Arizona State 2023 Season Preview
Well, the Herm Edwards storyline was one of the more enjoyable ones to follow since 2018. He opened his time at ASU with a 7–6 season and earning the 2nd spot in the South Division, barely missing out on a conference championship appearance. From there, it was a bit of a roller coaster but far from a disaster. Edwards gave ASU 3 winning seasons in the 3 full seasons he led the Sun Devils (excluding COVID where ASU went 2–2). To replace Edwards is Kenny Dillingham. Dillingham comes to ASU after spending one season with at Oregon as the offensive coordinator and QB coach. I always like when programs hire within the conference so their new head coach has already had close eyes on many of the opponents Arizona State will face. As a Sun Devil alumni, I am confident in this hire that Dillingham will be ready to deliver in every way possible to get ASU back toward the top of the Pac-12.
As I warned in an earlier article, the iced coffees are coming and today we have a Starbucks cold brew in hand. It’s far too hot out here to be drinking hot coffee.
Synopsis
With a coaching change in the middle of the season, it is always a toss-up how the final record may look. Arizona State managed to earn a no-so-pretty record of 3–9 while going 2–7 in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils had fight in them which led them to a big win over 21st ranked Washington at the time. Their fight was far from enough to notch additional wins against strong opponents like USC, Utah, UCLA, and Oregon State. Each of those games ended in losses by multiple possessions.
For a program in need of a fresh start, Kenny Dillingham is ready to deliver that. Arizona State ranks third overall in transfer portal acquisitions (Colorado 1st, Texas State 2nd with 51 and 37 acquisitions respectively). That being said, we can expect an entirely new look from the Sun Devils in 2023.
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On the offensive side of the ball, Arizona State will need to determine who they want under center. Previous starter Trenton Bourguet is in the midst of a QB battle with incoming Notre Dame transfer Drew Pyne. While the decision is yet to be made, I’m expecting ASU to select Pyne as the starter for the 2023 seasons. Bourguet had flashes of great play in 2022 in the games he started in place of Emory Jones, but Pyne started every game for the Irish after week 2 and threw for 22 TD’s and only 6 INT’s while the Irish went 8–2 in the 10 starts Pyne had. I understand Pyne is the newcomer and Bourguet has been in the system, however, I would argue that is more the reason to lean toward Pyne as nearly half if not more of the offensive starters for ASU will be newcomers to the program.
The Sun Devils offense will need to replace 1,000+ yard RB Xazavian Valladay who is off to the pros. With these being the biggest shoes to fill in this offense, Arizona State grabbed Cameron Skattebo out of the transfer portal from Sacramento State. Skattebo comes off the heels of a 1,372 yard season with the Hornets while scoring 3 TD’s as Sacramento State went 12–1 with their lone loss being to Incarnate Word 66–63 (yes you read that right) to end their post-season hopes.
Defensively, Arizona State will need to improve and everybody on this planet is aware of that. The defense will highlight more newcomer starters to the program than returners and that shouldn’t be a reason for concern. Spearheading the newcomers on the defensive side of the ball is are linebackers Juwan Mitchell from Tennessee and Travion Brown from Washington State. Both players managed to compile 40+ tackles for their teams in 2022. Those aren’t the only strong additions as ASU adds USC transfer Xavion Alford to the secondary alongside Shamari Simmons from Austin Peay. Each of them earning 30+ tackles and 6 interceptions combined in 2022.
While I love the additions to this team, their schedule is far from a cake walk. The Sun Devils face Oklahoma State and Fresno State within the first 3 weeks of the season, both teams cannot be overlooked. From there, Arizona State was given little room for breathing in conference play. They’ll get all the contenders in the Pac-12 as they face USC, Washington, Utah, and Oregon with Washington and Utah being on the road. Not to mention a trip to the Rose Bowl to face a competitive Bruins squad under Chip Kelly.
2023 Outlook
I like Arizona State to see improvement this season but not as much as many may expect. Their schedule is tough and keeps me from pushing this program to bowl eligibility. That being said, I see the Sun Devils going 4–8 with losses to Oklahoma State, Fresno State, USC, Washington, Utah, UCLA, Oregon, and Arizona. The Fresno State game feels like a toss-up as each program is working through changes on their squads so it is hard to determine the shape they will be in come week 3. Progress for the Sun Devils this season and I would expect more to come the longer Dillingham leads the program.
