Arizona State Sun Devils football has a tough 2024 schedule in their Big 12 Conference debut

the sundevils 2024 football schedule is here and well we're going to talk about you are locked on sundevils your daily podcast on the Arizona State Fund Devils part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day welcome back to the lock on sual podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day my name is Richie Bradshaw and I will be your guide for everything Arizona State Sun levels thanks as always for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day and of course a shout out to my every dayers who are here every day wherever you're getting your podcast hit like subscribe and turn on notifications so you get an update whenever we post new content you can stay in touch with that content by following me on Twitter you can find me at Richie br36 in the podcast as well at lore sundevils today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers if they join today you'll get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started ladies and gentlemen boys and girls welcome back today we are going to be taking a look at the sundevils 2024 football schedule I appreciate you guys for pivoting with me had some stuff behind the scenes going on we're all good let's go ahead and jump into this conversation no need to wait we're looking at the 2024 schedule was released yesterday and we're going to go through my over overall reaction to it games I am most excited about and just kind of the toughest stretch here for the sunnd doubles and we'll start with my reaction and my reaction is I I think this is a pretty balanced schedule you go to start the year two home games two away games you have a byee two home games another away game and then a second by we and then Road home Road Home Road to close out the year very balanced no no three game stretches anywhere and you are very fortunate to have two by weeks and there are some people who may not be a fan of two by weeks or just don't understand why we have two by weeks and from my understanding it's just the way that the schedule ended up getting laid out for the sunnd doubles because they kick off on the 31st of August and obviously we will go up until the end of November for the for the season to conclude at least a regular season and for Arizona state that is that is laid out to where they were fortunate to have an extra bye and to anyone who might not like the idea I'm curious why you don't like it like I understand that now you have two weeks to lull over instead of having football but for sunil's team that was beat up as much as they were last year when it came to injuries I feel like getting a second bye is a pretty big blessing and obviously it's it's not necessarily because they are playing week zero or anything like that it's just how the schedule ended up getting laid out but this still is a pretty nice opportunity here for you to be able to get two weeks to rest up they're in the first half of the season and then right in the middle and that's the other thing I like too is you play a month of football you play your first four games then you have a bye and then you start getting into the meat and potatoes of your of your schedule so your first four games you've got three out of conference obviously the way it normally gets laid out for us although that may change now that we're out of the Pack 12 I'll be interested to see but nothing we aren't used to you have your first Big 12 Conference game isn't that weird to say you have your first Big 12 Conference game uh visiting Texas Tech and then you enter a byee and you're hoping at that point in time that you can be hopefully around 500 you would love to have a winning record going into that we'll take a look in just a second and then you have two home games and an away game before your second bye so when you return from your bye you will have Kansas Utah at home and then you'll be on the road to play Cincinnati you'll have your bye and then your final five games are at Oklahoma State home vers Central Florida at Kansas State home vers BYU and at Arizona that's the way you're going to end your season and this feels difficult it feels difficult because the three Road games you have are a 10- win Oklahoma State a nine- win win Kansas State and a 10- win Arizona we'll talk about that more a little bit down the road but overall reaction here this feels like a very balanced schedule for you and I like the way that this was able to be laid out for the sun levels as I look at this and I see I see some very very good teams on here in fact there are only three teams who finished with less than seven wins last year Mississippi State went 5- seven Cincinnati went 3- n and UCF went six and seven so all but or excuse me BYU went five- seven uh UCF went six and seven so all but three teams went bowling rest last year that's intimidating it it's it's not an easy schedule the uh the out of conference will be really interesting you are hosting Wyoming to begin the year Wyoming went 9 and4 last year you are hosting Mississippi State for week two like we said they went five and seven last year definitely going through the motions right now and obviously Will Rogers is no longer the quarterback they are kind of a team in limbo I'm curious to see if they're going to bounce back big time this upcoming year or if they're going to be another rebuild building team but the bottom line is that's an SEC team and you can never Overlook an SEC team especially because more often than not Mississippi state is a quality football program they were number one a long a long time ago when Dak Prescott was there and had a little bit of a Heisman campaign for the Bulldogs so I won't Overlook Mississippi State even though they're coming off of a losing season then you have Texas State you're on the road to play them they they are not a team that you should be overlooking and I I know that there's going to be a lot of people that look at Texas State and they go oh well that's the easy game that's the one that you uh you pay that team to come to your stadium so you can beat them up that's not the case because Texas State went eight five last year including a week one win over Baylor this is not a team that you should look at and go oh yeah we'll roll them not the case more than likely not the case I they could definitely take a step back but they did get an upgrade at quarterback with Jaden Delora going there the same Jaden Dora that we all know and that's it just know he's going to Texas State so pretty difficult out of conference schedule nine- win Wyoming SEC Mississippi State and an eight- win Texas state that's not easy at all then you get started with Texas Tech that is your first road game and your first Big 12 game the Raiders were seven and six last year the Raiders the Red Raiders excuse me the Red Raiders in Arizona State have had a interesting little uh sort of rivalry not really a rivalry but kind of sort of a rivalry over the last 10 years theyve play played a handful of times they played Patrick Mahomes uh kayin balage had his uh his oh my God seven or eight touchdown game I think it was eight it it record setting touchdown game against Texas Tech I'm mad I can't remember off the top of my head so interesting way to start the year you're hoping you can be around 500 then you get to the Midway point in your schedule and you've got a nine- win Kansas team and an eight- win Utah team that come to Tempe Kansas is really good man like they've got a really good quarterback in Jaylen Dan and when he's healthy he's a beast the problem is he's banged up all the time so we'll see how they look when they come to town and if jaylen's gonna be healthy Utah we all know Utah we all know how tough they are not looking forward to playing them plus Cameron rising and Brandt Keith are back as well and then visiting Cincinnati Cincy was not a good team last year and you have to think that they're going to improve from what they were a year ago especially because this is a team that was just in the college football playoff a few seasons ago I don't see any reason why they can't get back to being a competitive football team but that looks like your easiest game right now to start the year and then you have your second bye and then you close out the year Oklahoma State you're going to still water last time they played in Still Water uh they got beat pretty handedly this will be the third year in a row that you're playing Oklahoma State so maybe you're beginning a new little rivalry here you're hoping to be able to go there there and get a win however they're bringing back a lot of really good players including their running back who now I can't remember his name of course they they have a very olle Gordon olle Gordon that's what it is they they have a very good football team and that's going to be one of the top teams in the Big 12 this upcoming year it's going to be Oklahoma state they're going to be competing for the for conference title that'll be a huge a huge Benchmark game for you to see how far away you are from competing in this conference you come back home to play UCF they were six and seven last year they brought in KJ Jefferson to be their new quarterback after he played a bunch of years over at Arkansas that's a tough game that is always going to be a tough game ucf's a very good program six and seven may not say that but they've been more successful than not over the last 10 years including their self-proclaimed National Championship season you head to Kansas State in November that's that makes me nervous really really nervous Kansas State in December or uh November excuse me now I have family that lives out in Topeka Kansas and funny enough they uh they went to college not at K State but at Manhattan Christian which is in Manhattan which is where K State is so I've been on that campus it's a beautiful campus but it gets cold and I wasn't even out there for snow or anything like that there is always a chance that you get snowy weather in Kansas in November that's going to be a really cold game uh it's it's going to be up there with going to Washington in November that's that is a I don't know how I feel about that game and it doesn't help that K State's coming off a nine- win year so we'll see what goes on there back home for their final home game of the year is against BYU BYU coming off a down year they have had a little bit of history with Arizona State too we'll see how it shakes out against them last time we played they beat us with uh jiren Hall and Tyler aler leading the charge we'll see how that goes and then closing the year the territorial cup goes down to Tucson this year unfortunately we got to go down south where it stinks I don't see any way you go three straight years losing I don't care I I don't care I don't care but we'll talk about that a little bit that's my overall reaction let's go ahead and get into a conversation about the games I'm most excited about here in just a second this is the locked on subl podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day happy super Super Bowl to all who celebrate from FanDuel America's number one sports book if you're like me Super Bowl Sunday is all about scoring the best seat on the couch grabbing your favorite football snacks like that buffalo chicken dip and placing some super bets those prop bets those are the best ones that you can take a look at FanDuel has so many different ways for you to end the season with W or two or three not only can you Ben who will win Super Bowl 58 but FanDuel also has bets for players to score touchdowns who scores the most points and some much more new customers join today and you'll get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins just visit fanduel.com lockon to sign up that's fanduel.com lockon make every moment more with FanDuel and official Sportsbook partner of the NFL one more time wherever you're getting your podcast hit like subscribe turn on notifications so you get an update whenever we post new content I appreciate you guys for tuning in as always and making us your first listen of the day definitely check out the locked on sports today 247 streaming on YouTube so you can get caught up to everything that's going on including Mike McDonald leaving the Baltimore Ravens to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks check it out stay in touch let's take a look at the games I am most excited out here we can start with um it's easy to say U OFA but I'm going to not do U OFA for the sake of variety we're gonna go ahead and take a look at our very first Big 12 game and that's visiting Texas Tech again we've played Texas Tech a handful of times and we've had some really exciting games with them this is a team that is typically high-scoring and they're a team that has been the epitome of Big 12 Football which is lots of offense not so much defense now I haven't done too much research into these teams just yet however I think that Texas Tech is a little bit better defensively than they were the last time we faced them either way you are you're going to lubach and and you're going to have a more than quality test here to see how you stack up in your first year in the Big 12 and this sun Lil team has a lot of proving to do right this is a team that is coming off of back-to-back three win seasons and this is a team that could not close the door on on opponents last year or they could have easily been a six and six football program they could have beat Cal they could have beat Oklahoma State they could have beat Washington that's that's three games right there there's there was all sorts of other games that they felt really close in but those three to me should have been wins for Arizona State now you are you're going into a new conference with new challenges and new opponents and Texas Tech is your first test this to me uh uh I think I would call this a must-win as of right now as we get closer to the start of the season and we take another look at this it'll be interesting to see where I lie on that but right now this feels like one of the three biggest must-win games the only ones I would put ahead of this would be U OFA obviously and probably maybe Texas State believe it or not because that's a eight and5 football program and you got to go on the road for a non-conference win we'll take a closer look at it obviously but funny enough three Road games Texas Tech definitely stands out to me though and that would be one of the games I'm most excited about is getting your first taste of your new conference a conference that has felt like it's been coming for a long time and it's finally here at least in you know September it's finally here but that's that's a game man that's one of the games I'm excited about another one of the games I'm most excited about uh this is a lot more personal than anything else is Kansas state I am more than likely going to be out and visiting my family so I'll be able to spend some time there I'll be going back to Manhattan where I can check out all sorts of really fun stuff that's out there but it's also going to be a cold weather game in brand new territory for you Manhattan Kansas is a small town and it's really freaking cold how is Arizona State going to respond because this is going to be your new Norm you were playing in the Pack 12 and short of games that were in Washington and games that were in Oregon and then obviously Colorado and Utah but you did not have very many cold weather games because you had the southern cow schools even Stanford and Cal Berkeley were not like freezing cold when you would go up there Tucson is not cold ASU is not cold depending on when you go to any of the other schools it's it's it's not freezing this is a potential freezing football game for you K State in November there's there's potential for snow and I can't remember the last time Arizona State played in snow I don't know how they're going to be equipped for that quite honestly that'll be really interesting to me another game I'm really excited about is Oklahoma State and again it's another road game and let let me go ahead and make this clear I I still really like our home games it's just the ones that intrigue me the RO the most excuse me are on the road which maybe not a great thing Oklahoma state is really interesting to me though because you've played them this will be your third straight year you should have beat them last year the first year that you played them back in 2022 uh I came on this podcast and I said hey don't look at the score that I think it was 34 to 17 and it was one of those don't look at the score to tell you how the game went because the defense played well that that's that's what I want to see is the sundevils being able to go blow for blow with you wouldn't call them blue callar or blue blood but they're they're a pretty good program pretty much every year can you finally get over the hump and get that win and they're not going to be an easy team but this is this is a benchmark game for you so with Texas Tech that's your first game in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State that's a team that you have danced around for the last couple of years with Kansas state that is going to be a frigid game for you and then of course UFA those are probably the four games I'm most excited about but again just to emphasize with Oklahoma State you've been playing them for the last two years you've played them several times I'm just wondering and I'm hoping that you can get over the hump and finally be a team that is able to take care of business against an Oklahoma State those are the games I'm most excited about but of course there's some really tough games in here and especially some tough stretches that we're going to talk about in just a second here this is the lock on sun podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day we come on this show so we can talk about sports and Escape some of the crazy realities of real life but let's take a minute to talk about preparing for real life of course to the FDA pharmacies are running out of antibiotics like amoxicillin right in the middle of the worst flu season in over a decade and that is scary I can't imagine a more helpless feeling than having one of my family members or one of my friends or anybody else get sick while a supply chain issue kept them from life-saving medication that they needed and thankfully will be okay because of jce medical the jce case is a pack of five different antibiotics to treat a long list of bacterial illnesses including UTI respiratory infections sinuses skin infections among others this stuff can happen to any of us visit JM medical.com and complete your physician encounter it will be reviewed by a board certified physician and your medications will be dispensed by a licensed pharmacy at a fraction of the regular cost it's never been more important to be prepared than today go to Jem medical.com and use the code locked on for $20 off your order that's Jace medical spelled j a ed.com and offer code locked on for $20 off of your order one more time I appreciate you guys for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day wherever you're getting your podcast hit like subscribe turn on notifications so you get an update whenever we post new content and check out the locked on sports today 247 streaming Channel on YouTube so you can get caught up to date on everything that's going on from head coaching hires to guys entering the train transfer portal free agency trades all of it every League professional college and otherwise check it out put it on while you're eating I know you're looking for something to watch let's finish up our conversation here with the toughest stretch is what I will call this and it's the final five games of the year quite frankly this whole this whole schedule is really tough you've got you've got four five teams that won nine games last year you had all but three teams that were bull eligible this is as difficult a hand to be dealt to you as you're G to find so Arizona state has got a lot of soul searching to do however the last five games of the year I mean right now you look at it look no no game is a gimme no games are automatic wins and automatic losses but if we're going to play the game of the sundevils don't get better from last year there's not a win here you have two home games against UCF and BYU those are quality teams BYU is not going to be five and seven again UCF is still going to be a bll team those are your two home games your three away games Oklahoma State Kansas State U OFA 10 wins for Oklahoma State nine wins for Kansas State 10 wins for U OFA that's your that's your closing to the year those five games could all be losses and that's scary to say the least I look at any part of the schedule and I see ways you can go 500 right we'll start the first four games just off the top of my head let's say you beat you beat Mississippi State and Texas Tech and you lose to Wyoming and Texas State you start the year two and two right that's fine you take it whatever then you have your first bye you come back you host Kansas you host Utah you play Cincinnati you hope that you can get a HK and you should be able to beat Cincinnati on the road there you go two and one so now you have found yourself in a situation where you are four and three well your last five games come in after your bye at Oklahoma State feels like a loss as of right now again this is under the assumption that we don't improve from last year verse UCF I'll say you can get a win there so now you get to uh four wins five wins five wins because I said two and one at Kansas state that feels like a loss home vers BYU feels like a coin flip for now I'll say it's a loss and then at Arizona I'm always going to say we win that game but for Devil's Advocate let's say you don't you could be looking at a situation where you go down to Tucson and you're it's basically when you're in for the postseason that's a very realistic situation you're looking at but you could also be looking at a situation where you're coming into this game with four wins or three wins those final five games are going to dictate the entirety of your season you could start the year off seven and0 you could start the year off with key wins over Texas Tech Kansas you Utah you could get a Big W victory at Texas State you could take down Wyoming to start the year but you come into those final five games and if you go on and five that's brutal and I don't know how you how you build off of that because seriously un unless you start the year and you're outscoring opponents by like 20 points a game and you drop the final five games by a combined Five Points whatever like it it it would be so brutal to close your season out that way that's the way that I see this right now is it's a it's a really really brutal way to end the season and I can't think of times in recent history for the sundevils that I have seen a Gauntlet to end the year quite like the final five games of this year the one bright side here is at least you have a byee heading into it so that's another one of the perks of having the two by weeks is you'll have one early in the season to make sure you're good to go for league play and then you'll have one more by week before you enter this Gauntlet with three of the most difficult Road games that that the sun doubles will see in the last five years and probably the next five years it's tough that is feeding a fat horse here man like that's one of the toughest stretches I can remember for sunnd levels football in a while I don't think it's close either like you got tough games all throughout the all throughout the season and like you've got tough stretches too like your your first four four games of the year are Wyoming Mississippi State Texas Texas State Texas Tech you could start 0 four and then you've got Kansas Utah back toback at least you got him at home those both of those really tough start to the season in the middle of the Season you could be one and two you could be 0 and three this is if you are working off the assumption that the sundevils are not a better football team next year than they are this year then this is this is a three- win schedule at best right now if they do improve which I 100% believe that's going to happen and I do think this is a bll team they're gonna have to get some upset wins in here because they're going to be dogs in a lot of these games really interesting though that's my overall reaction to this schedule and we've got plenty more to talk about when it comes to this schedule I know for sure that we're going to be talking tomorrow about my ranking of easiest to most difficult games for the upcoming season and it's going to be a very interesting list so wherever you get your podcast hit like subscribe turn on notifications so you get an update whenever we post new content you of course can stay in touch with that content by following me on Twitter you can find me at Richie br36 and podcast as well at lore sundevils I appreciate you guys for pivoting with me again we are Monday through Friday or excuse me Sunday through Friday Sundays we will be recapping sunnd Devil's basketball to make sure that we talk about that every single week we've got plenty of football to talk about we are just around two months away from Spring football where we will be able to see the new transfers come in we'll see how Jaden rashada and some of the other sophomores look heading into their second off seon we're going to be keeping you up to date on all that we'll keep you up to date on all the other breaking news that happens so stay in touch stick around I'll see you next time and until then you keep it locked right here unlocked on some