(note players get started around 9 minutes in, Coach Kenny about 20 minutes in)
Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham:
On overcoming adversity in the second half
“Even though it probably lost three months off my life, our team needed that. We needed to get hit in the face. We needed to have to get back up. We got really comfortable. We drove the ball for eight minutes on the first drive. When you look at how we won the middle eight, we had the ball with about six minutes left to go in the first half. We drove down, scored to end the half…then got the ball back, and took eight and a half minutes off the clock and got three points. We had the ball consecutively for about 14 minutes in the middle of the game. And that's unbelievable management by our offensive coaches and our offensive staff to keep their offense off the field for that long and get 10 points. But for us to get hit back in the mouth and then have to get up, that's what I was proud of. We got up with a vengeance and we needed that because we're not going to have 17, 24-point leads every halftime. We're going to be in some dog fights, and we have to be able to go back and forth with counterpunches. I think today we finally had to punch back.”
On the energy in the stadium:
“I think it's the first time in school history with 10,000 students in the student section in back-to-back games, which is awesome. You could feel the energy in the stadium. This is a fun place to be in when it's rocking, and hopefully we can go out and play good football on the road the next two weeks and come back to another rocking stadium.”
On Cam Skattebo’s historic performance:
“It was awesome. He has so much passion. The guys feed off the passion and I think that the key to our football team is how hard we play right now. Our guys love football. I mean, it sounds so simple. They love to compete and he's the ultimate competitor.”
Arizona State Running Back Cam Skattebo:
On the final drive of the game:
“Me and the offensive line had a talk on the sidelines, and I didn't think going into it that anybody was going to stop us, no matter who it was. I put my belief in those guys. They know I'm gonna do my job back there behind them, and they made a beautiful hole. And so we had enough time on the clock to just burn it, and we won the first three quarters.”
On his career-high performance and the difference in his game this year compared to last season:
“I feel amazing. I think today was fun.That's the most fun I've had in a football game in a long time, until the end. We had our ups and downs there, but that was fun. You can ask these guys up front. Pushing grown men that are 300 pounds, that's fun to us. That's fun to the front five, the front seven and a running back. The quarterback probably hates it. He probably likes watching. But he [quarterback Sam Leavitt] didn't complain one time the whole game. That's why I love that kid, right there. I sit there and tell him all game, give me the ball. Every play, give me the ball. If he has an option to throw it, give me the ball.
Arizona State Quarterback Sam Leavitt:
On the challenges the offense had in the second half:
“Mississippi State came out and made a couple adjustments, brought a couple pressures and played a couple new coverages behind it that I got to see. I have to get the ball to my playmakers and make a couple more protection checks. I put it on me. I will get back to work and I’m excited for next week.”
On his performance tonight:
“First off, I want to give a shout out to our offensive-line and Skatt [Cam Skattebo]. They won us the game, so all props to them. There's a lot of things we need to clean up. And I needed to get out of my head in the second half and get in rhythm. Overall, there’s a lot of things to clean up.”
Arizona State Defensive Tackle C.J. Fite
On scoop and score touchdown:
“In practice, we set a standard on defense. Anytime the ball comes out, go pick it up. So, I saw the ball, went and got it. It wasn’t really too much. I just saw the ball and I was close to the end zone, so I tried to stick inside the pylon. So I looked, stared at the refs. He called a touchdown. I got happy.”
Arizona State Offensive Lineman Leif Fautanu:
On blocking for Cam Skattebo
“I think at the beginning of the season the offensive line knew that we're going to run the ball, especially with a back like Skattebo who's very emotional and very passionate about what he does. So blocking for him gives us the advantage. Honestly, all you have to do is get in the way and he'll do the rest. Especially in the short yardage, he could run somebody over and get the first down. It makes our job that much easier. So blocking for him is a blessing.”
On Cam Skettebo’s leadership:
“I think he stepped up in the off-season. He's had more of a voice than last year and I think really cares about the standard of the team. He's very passionate about what he does and as you guys can tell, he just wants to have the rock every play. But as passionate as he is, he's very much a great leader. Sometimes you have to tone him down a little bit when he gets over passionate, but at the same time, he's a very passionate and emotional dude. And I feel like that's why we love to have in the backfield.”
Mississippi State Head Coach Jeff Lebby:
On what he learned about his team tonight:
“I did a bad job getting us ready. The way we played early on in the game in the first half, our guys, I felt like we were pressing and not playing incredibly clean. And that was the difference in the ballgame. I learned we have a group of guys that bounced back, and they fought their butt off to give us a chance in the second half, and have a chance to go win the game. We got a stop there on fourth down, late. And we were going to get it back with a bunch of time and have the ability to go score and possibly tie the game up. I learned that we have guys that will fight. I learned that we have guys that want to play for each other. We have to play better earlier to give ourselves a chance to win.”
On how important the second half comeback was for building the program’s culture:
“That's something that we're dang sure we’re going to hold on to. We're going to continue to talk about the toughness that we played with in the second half. This is a game of execution. There's no doubt about it. But, our guys were able to come back out in the second half. They [Arizona State] went down the field and chewed up all that clock, but then we were able to get off the field. We held them to a field goal, and then you look up and we're right back in the game. We had the ability to make it a game there in the fourth quarter. Our toughness, and our guys fighting their butt off, and for each other as much as anything, was something that we're going to hold on to and build on.”
On Quarterback Blake Shapen’s leadership:
“He did a great job in the locker room. He did a great job on the sideline, continuing to stress playing one play at a time. And finding a way to do our job and give us a chance to get back in the game, trying to create energy and momentum for our football team to give us a chance. And he did that.”
Mississippi State Safety Isaac Smith:
On Arizona State’s rushing attack:
“They really just out-leveraged us on a bunch of plays.. Came down, we had a bunch of missed tackles. Got to fly around to the ball more, get more hats on the ball and just get the ball carried down on initial contact.”
On second half adjustments creating more defensive stops:
“I think it just came down to the energy levels were different than they were in the first half. We came in at halftime, adjusted some things, and came back out with a right, level-head and flew around to the ball and made big plays.”
On what the D-line can learn from this loss:
“Keep their heads up, keep playing physical, playing hard, fly around to the ball and execute the play that we call.”
Mississippi State Quarterback Blake Shapen:
On how important it is to limit self inflicted turnovers:
“It starts with me. I can't have that fumble. It's 3rd-and-20. Just take care of the football. I think that's a pivotal moment in the game, for sure. And then honestly early in the game and third downs, we just weren't executing. We just got to eliminate the mistakes. It's very frustrating. But that's the biggest thing for us moving forward. That we can grow, then execute more on third downs and be able to do our job late in that ballgame.”
On offensive mindset in the midst of losing 30-3:
“The message was execute. Whenever you know you're down that many touchdowns, you just got to take it one play at a time and continue to move the football and honestly convert on third downs. I think we struggled with that very early in the game, and for us to convert was a big deal. Honestly, just eliminate mistakes. I think we just we're hurting ourselves too many times tonight and everything that happened was just because of us."