The excitement surrounding college football continues to grow in week 12. With the playoffs just around the corner, as teams compete, the rankings shift. While players are displaying their A game and fighting to win the Heisman trophy, it’s important not to overlook the contributions of head coaches. Their strategies on the field and off-field conversation and motivation play a crucial role in guiding teams through an intense season. Who is going to be the coach of the year?

Deion Sanders is the reason behind Colorado’s new approach this season. Everyone in the Buffs program is just talking about winning, with their strong performances, and Sanders is definitely a strong contender. On the other hand, Indiana Hoosiers new head coach, Mr. Google Me, has been in the spotlight since he joined the team. 10-0! Enough said. However, while he is busy making history, it looks like both of them have a new competition.

Pat Forde, a sports journalist who is a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, has joined the ongoing discussion with two new names. Yes! On November 18, the official Instagram account of Yahoo Sports and Rivals.com shared his interview and captioned it as “Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils are proving the doubters wrong 👀.” Can you guess the second name? “You have three national coach of the year candidates in one league: Kalani Satake, Deion Sanders and Kenny Dillingham. And I don’t know which one you say has done better because all of them are done unbelievably with teams.” 

Arizona State and BYU are going strong this season, no doubt. Kalani Satake’s leadership has helped the Cougars win back-to-back nine games. Although their winning streak was broken in Week 12 by Kansas, they still can be a serious contender for the Big 12 playoffs. BYU is among the teams that have the best first half to 2024 and they were also in first place in the Big 12 standings.

Coming to Kenny Dillingham, the guy does not need the introduction. He joined Arizona State last year, and all of us can see the huge difference. Forde could not stop himself from appreacting to him and added. “That program was kind of left for dead when Dillingham got there. He is such an obvious rising star in this business. He’s an ASU alum. I don’t know what that means—he is going to stay at ASU because there are people who want him and throw big cash piles at him.”

The Sun Devils have won five Big 12 games so far. This Saturday, once again, they showed that they are a serious competition by defecating Kansas State 24-14 and handing them their first loss of the season at their home ground. Did you expect them to take a big leap forward? Let’s see what Dillingham has to say after defeating Kansas State.

Kenny Dillingham takes pride in team’s strong performance

When the season started, it looked like the Indiana Hoosiers were the underdogs. The dynamics are changing every week, and now it looks like Arizona State is the one. On Saturday, they dominated the first half. How did they do it? They were leading with 21 points and maintained a 24-6 advantage after three quarters. “The way that we came out on the road like that, it was like we had a focus,” head coach Dillingham said after the game.

But he said, “Our guys felt disrespected going into the game.” Kansas State struggled from the first quarter. While Arizona State completed 368 total yards, they only managed to complete 178.

Dillingham is proud of his team, and why not? Breaking a winning streak is not everyone’s cup of tea. He further appreciated his players and mentioned, “I think we made a statement that we’re a good football team. You can look at the records… every game you play in the Big 12, you never know who can win. So you can say, ‘This record, that record, are you going to beat a good team? Are you going to beat a bad team?”

He also mentioned that he is still learning from his team; the vision is quite clear. As the season moves ahead, it will be interesting to see how the dynamics change. The young head coach, Dillingham, is winning hearts, but the competition is tough. Who is winning the title of head coach of the year as per you?