What Kenny Dillingham said after Arizona State's upset of Utah
After giving a memorable postgame interview on the field, Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham had much more to say about his team's stunning 27-19 victory over No. 16 Utah on Friday night.
The win was Arizona State's first over Utah since 2018 and Dillingham's first over a ranked opponent in his 18-game tenure. The Sun Devils are now 5-1 after being picked to finish last in the Big 12.
Here are the highlights from Dillingham's postgame press conference.
On the fans storming the field and surrounding him during his on-field interview with ESPN:
"Chaos, absolute chaos. All of a sudden I was shaking coach's hand, and then there were thousands of people on the field swarming around us. It was awesome though. That's what college sports is about. That's what activating the valley is about. That's what coming to a college is about. You go to a school that way you can remember moments like this. ... The fans, the students, they remember these moments."
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham pulled off the upset then disappeared into the night in a mob of students
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On linebacker Caleb McCullough's big game, including his game-sealing interception with 1:40 left:
"That was a guy that was here through all the mess. He was here when all the bad things were happening. ... He's one of the few people that stayed. And for him to make that play is awesome. Kudos to him. Gave him a game ball."
On how ASU was able to beat Utah:
“I think the biggest thing today is when you look at the rushing statistics, we ran the ball decent. We stopped the run decently vs. a program where that’s their identity. And listen, I would love to say this one win puts us on that level and gives us that consistency, but it doesn’t. ... It just shows that we’re in the right direction. It shows that we’re trending in the right direction and shows that what we’re doing is working."
"The defensive performance, just unbelievable the way they stepped up ... specifically in the first half in the running game."
On his team's leadership:
"I don't even give pregame speeches guys. Our own guys give pregame speeches. Think about that. I leave, they talk. Because it's not about these coaches, it's about these guys."
On the Sun Devils surprising 5-1 start to the season after being picked to finish last in the Big 12:
"We were picked to win four games this year, so a lot of Sun Devil fans picked the over in Vegas. For those of you guys who won, put that money back into the collective."
On what a game like this does for recruiting:
"We're going to recruit really good players here. There's a lot of really good players who want to be here. I'm from here. I'm born and raised here. I would love for these local guys who are committed elsewhere to come here."
On his decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 from ASU's 29-yard line in the fourth quarter:
"We go for a fourth down with nine minutes left because our best player who is a running back says give me the ball. So we're going to give him the ball. Like I said, this is their team, not mine. ... We got stuffed. And guess what our defense did? We stopped them. They had his back."
More Arizona State vs. Utah analysis
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.