Arizona State football ‘America’s Team,’ CBS college football podcaster says

Arizona State football may have destroyed the Dallas Cowboys‘ “America’s Team” narrative.

For anyone confused, they can reach out to CBS Sports football podcaster Josh Pate. He declares ASU football “America’s Team” during his May 11 episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show.

“I think Arizona State would be my answer here,” he said.

“No. 1, it’s not an SEC or Big Ten team,” Pate explained. “You cannot be America’s football team and be in one of those conferences. Because you got to have a likable quality about you. And those conferences aren’t likable right now. The Q ratings of those conferences are way down.”

ASU football embraced the take with posts on its Instagram and X accounts touting the nickname and tagging Pate’s accounts

The Sun Devils are in the Big 12, whereas the SEC and Big Ten are often referred to as the “Power 2” conferences. In ASU’s first year in the Big 12 (2024), they won the conference and finished as the No. 7 team nationally in the final AP Poll.

“Not only is it not a Power 2 team,” Pate continued. “It’s (also) not Clemson, or Notre Dame, or Miami, or one of the ACC or independents (that is also) a powerhouse program.”

ASU catapulted to Big 12 champions in 2024 after going 3-9 in each of their previous two seasons.

“The program was left for dead,” Pate further discussed. “I want to remind people; it’s not long ago that Herm Edwards was the head coach there, and the program was going nowhere fast. And then you’ve got the sanctions and you’ve got the firings. And the program just spiraled into the desert.”

Edwards led the Sun Devils for four seasons and part of a fifth, before he was fired after a 1-2 start to the 2022 season. He went 26-20 in that time with a 1-2 bowl record and never finished ranked. This was despite illegally recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period, which led to the firings and suspensions of his assistant coaches and the resignations of coordinators.

The NCAA broke down more of the punishments Arizona State received on their website, including four years of probation, a fine, scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions.

“And if you looked at it at the time, you would have thought it’s going to be a decade before we ever hear of anything about Arizona State football again,” Pate continued. “And then they went and hired Kenny Dillingham.”

Despite Dillingham inheriting a program recently clouded by sanctions, he won 11 games in his second year with the team (2024) and made the College Football Playoff for the first time in Arizona State history. His Big 12 championship in 2024 awarded him a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.

“And that is a marriage that I always love to see when it’s possible,” Pate finished. “Either hire a guy who either played or coached at the school if it makes sense, or hire a guy with ties to that region and to that program.

“Well, Kenny grew up in the shadow of the stadium. I mean the guy would’ve crawled over broken glass and probably take a 50% paycut to stay there just because.”

When the NFL’s Cowboys nicknamed themselves “America’s Team” in the period when they won two Super Bowls between 1971 and 1977, nobody outside their team and fan base bought it. They still have not bought it, especially with Dallas not making a conference championship game in these last 29 seasons.

The Sun Devils are in a different spot, with the team having contended for a national championship in 2024 and the team’s momentum trending in the positive direction.

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.