Kenny Dillingham Reacts to Confident Remarks From Arizona State Players

During Tuesday's head coaches press conference at the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl, Kenny Dillingham expressed his thoughts on the recent statements from his offense.

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham calls out to his players against Wyoming during a game at Sun Devil Stadium. / Patrick Breen/The Arizona Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If the Arizona State Sun Devils are worried about going up against one of the best college football programs in the nation, they've put on a promising facade thus far.

The 2024 Big 12 champions are bringing a lot of confidence into their slated matchup against the Texas Longhorns in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, despite being a 14-point underdog in the scenario. The Sun Devils' freshman starting quarterback Sam Leavitt sparked some heat on Sunday after he said he wanted to make it known that he's the better quarterback over Texas' starter Quinn Ewers.

"I've watched him for a fair amount of time now, and I'm just excited for the opportunity," Leavitt said. "People keep counting me out since Day 1 and I'm gonna go prove I'm the better quarterback. That's how I've felt since Day 1. I'm gonna go play everybody on the map."

Not long after, ASU senior running back Cam Skattebo made similar comments about how he's physically unstoppable, even for the No. 1 rated defense in the SEC that belongs to Texas and has previously mentioned that he's the best college running back in the nation.

"They continue to keep saying that people are going to try to stop me," Skattebo said, according to ESPN's Andrea Adelson. "There's nobody out there that can stop me. We played in 13 games, and I've been the target on each one, so I'm not too worried. We're going to play our game and play ball and see what happens there."

While Longhorn fans and outsiders may find these types of statements overly optimistic, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham told the media on Tuesday that he sees them as a reflection of his players' personalities.

"I think our players are just being themselves. And I think a lot of times, you know, there's a lot of, how are you supposed to talk to media? What are you supposed to say? And I just really believe in say what you believe, and I'm not going to try to prevent our players from saying what they believe," Dillingham said during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl press conference. "And if our players believe they're the best, there's probably a reason why."

Skattebo has gathered a highly impressive resume since transferring to ASU ahead of the 2023 season. He stands as the only player in college football with over 1,000 rushing yards and over 400 receiving yards. He also holds the ASU record for most total touchdowns with 22, 19 of them rushing.

Dillingham said that Skattebo's security in himself is just a product of the hard work he's put in to make it to where he is today.

"[Scattebo] had zero offers and went to Sacramento State when nobody believed in him. Then, he came to Arizona State with not much competition for him, and nobody thought he was on the NFL Draft board going into the year. If he didn't have that own self-belief in himself, that he believes he's the best, then who else would in his entire life?" Dillingham said. "So when he makes comments like that when people ask him questions, and he gives you the truth of what he believes, because his belief is what got him here, and then people twist it as if he's being cocky or confident, that's not the nature of what he's trying to say. What he's trying to say is, my entire life, I'm the only one who believed in me. I'm not changing that."

This overwhelming amount of confidence radiating from the Sun Devils' offense will be much needed on Wednesday against a Texas team that's still hungry to see the final stage of the College Football Playoff.

The Longhorns and the Sun Devils will kick off at noon C.T. in Atlanta, Georgia, and finally reveal who has enough self-belief to make it to the next round.

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