Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham Postgame
Saturday Sept. 5, 2026
On continuing to win home openers:
“Obviously you want to start the season fast. Our challenge to our guys was to play our best game, and we didn't do that. We played a good game at times, but there were still too many things that we can improve upon, and you’ve got to keep getting better every single week. But obviously you play college football to win the game, so you’ve got to celebrate the win because it's hard to win in college football. Then you got to really reflect on the things that we got to get better at, and there's quite a few things that we got to improve upon going the next week.”

On (QB) Cutter Boley’s Sun Devil debut:
“He's a worker. He loves the ball. He went out there today and just executed the plan, which is what I love to see: guys who don't try to do too much. There was one play where he tried to do too much and scrambled across the body, but other than that, he really didn't put the ball in jeopardy. That one sack fumble, it's an instant sack. You can't do anything at quarterback on instant sacks to your backside. But other than that, I thought he played really, really well. I thought he controlled the game. He made some really nice checks there that became explosives, and some touchdowns. So, I was really happy that I played.”

On what stood out the most, both good and bad:
“I thought our guys played hard, and they played physical. I think you can see the physicality of the football team. I think they were trying to play physical, trying to establish an identity. We didn't have too many penalties, but that's also bad because we still had penalties in the low red zone. We cannot commit penalties in the low red zone. That cannot happen. Then, there were still too many balls in jeopardy on offense. We had two balls in jeopardy, and in defense, we didn't create any takeaways. If we want to win football games, as this continues, we can't be a team that loses the turnover ratio. And we lost the turnover ratio tonight, and we won the game, but, we can't lose turnover ratio if we want to win a lot of football games this year. Positives, a lot of guys played, and a lot of guys played well. I thought we looked efficient. For our first game, it didn't look sloppy, so it showed us that the work worked. All the time that we put in, all the time they put in, they were prepared for the game. There weren't false starts, other than the one. There weren't any bad holding calls. All those things, we’ve got to improve upon if we want to be the best team we can be.”

On the team making a good first impression:
“I thought they capitalized on it. If you watch us play tonight, we look like a team that practices hard. Usually if you practice hard, and you practice like it's a game, your first game you are efficient. You play like you practice. So I think that they showed that they put in a lot of work this offseason. But, we’ve got an unbelievable challenge ahead of us.”

On the onside kick, and if it was an aggressive move:
“We went into the game and we saw something on tape and we said if it was there, we're going to take it. I believe if things are there, you do it. You can't worry about it if it doesn't work. And at the end of the day, I think Bruce Arians used to say no risking, no biscuit. You've got to play the game to win. So if you see something on tape and it's there and shows up there again, let's do it. And I think players feed off of aggressiveness as well. So if something's there to be aggressive, we want to be able to try to take it and not play scared.”

On senior wide receivers Reed Harris and Omarion Miller:
“They played well. Go watch our White House log tonight. That's what I'm proud of. Go watch Marquis Gillis. He (Gillis) was the fake and then he winds up a lead blocking after he was the fake for a touchdown. Reed Harris winds up lead blocking and pan kicking somebody on that play. That's the stuff I'm proud of. Good players are supposed to make good plays with the ball. It's the extra things that separate guys. That’s what I was pleased with was how we did the little things.”

On spring expectations for senior wide receivers Reed Harris and Omarion Miller and their performances:
“I was really happy with how they played. I was happy with the effort they played. I was very happy with the effort that they gave. The number one thing I was proud of was how they played the game, not what plays they made. Like we expect them to do that. That's a minimum expectation to win a one on one if you're those guys, right? The thing that separates you is how hard you play and do you play for your teammates.”

On the decision to play ten minutes in the fourth quarter:
“The referees came over and said, the coach (Morgan State Head Coach Damon Wilson) on the other side asked if we could shorten the quarter, and I said, yeah, of course, whatever he wants, we 'will do. And I've never been a part of a game like that. I didn't know that was legal. I learned something today. I just said whatever he wants. I don't know if he wants to be seven minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, whatever he wants it to be. He's a really good coach. He's a really good guy. He's had a lot of success in college football. He's a really good person. I got to talk to him pregame. So, when he asked to shorten it, I said whatever he wants, you know, we'll do.”

Arizona State Junior Quarterback Cutter Boley
On his first time playing at Mountain American Stadium
“It was awesome how the fan base showed out. It's just a lot of credit to the guys on the team for how we played tonight and how bought in they were all week to the game plan and trying to be us. I feel like we came out tonight and executed on all cylinders, a few plays here and there we wish we had back, but our guys really executed and they really bought in this week.”

On recovering from his first quarter sack and fumble:
“Ball security is really important and that was a mistake I had in the first quarter and I learned from that and tried to bounce back, tried to just have that next play mentality. That's something we grow and learn from, and it won’t happen again.”

On breaking the record for most passing yards in a Sun Devil debut:
“It's a blessing but it's all credit to these skilled guys we have. Running backs, receivers all over the field, just getting the ball in these guys' hands and letting them do their thing. At the end of the day, we're not really worried about stat lines, we're worried about wins and losses. So just get it in these playmakers' hands and let them work.”

Arizona State Sophomore Running Back Grayson Rigdon
On how it felt getting big rushing plays:
“Our O-Line worked so hard, tight ends also, so them having to take on the blocks that they did, it was great just to be able to run through it open.

On Kenny Dillingham’s coaching philosophy:
“He just loves the game and I love being around that. He's gonna push you, every day, good or bad, and I just love being around somebody that just has that passion.”

Arizona State Senior Wide Receiver Reed Harris
On the team’s buy-in to the Sun Devil ways:
“We have to take pride in everything we do, whether it's catching the ball, running routes, or blocking. Blocking will help the big plays happen. I feel like what happened tonight speaks for itself, making plays down field, getting the running backs open. When things go together like that it's good football.”

On the impact Hines Ward has had throughout preseason and his mindset:
“He preaches it everyday. Everyday we come in hearing the right things and he knows what its supposed to look like. Being able to learn from him and listen to him helps a lot and being able to do the right things

Arizona State Junior Linebacker Owen Long
On what message the defense is able to send and what fans can expect for the rest of the year.
“Definitely how hard we play. Not everything's going to go right in a football game. The things you can control, your effort, your tenacity and how hard you work to get to the football. Those are the things I think our defense is built on. We were able to display it tonight and the cool thing about football is that we have a week to get the bad things fixed and go back at it next week”

On the defense’s communication throughout the game:
“Obviously that's a big part of our scheme and our style that we play, being able to communicate with each other. The cool part is the stadium is so dang loud that sometimes you can't always hear and that's a good thing, right? But those are the little things that we work on all week in practice. We rep the communication, just the simple stuff of what we're saying to each other to know what each other's got going on, and I thought tonight we were able to display that and like I said, there's always room for improvement and we'll work to get that fixed.”

Morgan State Head Coach Damon Wilson Postgame:
On how his team stepped into the challenge:
“It was a great environment and Arizona State is a tough fight. The coaching staff and everything that we've experienced is a tough flight. I didn't like the way we tackled defensively and we didn't convert on third down offensively. We had some opportunities out there that we could have made some plays on. We didn't do that. One positive is that a lot of young guys played. I think we traveled with 84 guys and I think 83 played. We had some good experience. Now we have our first home game coming up, I’m excited about that.”

On senior quarterback Cameron Edge:
“He (Edge) did pretty well. He threw some balls that he'd probably like to have back. It’s different when you get some of those guys coming over here like they had today. A couple of linemen went down, which forced some younger guys to get some experience early. We wanted to try to slow the game down a little bit, and we didn't do that at times. All in all we got through it.”

On redshirt senior running back Jordan Barnett’s status:
“He's (Barnett) fine. We have four running backs that we feel really good about, and Jordan (Barnett) didn't start last week either. He has the ability to make plays along with the other guys back there. We wanted to get through this game as healthy as possible so we can get ready for next week.”

On his post-game takeaways:
“We have reference points now. A lot of guys that hadn't played got some snaps today. A lot of times you say you are ready to play and now we have film to show you that either you are ready or you're not. We need to make some changes from a depth chart standpoint.”

On how to gauge looking back at the film knowing the quality of the opponent they faced:
“Well, football is football. I don't care who you're playing against from a tackling standpoint, you have to tackle, you have to tackle. You have to block, so they have to line up right. I don't care if those pre-snap — not necessarily penalties — but the pre-snap errors, that's something (that) I don't care who you're playing against, you just have to line up right. And that's something at times today (that) we did not do a good job of. Especially when we were with some of the younger guys that hadn't had a lot of snaps. So maybe now they are focusing more on the practice. Maybe I give them more reps at practice so they can have those reference points and those experiences so when they're called in the game, they'll be ready to roll.”

On how playing in a game like this benefits the program outside of a financial standpoint:
“The experience, just the experience. The guys coming out in front of 60,000 people, that's great. I think it also helps when you're talking that we're very fortunate, we've had a few guys in the last few years playing in the National Football League and one thing they do is look at the FBS opponents that we may have played, (they will) look at the games, to answer any questions they may have. So some guys could have helped themselves today or some guys could have hurt themselves. When you don't play the FBS opponent, they don't have a way of declaring if you could or can't play there. Now when we do play those FBS opponents and you do your part, it gives you an opportunity to show that you can possibly play on Sundays. And like I said, I think in this, in the past, definitely the last couple of years, guys have taken advantage of those FBS opponent games, and they played well and I think that helped them get to where they are now.”

On looking back at the film and if he is going to let it soak in or wash it away:
“No, we have to look at the film once again, it's just alignment and tackling. That's something that — you're not gonna beat anybody if you can't line up right. So alignment and tackling is something that we're going to take away. We want to watch the film. We're not gonna beat the guys up over it, but we will watch the film and make the necessary adjustments and do the things we need to do in practice so that we'll be ready to roll for our next game.”