Arizona State plays Utah on short week: 'Possibly the worst scenario you could ever have'
Kenny Dillingham and the Arizona State football coaching staff did not have much time to celebrate their first Big 12 victory.
After beating Kansas 35-31 at Mountain America Stadium on Saturday night, Dillingham quickly turned his attention to Friday's home game vs. former Pac-12 rival Utah (4-1). Not only do the Sun Devils have less time to prepare for the No. 16 Utes, but they'll also be facing a ranked team coming off a bye week.
"Unfortunately, we play a Friday night game, and Utah's off a bye," said Dillingham after Arizona State's victory. "So I don't know how we got a schedule where we have six days, and they have a bye week. But it's possibly the worst scenario you could ever have ... having a short week when another team has a bye."
On top of that, the Sun Devils will be without two key defensive players for the first half. Linebacker Keyshaun Elliott and defensive lineman Clayton Smith were both ejected after being penalized for targeting calls against the Jayhawks. Elliott is the "quarterback" of the defense and wears the helmet that is connected to the defensive play calls coming from defensive coordinator Brian Ward.
The Sun Devils also expended a ton of energy in a game that went down to the wire in 100-degree temperatures. That could mean a much lighter week for ASU's players to give them enough time to recover.
"This was a tough game," said Dillingham. "I've got to see how we feel. I'm also not stubborn, so I've got to see how our guys feel."
Utah is still licking its wounds after a 23-10 loss at home to Arizona on Sept. 28. Utah played without QB Cam Rising and was disjointed on offense. The Utes failed to convert on four 4th down opportunities, including two in the red zone.
“Left points out there. We were horrible in the red zone. Awful. Awful. Until we get that fixed, we’re going to continue to have problems,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game.
Rising suffered an injury to his throwing hand in Utah's win over Oklahoma State and Whittingham has said his status is week to week. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the injury was a dislocated finger on his throwing hand, as well as stitches for a deep laceration. It's unclear if he will play against the Sun Devils. If he can't go freshman Isaac Wilson is expected to start at quarterback for Utah.
The Arizona State vs. Utah game is scheduled to kick off Friday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. MST. It will be televised on ESPN.
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.