Kansas travels to Arizona State. No market line yet; the model gives Arizona State a 65% shot.
What’s at stake
Arizona State
- A win puts Arizona State a step closer to a 2% shot at the CFP field.
- Arizona State is the Big 12 newcomer whose 2024 11-3 + Big 12 championship + first-ever CFP appearance under Kenny Dillingham completed the rebuild from 2-19 to playoff team in three years.
Kansas
- Kansas hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2024.
The series
Arizona State leads the series 1-0
1 meeting since 2024 · Arizona State won the last meeting
- 2024Arizona State 35–31
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Kansas
The chip · vs the national mediaFans are tired of being told their school only cares from November to March — that football is a hobby in a basketball town. They point at the Orange Bowl banner and the Leipold revival and ask to be taken seriously between the whistles, too.
What this game touches
The long fall after the 2008 Orange Bowl. Kansas won the Orange Bowl to cap a 12-1 season in 2007, then collapsed into one of the bleakest stretches in major-college football — a decade-plus of double-digit losses before Lance Leipold arrived. The 2025 team's 5-7 finish, missing a bowl for a second straight year, was a reminder of how thin the margin still is.
Arizona State
The chip · vs the national mediaSun Devil fans say the sport picked them last in 2024 and treated the title that followed as a fluke all season — they say the preseason polls still won't take Tempe seriously, and they relish being the team nobody respects until kickoff.
What this game touches
The 2025 comedown after the dream. The year after the Playoff run, Arizona State slid to 8-5 — Sam Leavitt broke his foot against Baylor, had season-ending surgery and entered the transfer portal, Cam Skattebo was gone to the NFL, and a Sun Bowl loss to Duke (42-39) closed a season that asked whether 2024 was the start of something or a one-off.
Best players
Arizona State
- Jordan Crook (LB) · 2025: 101 tackles
- Myles Rowser (DB) · 2025: 84 tackles
- Adrian Wilson (S) · 2025: 57 tackles
Kansas
- Jalon Daniels (QB) · 2025: 2,504 passing yards
- Bangally Kamara (LB) · 2025: 54 tackles
- Austin Alexander (DB) · 2025: 46 tackles
The line, and the room
Kansas fans are feeling better about their season (54th percentile) than Arizona State fans are (12th) — even with Arizona State favored here.