FEAR THE FORK - An Arizona State CFB27 Dynasty - Presented by BigJDotCom01

[bigjdotcom01]

Only two Mountain West teams are in the preseason Top 25, and both are teams that moved over from the old Big XII in BYU and Utah. The top four teams in the rankings are all former Big XII schools.

BYU dominated the preseason All-Conference teams with the Cougars landing 20 players on the First Team and ten players on the Second Team. Arizona State landed three players on the First Team and six players on the Second Team. Colorado had one First Teamer and five Second Teamers. Utah was the only other school to land any players on the All-Conference Teams.

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE PRESEASON RANKINGS

1. BYU (Roster: 13, Media Poll: 12) OVR: 84, OFF: 84, DEF: 84
2. Utah (Roster: 28, Media Poll: 19) OVR: 79, OFF: 79, DEF: 79
3. Arizona (Roster: 36, Media Poll: 32) OVR: 79, OFF: 79, DEF: 79
4. Arizona State (Roster: 43, Media Poll: 45) OVR: 79, OFF: 79, DEF: 81
5. New Mexico (Roster: 86, Media Poll: 65) OVR: 69, OFF: 69, DEF: 69
6. UNLV (Roster: 76, Media Poll: 74) OVR: 74, OFF 74, DEF: 74
7. UTSA (Roster: 73, Media Poll: 76) OVR: 72, OFF: 74, DEF: 71
8. Colorado (Roster: 64, Media Poll: 80) OVR: 82, OFF: 781, DEF: 84
9. Colorado State (Roster: 87, Media Poll: 81) OVR: 71, OFF: 71, DEF: 71
10. Utah State (Roster: 79, Media Poll: 93) OVR: 72, OFF: 71, DEF: 74
11. Air Force (Roster: 82, Media Poll: 98) OVR: 72, OFF: 74, DEF: 71
12. UTEP (Roster: 101, Media Poll: 101) OVR: 66, OFF: 66, DEF: 66
13. New Mexico State (Roster: 106, Media Poll: 106) OVR: 71, OFF: 71, DEF: 71
14. Nevada (Roster: 113, Media Poll: 111) OVR: 70, OFF: 71, DEF: 69
15. Wyoming (Roster: 135, Media Poll: 124) OVR: 70, OFF: 71, DEF: 69
16. North Dakota State (Roster: 123, Media Poll: 137) OVR: 70, OFF: 71, DEF: 69

[bigjdotcom01]

Arizona State comes out of summer camp with a roster of 85 players. Here is a look at the 2026 Roster.

OFFENSE


Quarterback Cutter Boley hopes to lead Arizona State to glory, but he has competition.

DEFENSE


Junior linebacker Owen Long should be the leader of this Sun Devil defense.

[bigjdotcom01]

2026 ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS SCHEDULE

Arizona State will open up the Coach BigJ era and the school's first in the Mountain West with a home game against Bowling Green out of the Mid-American Conference.

The Sun Devils then jump right into Mountain West play with a couple of road games at Utah State and at New Mexico. They will play their first Mountain West home game on September 26th against 19th-ranked Utah. That opens up a stretch of three straight at home, hosting UNLV and Colorado State afterwards with a bye in between those two games. The game against the Rams is a Thursday evening game.

Arizona State then travels to San Antonio to take on UTSA, before returning home for another Thursday evening game, this one against Wyoming.

November opens on the road at Nevada before a couple of non-conference games at Washington State and home against Oklahoma State.

The Sun Devils will wrap up the year on the road against rival Arizona in the Duel in the Desert game for the Territorial Cup.

The schedule is interesting in that they will play five of the top six teams in the conference this season, and miss four of the bottom six teams. The non-conference tilt against Oklahoma State (Big XII) could be huge that late in the season.

[bigjdotcom01]

We take over an Arizona State program that is a three-star prestige with a top tier pipeline into Southern California, and a mid-tier pipeline into Northern California. The current team only has 17 seniors (9 offense, 7 defense, 1 special teams). The big area of need is going to be EDGE on defense as we are losing four players, and all are contributors. Star defensive tackle C.J. Fite is also graduating this season.

Here is an early look at our recruiting board.

[bigjdotcom01]

The 2026 season opened up and nine Mountain West teams were in action, none facing a ranked opponent. Nevada lost a tough one at Nothern Illinois 34-32, scoring a touchdown in the final minute, but the Wolfpack was unable to convert the two-point conversion. UNLV held on late to hold off Memphis 29-27 in an exciting game at Allegiant Stadium, site of this year's National Championship game.

North Dakota State made their FBS debut at home, but fell to Jacksonville State out of the SEC. The Gamecocks immediately make an impression as they move into the brand new SEC. North Texas travels to San Antonio and beats rival UTSA 28-20 to open up the season.

Colorado State welcomesd back Boise State to Fort Collins in a non-conference matchup and the Rams stunned the Broncos 32-31. Colorado State's Jordan Mosely caught 12 passes for 233 yards but did not score in the upset win. The teams combined for 954 yards of offense with Boise State's Maddux Madsen throwing for 383 yards and four touchdowns in the loss. Ben Ford caught 13 passes for 215 yards and three scores for the Broncos.

Nationally, #1 Ohio State held serve at home as they bested #2 Oregon 42-28 to open up the season. The former Big Ten foes met in a non-conference showcase game to open up the 2026 college football season.

Week #0: Scores:
Georgia Tech 14, Colorado 11
Northern Illinois 34, Nevada 32
Wyoming 37, Central Michigan 17
Florida State 45, New Mexico State 7[/b]
UNLV 29, Memphis 27
Jacksonville State 22, North Dakota State 9
North Texas 28, UTSA 20 (Rivalry Game)
Colorado State 32, Boise State 31
San Diego State 27, Utah State 17

National Game of the Week: #1 Ohio State 42, #2 Oregon 28

MOUNTAIN WEST Players of the Week:
DEFENSE: Jaseim Mitchell (MIKE, Colorado State) 10 tackles, TFL, FF, 2 FR
OFFENSE: Jordan Mosely (WR, Colorado State) 12 rec, 233 yds

[redsox907]

dang they updated some dev traits too. Fette an elite, Mack a star, Hamilton elite

[Captain Canada]

Feels like you've got a shot at your Conference championship off the bat, maybe BYU, Utah, and lowkey Colorado might give you a run for your money.

Intrigued to follow along, sir.

[Caesar]

Not having BYU on your schedule is a big plus.

[bigjdotcom01]

dang they updated some dev traits too. Fette an elite, Mack a star, Hamilton elite

This is why I waited for the updated rosters to start. Should be a fun team to play with.

[bigjdotcom01]

Feels like you've got a shot at your Conference championship off the bat, maybe BYU, Utah, and lowkey Colorado might give you a run for your money.

Intrigued to follow along, sir.

Agreed, I see no reason why we can't be there at the end with Utah and BYU