Arizona State Unlikely to Return to CFP in 2025, per ESPN FPI originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Arizona State Sun Devils pulled off one of the most dramatic worst-to-first finishes in recent memory. The Sun Devils went from just three wins in 2023 to 11 victories last season, won the Big 12 title and got in the playoffs.
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This season, the Sun Devils return almost all of their starters from last year’s championship squad. Included among those returnees are starting signal-caller Sam Leavitt, pass-catching weapon Jordyn Tyson and 10 talented defenders.
In addition, Arizona State suffered zero turnover on its coaching staff. Head coach Kenny Dillingham, offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo and defensive coordinator Brian Ward are all back this season.
Despite all the returning experience and coaching stability, the powers that be at ESPN have ranked the Sun Devils with a Football Power Index (FPI) of 9.8 and a ranking of No. 24, projecting them to win eight games this season. That puts ASU well outside the criteria and threshold to earn a second consecutive CFP berth
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ESPN has stacked the top ten with five SEC and three Big Ten programs.
Take the defending national champs, Ohio State, for example. The Buckeyes lost a ton of experience and production to the NFL on both sides of the ball. In addition, Ohio State lost its offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, to the NFL and the Las Vegas Raiders. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has moved on to Happy Valley and the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Ohio State will start a new quarterback with little to no college game experience. Yet, ESPN ranks the Buckeyes at No. 4 with an FPI of 23.8 and a projected win total of 10 wins.
Texas (28.5), Georgia (26.6) and somehow Alabama (24.2) hold the top three spots, respectively.
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The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs both lost their starting quarterbacks from last season and will start new quarterbacks with little to no college game experience.
Texas and Georgia are projecting double-digit victories. Alabama projects to win nine games.
Of those eight SEC/Big Ten teams, six will start new, inexperienced quarterbacks. Two will start transfer QBs: Carson Beck moves from Georgia to Miami and Joey Aguilar from Appalachian State to Tennessee.
Contrast all the above to a team like Clemson. Dabo Swinney’s Tigers are essentially a mirror image of Arizona State. Clemson returns 20 starters from last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship and CFP team.
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Clemson returns QB1 starter Cade Klubnik, their top three receivers and pretty much their entire defense. ESPN ranks Clemson just outside the top ten, at No. 11, with an FPI of 17.3.
ESPN is riddled with SEC and Big Ten bias and this is outright disrespect toward the Sun Devils.
But that does not bother Dillingham one bit. He prefers his team to be labeled as an underdog or that they could underachieve this season. Dillingham wants his team to be hungry and not buy into the “hype.” He wants 100 percent effort, to be the best they can be, in every game.
With a wry smirk on his face, Dillingham and the Sun Devils have ESPN and college football right where they want them.
Related: Kenny Dillingham Details ‘Next Step’ in Building ASU Football Program
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
