ATLANTA (AP) — As they prepare for Arizona State’s biggest game in nearly three decades, the guys who made it happen aren’t the least bit surprised to be rated a two-touchdown underdog in the College Football Playoff.
That’s a familiar position for the Sun Devils.
“We’ve been the underdog all year,” offensive lineman Leif Fautanu said. “That’s kind of what’s been fueling us.”
Of the eight teams still vying for a national championship, there’s no bigger surprise than Arizona State (11-2), which will meet big, bad Texas (12-2) in the Peach Bowl quarterfinal game on New Year’s Day.
A year ago, the Sun Devils went 3-9 in Kenny Dillingham’s injury-plagued debut as head coach. They weren’t expected to be any better this season, picked by the media to finish dead last after moving from the crumbling Pac-12 to the expanded, 16-team Big 12 Conference.
Now, look where they are .
“We just feel like the whole team has been an underdog their whole life,” defensive back Shamari Simmons said. “Once you put a whole lot of underdogs on one team, everybody just wants to prove everybody wrong.”