(Photo via Hailey Rogalski/WCSN)
With every new experience comes a learning curve, and it’s no different for first-year head coach Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State football.
The Sun Devils’ 24-21 win over Southern Utah on Thursday threw a unit featuring over 50 newcomers directly into the fire. A haboob, two-and-a-half-hour lightning delay, and a near second-half collapse to an FCS opponent will do that to a program. Now, ASU is tasked with making the necessary adjustments ahead of Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State (1-0).
“Winning is not the goal. Winning is a byproduct,” Dillingham said. “Most games when you have the talent to win the game, if you’re the best you can be, you will win. It is a byproduct of putting in the work. So our guys, rightfully so, were frustrated with how we played in the second half. And I’d be upset if they weren’t rightfully so frustrated.
“Winning is hard and you should be excited about it. But you should never be satisfied if you don’t play your best game. I think you saw guys up here that were not satisfied.”
Southern Utah scored 14 points in the second half and brought the deficit to three after a blocked punt return for a touchdown with just under eight minutes to play. Meanwhile, ASU struggled with execution, committing eight of its nine penalties and punting five times in the final 30 minutes.
In the days after the season-opening win, Dillingham told his squad to “find your favorite mistake, and learn and grow from it.” He shared his own for the exercise as well.
“(I) should have called a timeout two seconds sooner on the first down at the end of the (first) half so we would have had seven seconds, not five seconds left,” Dillingham said.
Dillingham also learned more lessons during the lightning delay, when he said he “overly hyped” the Sun Devils for the second half in concern for lethargic play out of the lengthy break. He claimed this was a factor in the increased penalties while saying the offense “had a little more energy than true substance.”
As strange as it may sound, Dillingham revealed that some of the players made use of the delay by getting homework done. After all, athletes are also students at the end of the day.
“We have guys who have homework assignments due at noon the next day, at 1:00 (p.m.) the next day, that they were going to do in the morning,” Dillingham said. “We’ve been up there for two hours and they bust out their computer because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Dillingham called this another learning experience and will ensure the Sun Devils’ homework is complete before a midweek game in the future.
The rookie head coach will face a veteran head coach this week in Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, who is now in his 19th season with the Cowboys.
Dillingham noted that Oklahoma State’s size on both sides of the ball will present a challenge. The Cowboys’ defense includes what Dillingham called a “monster linebacker” in redshirt sophomore Kendal Daniels, who operates as a hybrid safety-linebacker and was named Big 12 Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year last season. Dillingham also emphasized Oklahoma State’s physical offensive front as a major factor with Gundy shifting towards a more run-focused scheme.
“I feel like our D-line is talented and athletic, and (Oklahoma State is) big,” Dillingham said. “So it’s going to be a battle of can we hold up up front, and can we create enough chaos inside to prevent them from running the football.”
Dillingham highlighted the impact a packed Mountain America Stadium can have against such a historically touted program. ASU reported over 11,600 students in attendance against Southern Utah, which was the seventh highest crowd inside the Inferno Section. But the rest of the stadium was simultaneously scarcely filled before the weather delay saw most fans exit.
While Oklahoma State is known for its dedicated fanbase and “Paddle People” creating a hostile environment for the road foe, ASU’s home atmosphere has largely been a non-factor recently, with average attendance last season sinking below 40,000 for the first time since 2002.
Dillingham, who is motivated to revive fans’ passion for the program, challenged the Sun Devil faithful to show up on Saturday.
“Can we sell this place out? Can we create a home field advantage?” Dillingham said. “Because that’s what this is really about. We have a chance to play a game, it could be a 102 degrees, we could kick off at 7 [p.m.], we could have 14,000 students, we could sell out and we could really, really create a competitive advantage for our guys. And I think people underestimate the value of that.”
