-19.

However, will all of this, along with the injury-prone situation for the starters, be enough to push ASU and Dillingham to a Big 12 title contention?

Will Kenny Dillingham lead the Sun Devils to another title game?

The 35-year-old said, “If we were healthy, I’d probably be not thrilled, but, you know, decently happy with where we’re at. I mean, this conference is ruthless. It’s really, really tough. And we’ve had a really, really tough conference schedule.” Early road game hauls, followed by significant damage to the team’s starters (Xavion Alford, Kyson Brown, Sam Leavitt, Zyrus Fiaseu, and Ben Coleman), haven’t painted the best picture for the team’s future Big 12 title dreams.

But you cannot rule Dillingham and ASU out just yet. If Utah falls to Baylor and BYU gets its 2nd loss to TCU, all Dillingham has to do is clean house against Colorado, Arizona, and West Virginia. This will put them a step closer to facing off against the Red Raiders for Big 12 title contention.

The Devils have flipped the script on Texas Tech before, so you can bet they could do it again. Right, ASU fans, your team is still in contention for a big final game. This bye week before the West Virginia game could do wonders for the injured.