Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham is heading into the Nov. 7 matchup in Tempe with more than one familiar face on the Colorado sideline.
The Sun Devils coach said after Nov. 4 practice that he knows what Colorado can bring defensively and offensively, and he singled out two staff members he has worked with before. One is defensive coach Chris Marve, who Dillingham coached alongside at Florida State.
"Coach [Chris] Marve, I worked with him at Florida State. He’s a remarkably smart person," Dillingham told reporters following a Nov. 4 practice.
"Like, he went to Vanderbilt, team captain, like remarkably smart. So he’s going to have some things for us, and he does a great job."
Dillingham expects Marve to bring pressure looks and coverage changes, and the connection runs back to their time with Mike Norvell’s Seminoles before Norvell was dismissed on Nov. 1.
He also spoke highly of Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, another former colleague.
"Coach Marion does a great job. They’ve always been one of the best rushing teams in the country.
They’ve always ran the ball at a high clip throughout his entire career. I actually worked with him at Arizona State," Dillingham revealed.
"They’ve been playing really good football on offense, specifically the last three weeks."
Marion served as quality control coordinator at Arizona State before his rise continued. At that point, Dillingham was a young offensive analyst. Their coaching paths also overlap through Gus Malzahn, with Marion having played wide receiver for him at Tulsa in the late 2000s and Dillingham later working as offensive coordinator at Auburn.
There is also a player connection in this Big 12 Conference game. Colorado coach Deion Sanders knows Arizona State wide receiver Omarion Miller well.
Miller was one of Sanders’ first recruits in the 2023 class and has become a key target for Dillingham’s offense. He enters the game with 41 catches for 427 yards and three touchdowns. His biggest jump came in 2025, when he posted 45 receptions, 808 yards and eight touchdowns, all career highs, despite Colorado’s 3-9 record.
The native of Vivian, Louisiana, also made a name for himself with a huge second-half stretch against USC in 2023. In that game, he caught seven passes for 196 yards and scored once as USC, led by quarterback Caleb Williams, escaped with a 48-41 win.
Miller has already produced one 100-yard outing for Arizona State, finishing with eight catches for 102 yards and a touchdown against Morgan State on Sept. 5.
He’ll try to bounce back from Halloween, when he had four catches for 37 yards and a touchdown in a 27-20 loss to No. 8 BYU.
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