Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham
On prevailing in close games this season and preparing players for these situations:
“We’re trying to create guys who are confident in what they know and who play the game really hard. At the end of the day, the more you invest in something, the harder it is to quit and the harder it is to get down quickly. So the more you put in, the more fight you have in you. And I think our guys are putting a lot in right now, and that’s why in these closer games up to this point we’ve fared pretty good…I don't know the stat right now of one-score games in the Big 12 or upsets in the Big 12, but there's no such thing as an upset in the Big 12. There's just another game, that's the bottom line. There are no favorites and there are no non-favorites. It's another game versus another team who can beat you, and repeat for nine weeks in a row.”
On the targeting calls in the Kansas game:
“The targeting calls are out of the officials on the field's control. And by the letter of the law with some views that they see, they say it's a clear targeting. So there's really nothing whether we like it or not. It's more of a rules problem. We want to reassess the rules in the offseason…Are there different levels of targeting that allow you to come back in the next game and not be suspended for the following first half. But by the letter of the law, they believe that it's targeting and they got a good look at it. Other things on the field, I'm a rules guy so I ask a lot of questions as to why certain things are called in certain ways, and I had some questions about things that didn't go our way. I've had conversations with the Big 12 about it and they've been really respectful to get back to me with fair answers, but I don't want to disclose those publicly.”
On his postgame moment with quarterback Sam Leavitt:
“That's what coaching is about. That kid has put in so much work... and he prepares like that every week and that was his best week of prep. I think I said in here that he was really clean. Us being able to show him all the looks two weeks in a row, I think really helped him. And then he went out there and performed. We uncharacteristically had three or four drops, depending on how you look at it, otherwise he would have had an even better game. And the fact that he was poised at the end of the game was kudos to him. Then like I said, that moment right there is just natural, there's nothing fake about it on either side. It's just the culture we're trying to build here. You do things for other people.”
On staying true to himself instead of trying to be something different:
“I've tried that whole "be something different" for six months at another school and it failed miserably. It probably wasn’t even six months, maybe a month and a half. I tried the whole "let me be what all these other coaches are" or what you're supposed to be, quote unquote. That's never worked for me. I'm a goofy little guy who didn't play college football. If I don't act the way that I am, everybody's going to see right through it and it's not gonna work anyway. So I better just be genuinely who I am all the time. It may not be the model of what success looks like in college, but I do believe the only way that I can have success and we can have success is if the person steering the boat believes and is genuine to who they are.”
On getting the team to play to its potential and handling Utah:
“You don't temper it. You just keep growing and like we talked about today in meetings, it's about us. Other than the first half of Wyoming, which I think I said was one of the best halves of football I've been associated with, we haven't played a clean game. We just haven’t, and I think the challenge for our guys is to play up to the level we're capable of. And that's not even with getting better. If we just stay the same and play to the level that we were capable of in the last few weeks, we're going to be a tough team to beat. Then hopefully we're also getting better and then gonna go play to our capability, but we still haven't done that. With Sam (Leavitt) he is just going to get better every week. I think I've said it two weeks in a row, but this is the worst he's ever going to be. That doesn't mean he's never going to have a bad game. He's going to. I'm gong to coach a bad game. I'm going to suck again one of these weeks when I come into the press conference. That's the nature of this sport. At the end of the day, as long as that meter is going up by the end of the year, then I know we're going in the right direction.”
On preparing to face either Cameron Rising or Isaac Wilson:
“We're going to prepare for Utah. Cam is one of the best quarterbacks in college football. He's been one of the best quarterbacks in college football. He's one of the toughest players in college football. I think anybody who questions Cam Rising's toughness needs to go watch him play the game of football and I think you'll put to rest the question on Cam Rising's toughness. We're preparing to play Cam and Isaac and whoever we play, we play, but more importantly, we're preparing to play us and we have to be the best versions of us on Saturday and that's about cliche and corny but it's the absolute truth."
On Isaac Wilson’s recent play:
“We lost. We recruited him, he was one of our top guys. I played chess with him and you can ask him about our chess match here. I beat him here and then he beat me on chess.com. So, he got me back. I shouldn't have beat him. He should have beat me. He's really good actually. He's a smart guy. He's savvy. He's confident. He extends plays with his legs. He had to go on the road to start in Stillwater, and they found a way to win the football game. So kudos to him. He's just a very confident guy back there. Like I said, he extends plays, he’s confident, he can make all the throws. That's why we recruited him. I know that bye week and what it did for Sam is gonna do the same thing for him (Wilson). If he's the guy, they're going to find a comfort in him, find what he's good at. They're going to double down on what he's good at. They're going to play to his strengths. So I think we're going to get a better version of him or we're going to get one of the best quarterbacks in college football in Cam Rising. Either way, we have to play Utah and their brand of football is, if you can't stop the run, it really doesn't matter what anybody else does. If they rush the ball for six yards a carry and they stone you. Everybody else in the field is just kind of there waving the towel. It's all about the physicality of this football team and the culture of the football team."
On Sam Leavitt’s footwork development:
"I know he said some really fancy things I have no clue to talk about. He was more balanced, he's a little bit of a hopper which is fine, but he was definitely more balanced, as opposed to lunging earlier in the year. He’s more on his back foot. I don't know what he said. I think it provided him to be more accurate. I think because he was more in balance more, he wasn't over striding and he wasn't lunging. It's a very simple thing about a baseball player that's always leaning forward versus a baseball player who starts balanced... I think it's only going to do him justice. The best thing about Sam is that he's a self-corrector so he can see things, he can feel what's wrong, he can feel himself do something right, and then he can correct it on his own. Obviously, you as a coach would love to say, ‘I fix things,’ but Sam's super intelligent. He cares and most of the time, those guys are just as much self-correctors when it comes to their own fundamentals as they are a coach fixing it in some way."
On the atmosphere of Saturday night:
“It's huge for getting people back and excited about ASU football. Getting people back in the stands to be something if you were you at the game. You know, ‘were you at the game?’ ‘Did you see the game?’ I think that it’s such a small thing but when you can be involved in those questions of, ‘were you at the game?’ ‘Did you see the game?’ I think that just multiplies week by week. ‘Were you at the game?’ ‘Did you see the game?’ ‘Did you see that play?’ ‘Did you see this?’ ‘Did you see that?’ I think all of that just excites people. When you're living in one of the largest in the country, you don't have to hit 50% of the people in this city to not have to be an ASU fan to activate the Valley. We need 10% of the city to be an ASU fan and this is going to be one of the craziest environments in college. If 10% of the people are like ‘dang, I wanna be a part of that. I wanna be a part of that environment. I wanna bring my son and daughter to that environment.’ I think this Friday night will be a fun test. You have a 4-1 Utah team versus a 4-1 Arizona State team on a Friday night on national television. The country is going to see what kind of support we have for our football program. Every recruit in the country is going to see the kind of support we have for our football program and every recruit is going to look at that or they're gonna show up, they're going to say, ‘Man, that place is rocking’ or they're going to say ‘Not a lot of people there.’ I know it's weird but that's the absolute truth.”
On scheduling clarification:
"I didn't (hear from the Big 12 regarding scheduling), I'm sure there's a good reason for it. To us, it's a challenge. At the end of the day we're in year two. It's not about shortcuts. It's not about the easy way out. Everybody wants to win now and I want to win now and trust me, it's much more fun to win than lose. But it's all about the process. It's funny because you show up and we're one play away from this being the complete opposite press conference, but one play makes this a positive press conference, one play the other way and we're horrible. And “are we gonna get over the hump?' then, 'look how hard it's going to be to make a bowl game,' and 'oh, you guys started so hot, what happened?' If you get focused on the result over and over again, You're in trouble with this deal. You better just be focused on your process, have belief in what you're doing and stay focused on it because you're going to win or lose games that you should and shouldn't. If you're worried about that, that should be how you feel after the game, not what you're worried about."
On having a player like Cam Skattebo on kickoff:
"Absolutely critical. We're 4-0 when he runs down the field on kickoff, and that seems comical and laughable, but it also is a mindset that our best dudes are in it. Set your jaw, our best dudes are playing this game in every facet. So kudos to him for being that for us … and I know there's probably a lot of people that think we're crazy for putting them on kickoff... That kickoff play is gonna get him drafted. Not just for his ability to play football at running back, but when a scout and a team see a running back add versatility in more way than just being a running back and they see his toughness and competitive drive, all of that stuff adds up to help you get drafted and help you have personal success along with team success. And it's funny that most things you do that help the team actually help you personally as well. But you get so distracted by what the world wants you to be, personally, that you lose focus that people are drafting players to join a team. They're not drafting players to play singles tennis. So if you're the best teammate, if you add value to a football team, the odds of you going higher in drafts and the odds of you being picked go up. And I think that play is going to be a lot bigger to Cam [Skattebo’s] career at Arizona State, but even beyond."
On the 55-3 loss to Utah in 2023 and the growth of the football program since then:
"Year two. Last year, we didn't have any depth, so we couldn't practice well. We were a seven-on-seven team pretty much the entire year and we gradually just got worse and worse, which is unfortunate in year one because you should be trying to get better... This year we have enough depth that I believe in the spring we got stronger, and then we could practice and we got tougher and we practiced harder. We're still doing 24 period practices… and I believe that how we practice and the toughness that goes into those practices, you're starting to see on Saturday. The weight room is starting to show up on Saturday. Our D-line is doing a good job stopping the run right now and our O-line kind of got back to the identity of getting off the rock."
On Malik McClain and wide receiver depth:
"So Malik, we're going to try to redshirt. He came in late in this process and he's a really good player, but he has a year left and he's still learning the system and he missed some in the summer for a variety of reasons... So, we didn't feel like we were doing him justice playing him eight or 12 snaps a game as he was getting back into it for his final year. I met with Malik, we talked about it. Does that hurt us a little bit this year? 100%. He was a really, really good depth guy, but for him personally and for us in the future, I definitely think it's a win-win. It does put a little stress on our depth because we did lose some depth…and then if bad things happen, we'll reassess it from there."
On tight end Chamon Metayer:
"He definitely is great with the ball in his hands. I think, one of the things he does that people don't really give him credit for is that he's a really, really, really physical blocker. If you just go watch him play the game of football, he plays the game extremely violent, extremely physical. And I think in today's day and age when most teams are in 11 personnel and everything's about getting your tight end to block an end and every defense says, ‘My D-end will never be blocked by your tight end,’ but if you can create ties with your tight end consistently, you're gonna open up creases and that's a guy who's not just catching the ball well, but he's blocking his butt off right now and he's an absolute joy to coach. He's one of the funnier dudes on our team. He's always smiling, he's got great energy, he's always battling through things. We got very lucky to get him to fill a major need. I am glad he's apart of it."
On his special teams philosophy:
"Special teams is important and I think in order to get buy-in, whatever your best players believe in is what your team believes in. So, I think your best players have to believe in the vision... because most of the time nothing gets returned on kickoff nowadays the ball is kicked from so short of a range that it's a fair catch nowadays, but it's the mindset of, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna sprint 50 yards and make a play if needed.’ I think it's just something that I've acquired over time just talking to multiple people and something I believe in, playing your best players on special teams. He (Cameron Skattebo) doesn't run back every kickoff, but the fact that he's willing to do it and does it with a passion is critical to us."
On losing the turnover battle and still finding a way to win:
"Unbelievable. I would love to find how many times Arizona State's won a game when losing the turnover battle by two and then getting a field goal blocked. Probably less than five. With an FBS opponent, I bet you it's less than three. That's just not something that happens very much and the fact that we found a way, and goes back to when you put so much into something and then your guys are invested and they believe. I think regardless of what happens, you see our guys always saying, ‘Don't worry about what's happening. Respond. Respond. Respond. Stay playing our game.’ I think that response showed up when you saw Jordyn Tyson respond and our defense respond after the takeaways... Our guys who were even kicked out of the game were very engaged and they were actually some of the first people to celebrate. And even though you don't want those guys ejected, that right there is why we won the football game."
On what he can take from Utah's program:
“I just try to study how they got to where they were in terms of the recruitment process and how they never won recruiting. Up until these last few years, they never ‘won’ recruiting. They were never in the limelight. They signed the guys that they thought were the best players that fit their team, and then they repeated it. They didn't chase guys. They just trusted what they believed they wanted. They didn't care what other people thought. They signed those guys and they built a culture of toughness, and I think one of the best things that he's (Kyle Whittingham) done there is he's established a culture. But then, he's retained staff and he's whatever he's done, I don't know how he's done it. When he retires, hopefully today, we can have a conversation about it and I would love to pick his brain on what his secret was to retaining staff. To say to all these guys that have been offered all these jobs and they still want to be there and work for you. Like, ‘what was your secret sauce?’ Because right now, continuity, I think wins in college football. I think continuity is an ace in the hole in college football because with the portal, the coach doesn't recruit you, (then) you start over. If your coach leaves that recruited you, then almost everybody on your team leaves and you start over and then you repeat and you repeat and it's really hard to sustain that success. However, he's managed to not have as much change as most teams. I think between that and the culture he's created, it's really incredible what he's done there. I hope in five to 10 years, we can hopefully look and be like, ‘ok, we have sustained success,’ or we have sustained an upward traction for similar reasons.”
On sustaining the rush attack:
“In my last press conference, I think I said ‘if you can run the ball with normal numbers, you should be good. If you can run it when you're down a hat, you're going to be great. If you can't run it with good numbers, you're in trouble.’ I think we ran the ball the way we should have been able to run the ball this week. We had a good scheme. We had good leverages. We won blocks and we got on the free hitter more than we didn't get on the free hitter. Everybody did their job. I think that's just kudos to not just the offensive staff. The players, the backs, it takes a village. A great scheme executed poorly is a bad scheme. Bad scheme, executed great, it's still not good either. It's just going to be a free dude there. It has to be everybody from coaches to players, all in belief of what we're doing and all executing when you're talking about running the football at a high rate.”
On where the program currently stands:
“I definitely think we're going in the right direction. At the end of the day, we've won four games. That's more than last year. So obviously we are getting better. We can go on a seven game losing streak. Then how’s everyone gonna feel? You're only as good as today. Bottom line. This game is so crazy because one or two plays, you're a zero or a hero. That's the bottom line. Today we're heroes because those two plays went our way and tomorrow we could be zeros. This is a great measuring stick for how physical of a football team you want to be, but I don't think it is a measurement on the season. I don't think this is the game that's going to be the difference. Every game is like that. Sorry. It doesn't matter who you play. You’re either going to win the game or you're going to lose the game and you're going to feel equally as bad either way. Because you should blow a team out and if you lose that one, that's really bad. Or you get blown out by a team that you shouldn’t and that still feels really bad. That happened to us last year versus these guys. It's a great measuring stick of where we're going. But the secret to them is not what they've done in a given year. It's what they've done over a period of time. When I say they're the gold standard, it's the consistency they've created. The only way to measure consistency is to be here long enough to see if we can match that consistency, not if we can play them in one game. That's what I meant when I said last year that they're the gold standard. It's the consistency that that program has year in and year out and you know what to expect is rare, and it's what hopefully we can build is not one team, not one game, not one great moment, but the consistency of year after year after year. So I think that's a great measuring stick in five, six years from now. You'll have to come back from wherever you're at and ask that question and say, ‘ok, now you've played them six years later. Do you feel like you've created that consistency that you wanted that they were once the gold standard of?’”