'Our guys felt disrespected' - What Kenny Dillingham said after Arizona State upset Kansas State
Arizona State left no doubt.
Coming in as 7.5-point underdogs, the Sun Devils dominated No. 16 Kansas State on Saturday night in a 24-14 victory that should result — finally — in a national ranking.
"The way that we came out on the road like that, it was like we had a focus," Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said after the game. "Our guys felt disrespected going in the game."
Arizona State (8-2, 5-2) led 21-0 at halftime and 24-6 after three quarters. Kansas State (7-3, 4-3) never got closer than two scores. Heading into the fourth quarter, with the game basically in hand, the Sun Devils had 368 total yards to just 178 for Kansas State.
With BYU's stunning loss to Kansas, the Sun Devils now control their own destiny in the race for a spot in the Big 12 football championship game. If they win out, they will get in.
Here are the highlights of Dillingham's postgame press conference:
Dillingham on ASU's statement victory
"I think we made a statement that we're a good football team. You can look at the records ... every game you play in the Big 12 you never know who can win. So you can say 'this record, that record, are you going to beat a good team, are you going to beat a bad team.' I know we've beaten two top 20 teams in the country this year when we played one at home and one on the road. ... That's what I know. I know we lost to two really good football teams on the road, one without our starting quarterback. And I know that these guys play hard for each other and I know when another opponent watched our film they see our guys play for each other and I think there's great power in that. And it means a lot to these guys to come in here with that chip on their shoulder today and do something that really nobody thought we could do."
Dillingham on his team's underdog mindset
"It's unique because we went to pregame meal, and we don't really have rules. Some people say 'oh be quiet don't speak, other people are like 'play music.' Everybody has different deals. We just let them be them, and last week there was a lot of joking around and this week it was silent. We looked at each other and we're like 'this is either going to be really good or really bad, but we're going to find out.' I'm still learning our team, and the way that we came out on the road like that it was like we had a focus and our guys felt disrespected going in the game."
Dillingham on Sam Leavitt's play
"Sam's good. Sam's really good .I keep saying it. Sam's really good and we should be really happy that we have Sam and we have him for two to three more years. I mean, Sam's going to play on Sundays. There's zero doubt in my mind Sam's an NFL player I think the sky is his limit and I think he's going to be the face of Sun Devil football. Everybody wants to talk about me. I suck if I don't have a quarterback, so stop talking about me. Start talking about Sam Leavitt. Start putting Sam Leavitt on billboards. Start doing everything about Sam Leavitt, because a coach is useless without a quarterback and that's one of the leaders of our football team and he's a big reason we're having this success."
Dillingham on how much fun he's having
"A lot. Winning is way more fun than losing, I'll tell you that much. Way more fun. These guys like to see the fruits of the labor come together."
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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.