What Kenny Dillingham said after Arizona State's overtime Peach Bowl loss to Texas
Arizona State lost the game, but they continued to shock the college football world until the bitter end.
Coming into the 2025 Peach Bowl as 12.5-point underdogs to mighty Texas, Arizona State nearly pulled off a stunning upset on New Year's Day, falling 39-31 in double overtime.
After the game, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham reflected on the game and his team's remarkable season. Here are the highlights of his postgame press conference:
Dillingham On Holding Texas To 53 Yards Rushing
"Our defense in general did a phenomenal job. Our offensive line ... when I started to give them better chances to be successful, they did an awesome job up front in the running game. So both sides of the line of scrimmage, I was extremely proud of. I mean, you watch the game and we played really, really good football for most plays. The problem with football is some plays were worth a lot more than others, and the plays that were worth a lot, they made more of them."
"But like I said, both lines of scrimmage, I couldn't have been more proud of. And the ability to get four of the guys back up front on offense and everybody but one guy back on the defensive lines and two guys in the entire front seven on defense ... I'm really excited of the foundation that Cam [Skattebo] and this team has laid ... now if the Arizona Cardinals can just draft Cam so we can keep him home that'd be awesome."
Dillingham On The Missed Targeting Call
"To be honest I don't know what targeting is. We lost one of our best players in the first half for targeting and I just don't know what it is, so I don't want to comment on something that I have to get a better grasp of what it is. ... I just don't quite understand it. I do just want to protect the players though, so whatever rules are put in place to protect the players I'm all about it."
Dillingham On Arizona State's Slow Start
"I had a bad plan going into it. I didn't put them in the best positions to succeed on offense. I've got to do a much better job with formations motions to create some better leverages to get these guys going. ... In the locker room at halftime we took a step back and calmed down and we understood what we had in the locker room, and we went out there and played ball."
"We didn't play the best ball in the first half, but we came back out and we gave ourselves a chance. So that's what matters. I just feel like it was red zone stuff. We moved the ball pretty effectively actually, and we just need to convert in the red zone, which I take accountability for. ... Red zone things happen so fast and you have to be so precise, so that's one thing I'm going to carry over to next year."
"The punt return killed us early. That got us behind two scores early. But then from then out, we never really didn't have control of the game. They were playing really good red zone defense. Looking back at it I didn't put our guys in the best position to succeed too many times. Our guys deserve to win the football game. I didn't do a good enough job for them as their head coach, putting them in position to win, and I'm going to reflect on it, look at how I can be better to put them in a better position to be successful."
Dillingham On Quinn Ewers' 4th-And-Long TD Pass In OT
"To be honest it's all on me. We're in a cover zero look late in the play clock. Ewers did a phenomenal job checking out, recognizing the cover zero look, checking into a max pro, and I didn't have the ability to get out of it, and that's on me. ... I've got to go into that game with an ability to get out of that call and like I said, there's a lot of things that I've got to do better to help our guys to win the football game. That's one of the many things that as I reflect I've got to be better because our guys played good enough to win. Our guys battled good enough to win. This game's 100% on me."
Dillingham On Texas Being The Better Team
"At the end of the day the best team is the team that wins the football game. Bottom line. And that's a really good football team we faced. That's one of the best teams in the country, and they've built that thing over four years to get to where they're at. And I have the utmost respect for Sark and that entire football team, and I know our team does as well because that was a battle."
"But when you look at it, did we belong on the field? I think a lot of people were questioning that and I don't think any person questions if we belonged on the field now. There are no moral victories. When the season ends there's no such thing. This should hurt. This should be painful. The locker room is dreadful right now and it should be. If it wasn't something would be wrong. But at the same token, now that this is over, I really am going to challenge our guys to reflect on where it all started because it really is remarkable. ... I won't be able to sleep for a while, but I will reflect immediately because it's an incredible season and what these two guys [Cam Skattebo and Sam Leavitt] did this year is absolutely unbelievable. And everybody should have the utmost respect for what both of those guys did, not just being the players they are but the leaders of the football team."
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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.