Unusual similarities exist between the Arizona State Sun Devils and host Cincinnati Bearcats as the Big 12 opponents prepare for a Saturday high-noon showdown.
Whatever the outcome in their first Big 12 Conference meeting, they surely enjoy 2024 more than 2023.
Each went 3-9 last season under a first-year coach: Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, Scott Satterfield at Cincinnati.
Like Satterfield’s Bearcats (4-2, 2-1), Dillingham’s Sun Devils (5-1, 2-1) find themselves in the second tier of Big 12 teams that have won two of three games and are looking up at a trio of undefeated foes — BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech.
Arizona State’s only blemish was at the Red Raiders, a 30-22 Week 4 setback in the Sun Devils’ Big 12 debut.
Two straight wins since, one-score home victories over Kansas and then-No. 16 Utah, have Dillingham’s bunch beaming.
The coach said two major hurdles loom Saturday — traveling to Ohio and meeting up with a foe that could easily be unbeaten.
“(Cincinnati) has two losses by four points total,” Dillingham said Monday. “Otherwise, they’d be undefeated and a top 15 team in the country if you flip four points.
“It’s homecoming weekend for them, so it’s going to be loud. And it’s at 9 a.m. our time. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us.”
In 2023, the Bearcats finished last with a 1-8 mark in their inaugural Big 12 season, but times are better now.
They lost 28-27 to Pitt in Week 2 before falling 44-41 at Texas Tech three weeks later — losing to two teams that are a combined 11-1.
Arizona State turns to an experienced starter — Jeff Sims — with quarterback Sam Leavitt out for at least one game with a rib injury. Sims has started at Nebraska (twice last season) and Georgia Tech (23 in his first two seasons).
Sims entered the game and threw two passes while rushing for a touchdown last Friday, when Leavitt attempted to play through the painful injury against Utah.
Last week at UCF, Bearcats sophomore Brendan Sorsby shrugged off a bad first half and completed 12 of 13 for 120 yards and a touchdown in the second.
Sorsby said the “defense really stepped” up in the 19-13 win over the Knights but added he felt he played a solid game despite two first-half interceptions.
“Obviously a couple of stupid throws on my end,” said Sorsby, who finished 25 of 38 for 241 yards and a touchdown. “It’s tough to say you played a clean game with two picks, but other than those two throws, I can’t think of anything I was dying to have back.”
Arizona State has a bye next week, which could be beneficial for Leavitt in a bid to return at Oklahoma State on Nov. 2.
Cincinnati was victorious in its two previous matchups with Arizona State, in 1954 and 1976, both on the road.
