Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham:
On the growth of the team from last season:
“Our kids love football. I think that was the easiest thing to take away is the passion they have for the game. They play really hard. They practice really hard. So it really is a reflection of how we've been practicing. But what I was proud of was we played smart. There were a few times that we had personal fouls towards us from the opponent and our guys didn't respond. Last year, we would have lost our minds and for us to be able to just lock back in and make the next play and continue to make the next play is a lot of growth for the football team. But that's probably the number one thing. And then the fact that we dominated the line of scrimmage. That team is a team that runs the football and stops the run and they've been like that for six years. The fact that we went out there and ran the ball for 240 yards and I think we out rushed them by 201 or something like that, a little bit over 200 yards in the football game. There is no chance on earth we could have even come close to doing that last year. So it's a testament to how those guys are practicing.”
On the early takeaways and setting the tone:
“It's unbelievable. we have been every single day. The guys probably are bored of it. We start our team meeting and the only two things I show are effort plays and takeaways, that’s it. Bad ball security, takeaways, effort. I don't show anything else. I don't show somebody make a superstar catch, I don't show a superstar juke move. It's those two things over and over and over again. It's just to get in their mind that you have to play really hard and win the turnover battle. All of these schemes that you're about to go do are awesome, but they're obsolete and we have to be able to do these two things. Then we can play smart football and execute and not commit penalties and don't kill ourselves. And it was game changing when you turn the ball over at that rate, we had two defensive touchdowns tonight and it was as close to a shutout as I think you could possibly get to a shutout. So in my mind, it's a shutout and it's two defensive touchdowns. Awesome job by our defense tonight and they deserve it because they've been working hard and they're playing with passion.”
On Sam Leavitt’s first career start:
I thought it was good. I thought he was poised. Before the game, I just told him to be yourself and when in doubt, run. Most of the time when you're a running quarterback, you want to prove that you can throw it. So you get out there and you scramble, you're like, watch me show everybody that I can deal this thing. If you're athletic, you get out there, run and then fall down. What I was proud of was he took that and applied it to the game. We talk about it all the time on first and second down. We don't need you to be a superstar. We need you to manage the game. Third downs are when you can extend plays and use your legs because if you get sacked, extending your play, we're punting anyway. So who cares? And that's when his running showed up was those third downs other than some called runs that we had for him. So I couldn't be more proud of how he executed the plan. Are there some growing pains? There's some things he can get better at. There's some things we're going to grow off of, but the kid cares and he's passionate and he's talented. And if you have a care level, you're passionate, you're talented and you're smart. That's why I have so much belief in what he is and what he's going to become over the next four years.”
On the Student section turnout:
“That was unbelievable. The student section tonight was absolutely incredible. We got to figure out how to keep them in the second half. There are so many distractions around this place that we have to figure out a way to keep them in the seats. But an unbelievable turnout. We play Mississippi State next week, an SEC team who just had a big win. We've never won an SEC game in Arizona State history. So we need a sold-out crowd with the biggest student section that there's ever been. We need it loud for four quarters all night long.”
Arizona State Senior Running Back Cam Skattebo
On the team’s performance:
“We played hard. That was a different team. Have you guys seen it? I've seen it for myself. I felt more comfortable on the sidelines. I got taken out with eight minutes left in the third quarter. That's a good feeling. We push each other. Leaders have pushed each other and everyone's been working and it’s starting to pay off.”
On if he learned something about the team after their win:
“I knew a lot about the team. Coming out of Camp T was the biggest thing. We all have seen it. We all understood how close we were, we knew who we were fighting with and for. It's definitely a different change and it means a lot to me to be able to see that and that I'm a part of something like that.”
On watching the two defensive touchdowns from the sidelines:
“I had no doubt those guys were gonna come out and do what they do. They take the ball away from us, as much as Sam probably hates it, they take the ball away from us too. They preach it, defensive coaches preach it every day. ‘Get the ball out, get the ball out, attack the ball.’… Those guys do a hell of a job of getting up to capture the ball and it paid off.”
Arizona State Freshman Quarterback Sam Leavitt
On his first collegiate start:
“It was fun being out there with the team and seeing the atmosphere. I felt like I played pretty well, there’s always going to be certain things you want back but I’m overall happy about the win.”
On his thoughts before the game:
“I wasn't too nervous going into this game and that's a testament to the coaching staff and the team preparing and having the answers for every situation. On film, watching it and seeing the situation and understanding what I have to do, whether that's a check or getting the ball to my playmakers. I didn't do anything special tonight, I just got the ball to my playmakers and let them make a play and we had great results.”
On feeling the energy in the stadium:
“It was pretty dope. I didn't think it was gonna be that loud running out. I was super excited about that and got a chance to see what we could really make of this and hopefully more people start showing up and we get this thing rocking.”
On the game action between series:
“There's always going to be things that you want back, whether it be a protection check or how we pass things off and gel together as an offense. But overall, we flowed into the next drive well and we weren't focused on the last drive, which was a major factor in our success today. We didn’t get caught up in the first half even though we were up 27-0. I came out talking about how this game isn’t over and we have to come out and keep pushing and that's how games are going to be. You never know what's going to happen in college football.”
Arizona State Junior Linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu
On what he saw in the first play of the game:
“It looked just like home. It looked like I was right. I did my job and when you do your job and you execute, good things happen.”
On feeling the energy in the stadium:
“It was great energy. The crowd was there and the community was there. We know they have our backs and we have their backs and we put that on our shoulders.”
Junior Linebacker Keyshaun Elliott
On the team’s mindset being powerful:
“I think that's just the identity we have as a team, no days off. It doesn't matter who we're playing, we're still gonna do our jobs. We're still going to do whatever it takes, trust the process. Compare us to anybody else.”
On his and Zyrus’ interceptions:
“It was good. Shout out to the coaches, it’s a testimony to our work and what we've done in the off-season. We’ve both had interceptions just like that in practice. It shows up but it was a good play call and the quarterback just happened to throw it right to us. We couldn’t have been in a better place.”
On feeling the energy in the stadium:
“I thought it was huge, the crowd showed out. I don't think they realize how much of an impact they have for the defense and offense. It's always nice to see the stadium almost packed, the energy was there throughout the fourth quarter, so that was nice as well.”
Wyoming Head Coach Jay Sawvel:
Opening Statement:
“We played poorly. We coached poorly. We took a gut punch the second play of the game and we didn't really recover and respond the way that we needed to respond. Between that and we had a lot of execution errors early on procedural penalties. A personal foul on defense when we jetted and hit the quarterback. A horse collar on a punt that the punter hits the ball in the wrong part of the field. We just did not execute very well in any phase of it for a quarter. Then once we got into that mode, we weren't able to dig ourselves out. We didn't have the fight to do that and the execution to do that, play in and play out. That's a coaching thing. We've got to get a lot better obviously as a football team. It's one of those things that fortunately for us counts as one. Even though it feels like it should count for about four or five right now. But we have to go back to work next week and work to get better one day at a time.”
On his message to Wyoming fans:
“Well, they should be reactionary, based on what they see tonight because what they see tonight wasn't very good. So I own that. As I said, we all have to look in the mirror and we all have to look at it and go, ‘ok, what do we gotta do to get better?’ The biggest thing that I can tell a fan base is we're gonna go back to work on Monday and we're gonna have a better football team on the field next weekend. That's all I can tell you and the fact that when I went in there after the game, you look at the team and you know that they're dejected because nobody feels good about a game like that. Nobody does, coaches, players, nobody does. And so the first thing that you realize is, yeah, look, I believe in everybody in that locker room. There's not an issue after seeing that, that I don't think that we can do things that we wanna do. We certainly can, but we know we have to play a lot better. We have to get a lot better and that starts with coaches and it goes all the way through, but we all have to look in the mirror and own it and we didn't dig ourselves out. We dug ourselves a big hole and we couldn't fight our way out. We didn't stop the run well enough on certain parts of the game. We didn't stop any third down conversions. We would get to a 3rd-and-5, 3rd-and-6, and the quarterback would scramble and get a first down. There were a lot of things that, all of a sudden, we didn't execute the way that we needed to. We've got some experience on the football team for sure. We got an experienced group of people on defense and the whole deal, but we also have some inexperience in a lot of positions and some of our inexperienced played like inexperienced tonight. It's going to be a great learning lesson for a number of players about the ability that we have to have to put ourselves in better positions and finish plays off and do those things.”
On his confidence that Quarterback Evan Svoboda will bounce back:
“I have full confidence in Evan [Svoboda]. But look, he's one of 11 players right? I have full confidence in Evan, but we have to play better all around. If we don't run the ball well, Evan is going to have a hard time. If we don't create space and separation at times, Evan is going to have a hard time. He's one of 11, and we all have to be better. And we're going to take a true look at what we have to do to get better, in every phase of the game. And I have confidence in Evan, and I have confidence in all of our players, that we can be a lot better than what we were tonight.”
Wyoming Quarterback Evan Svoboda
On his initial reaction to tonight's game and how they move forward
“I just gotta respond from it. I gotta learn and grow. We gotta flush this game and just gonna grow from it.”
On any positive takeaways for himself from the game:
“There's a lot of room to grow. A lot of learning experiences. Coach Johnson kept emphasizing that throughout the game. So we just gotta grow from here.”
Wyoming Defensive Tackle Jordan Bertagnole
On how his leadership can help the team move forward:
“I need to be better. It starts with the leadership and I feel like as a whole, I was hurting and I just have to look past that. I feel like I just got to focus on other people because other people are going through more than I am and I feel like I just didn't do that as a captain on the team especially. It definitely starts with us and we didn't live up to the expectation.”
On if the ASU offense did anything that surprised him:
“It's always hard when there's a new offensive coordinator that you're scouting for and a ton of transfers. You don't know what their strengths are entirely. And we have a lot of the stuff that we game plan for. We did see a lot of counter stuff, and I feel like guys needed to get off blocks today. And I know inside, we struggled with that aspect - just getting off blocks and making plays. It's what you have to do, and you have to tackle well, especially if you want to win on the road. Coach [Jay] Sawvel has harped on it a lot. You have to bring good defense, and we didn't have a good defense today. We didn't tackle well, and that's one of the key factors of knowing if a defense is ready to play. We had way too many missed tackles, so definitely a lot to learn from. But it's only up from here.”