TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona State football team is special this season.
Following an injury-plagued 2023 season, the Sun Devils have a chance to do something that they haven't done in 20 years. They could celebrate Homecoming weekend by going undefeated at home.
RELATED: ASU's Leavitt, Tyson and Arizona's Smith all earn Player of the Week honors from the Big 12
No. 21 ASU will host No. 14 Brigham Young University at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The game has the potential for College Football Playoff implications.
A loss to BYU would make the Sun Devils' path to the Big 12 Championship game more complicated.
Second-year coach Kenny Dillingham says he's known this team has the potential to do great things by their second game.
"When I noticed, it was the like I said, the Mississippi State game, the first half of that game when we came out, we were physical. We played hard, we played with the passion and then just the guys, camaraderie throughout it was when I was like, OK, these guys and they got something to them. And I always knew that. But it was when you see it live in a game setting, it kind of confirmed that," Dillingham said.
The big matchup comes after a strong week for ASU football. After wins over Kansas State and Houston, respectively, Arizona State and Arizona played a big part of the Big 12 Conference's weekly Player of the Week awards on Monday.
The Big 12 named ASU wide receiver Jordyn Tyson its offensive player of the week, ASU quarterback the newcomer of the week and Arizona cornerback Genesis Smith one of the three co-defensive players of the week.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.