(Photo credit: Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

No. 11 Arizona State kicks off the 2025 season at home in Tempe against Northern Arizona, and head coach Kenny Dillingham has heard all he can handle about how difficult it will be to repeat in the Big 12.

History does support the idea of the steep degree of difficulty in going back-to-back in the conference. Only Oklahoma, now in the SEC, has ever done it.

'We've used that quite a bit this year. I explain to our guys just the challenge that we have ahead of us. Only one team in the great history of the conference, but no other team has had this guy (Sam Leavitt) as their quarterback, and that's what gives me some peace,' Dillingham said in a recent appearance on ESPN.

In their debut Big 12 Conference campaign, the Sun Devils went on a late-season, six-game winning streak that carried them to the league title. It was the first outright championship for an Arizona State team since 1996. The championship resulted in a first-ever College Football Playoff appearance for ASU, which ended its season with a quarterfinal overtime loss to Texas.

The Sun Devils enter the 2025 season replacing the breakout star of last year's surprise finish, running back Cameron Skattebo. Skattebo rushed for 1,711 yards and scored 21 touchdowns with another 605 yards and three scores receiving.

While the All-Big 12 back will now run for the New York Giants, his departure for the NFL leaves a significant void in the Sun Devils' offense. In the conference preseason poll, Leavitt was selected preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Leavitt passed for 2,885 yards and 24 touchdowns, threw only six interceptions, and rushed for 443 yards with five scores.

Leavitt will also have his top target back, Jordyn Tyson. Tyson had a late-season injury that sidelined him in the Big 12 Championship Game and Peach Bowl matchup with Texas, but he earned the league's Newcomer of the Year award with 1,107 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Tyson heads into 2025 as a preseason All-American, an honor Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham spoke of with guarded optimism.

'He deserves it. He's earned all that, he worked for all that. But he didn't work for the preseason,' Dillingham said. 'He's worked for the postseason.'

Northern Arizona had an impressive 2024 season in its own right. The Lumberjacks reached the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 2017 after finishing tied for third in the Big Sky Conference.

Coach Brian Wright, who came to NAU from Div. II powerhouse Pittsburg State, heads into his second year at the helm with the Big Sky's 2024 Newcomer of the Year and 2025 preseason first-team pick at quarterback, Ty Pennington, running the offense.

Pennington completed 65.2 percent of his 287 pass attempts for 2,288 yards and 13 touchdowns against just two interceptions. He was also the Lumberjacks' second-leading rusher at 437 yards with seven touchdowns.

'Obviously he is a great player, and we've got him surrounded with great players,' Wright said of Pennington during an appearance on the 'Roc & Manuch with Jimmy B.' show on 620 AM radio in Phoenix. 'Ty is really comfortable. As an offensive unit, we've had a lot of learning moments. ... We're still developing in some areas.'

NAU owed much of its success a season ago to a stifling defense. The Lumberjacks' 18.8-point per game yield was the 15th-lowest in FCS play.

Lineman Miach Carreon and linebacker Brandon Wong, key contributors to the NAU defense in 2024, were named First Team All-Big Sky in the preseason.

The Lumberjacks have their work cut out for them slowing down the Arizona State offense, however. Not only did the Sun Devils rank No. 30 in FBS last season at 32.9 points per game, but Arizona State has scored at least 30 points in every meeting with Northern Arizona since 1947.

Northern Arizona has not beaten an Arizona State team since 1938, though the 2021 Lumberjacks opened the season knocking off the Sun Devils' bitter rival, Arizona.

--Field Level Media