Kevin Durant Says Texas Will ‘Walk Through’ ASU in CFP: ‘We’ll Hand Them This L’

Plenty of Arizona State football fans surely cheer for Kevin Durant when he takes the floor for the Phoenix Suns, but they aren’t going to love what he said about Wednesday’s College Football Playoff game between the Sun Devils and his Texas Longhorns.

“I love the matchup for us,” the former Texas star said, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “I think we’re going to walk through those boys. I feel like we’re going to put foot in them. “… We’ll hand them this L. They can learn a lot from that.”

Durant played at Texas during the 2006-07 men’s basketball season, so his support for his school comes as no surprise.

And he also showed some love to the Sun Devils when he said, “Rooting against ASU so hard. I can’t wait to talk (expletive) to ASU fans if we win that one, but it’s pretty cool actually to see the energy in Phoenix, Tempe, around ASU. For them to be in the playoff and playing in a big game like that, that’s huge.”

Arizona State has been one of the best stories of the college football season, as the program entered the 2024 campaign coming off back-to-back 3-9 efforts.

All it did this season was win the Big 12 and go 11-2 while earning the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the inaugural 12-team CFP. A quarterfinal showdown against Texas is hardly a reward, but it is a testament to head coach Kenny Dillingham’s efforts that the Sun Devils are in such a position in just his second season at the helm.

Texas did not get a first-round bye and had to earn its way to the quarterfinals with a home victory over 12th-seeded Clemson.

While the Longhorns have impressive talent and are surely one of the best teams in the country, they also didn’t exactly play a loaded schedule. Georgia is the only team Texas faced before the CFP that ended up in the final Top 25 of the playoff rankings, and the Bulldogs won both head-to-head matchups.

Perhaps the Sun Devils can jump out to a quick lead and create some doubt on Texas’ sideline, but Durant doesn’t believe that is how it will unfold.