What Kenny Dillingham said after Arizona State's first Big 12 win
Kenny Dillingham is working miracles at Arizona State.
One year after finishing 3-9 - and with an NCAA investigation swirling around the program - Dillingham has quickly rebuilt the Sun Devils into one of the biggest surprises in college football.
Arizona State (4-1, 1-1) beat Kansas 35-31 on Saturday night on a Sam Leavitt touchdown pass in the final seconds. They racked up 485 yards of offense, overcame two turnovers and made clutch play after clutch play, with Leavitt leading the way.
Leavitt finished 14-of-24 for 157 yards and 4 touchdowns, as well as 77 yards rushing. Here's what Dillingham said about Leavitt's performance after game:
"Sam has unbelievable poise. I keep saying it ... like the dude's mindset is a professional mindset. I mean, he prepares every week like a pro, he shows up every day, and he's getting better and better and better and better," said Dillingham. "I mean, there were some things we'd like to have back early in the game, but when the game was on the line, he showed up. That dude, I would say his fifth start in college football, that's pretty exciting for ASU. It's pretty exciting for the Valley that that was his fifth start in college football."
Dillingham lauded his team's effort and resiliency while playing in 100-degree heat and overcoming turnovers and mistakes:
"Our guys played hard. Our guys play with passion, and we didn't play perfect. There's a lot to clean up," said Dillingham. "I mean, you can't get the ball inside the 40-yard line three times and come up with zero points. I mean, that's really really bad football. To find a way to still win through all of that, with all the third-down penalties ... kudos to our players, and glad I get to coach them."
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson had a big game, catching 6 passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns - including the game-winning touchdown reception with 16 seconds left. He also fumbled and dropped a pass on the goal line that led to a Kansas interception. Here's what Dillingham said about Tyson's performance:
"I gave [Tyson] a game ball because that's what the program's about," said Dillingham. "The program is about the response, and I mean, talk about a bad beginning of a game. I mean, he was about as upset as you could possibly be. The fact that he could regather himself and go execute and finish with a positive attitude is everything that we're trying to build here."
Dillingham said the return of Raleek Brown (7 carries for 41 yards) allowed him to keep Cam Skattebo fresh for the fourth quarter. Skattebo had another huge game with 25 carries for 186 yards, including a 39-yard burst with under two minutes to play that helped set up the game-winning touchdown. Here's what Dillingham said about Brown's return:
"It was good. I think we kept [Skattebo] fresh for the end of the game, which was the goal. When we got to 11 minutes left, I said, 'Hey, this is Skat time,'" said Dillingham. "Let's get him the ball here a little bit in this fourth quarter. Like, obviously, still mix it up, but this is the time why we tried to keep him fresher and not have him play as many snaps."
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.