Dillingham halts overreactive narrative train following upset loss

In football, games hinge on the smallest of moments. Case in point for Arizona State, last Saturday, senior safety Xavion Alford tripped over a Mississippi State receiver, causing him to be late in pursuit of senior quarterback Blake Shapen, and preventing a sack when Alford had a clear path to apply pressure. The result of Alford’s stumble was a 58-yard game-winning touchdown in the final 30 seconds of play, and the aftermath brought an avalanche of critical narrative.​

On Sunday, the AP top 25 poll was released, and the Sun Devils (1-1) dropped from No. 12 to unranked, prompting questions by fans about the team’s offensive quality without All-American Cam Skattebo.​

On Monday, however, head coach Kenny Dillingham made it clear that one moment that swung the balance of victory and agony won’t define his narrative on the team.​

“Overreacting is one of the reasons why teams can go from really, really good to downward spirals,” Dillingham said. “I have the exact same conversations if we make one more play and win, or make one less play and lose. I think that’s the nature of sport.​

“We trip over the number three receiver that sucks, which never happens in a football game. It is what it is; there are always calls you’d like to have back in a game.”​

Despite the heartbreaking 24-20 defeat, ASU showed elite resolve in the second half, being down 17-3 at the break. A hard-nosed plan led to 20 consecutive points and a 20-17 fourth-quarter lead.​

Dillingham noted the most recent 36 hours after the game have been positive for the Sun Devils, as they’re not beginning to over-correct the mistakes made from their shortcomings either.​

“I think our team is in a good spot,” Dillingham claimed. “The outside noise cloud is going to disappear. The goal of the season and the vision of the season have no change. The funny thing about football is that not all the plays are even. That’s what makes football so great.”​

Dillingham and ASU won’t be pushing the panic anytime soon, but on the flipside of the blockbuster matchup is a Mississippi State program that produced its biggest win in its second year under head coach Jeff Lebby’s time at the helm. The program hadn’t produced a win against a power-conference team since 2023 against Arizona.​

In their first home game of the season, taking down a top-15 opponent, the Bulldog students and fans stormed the field and upended the goal post, celebrating in style. Dillingham, although disappointed by the defeat, appreciates the status that ASU has developed in the previous season.​

“I don’t think people would’ve rushed the field two-and-a-half years ago when we got here,” Dillingham noted. “You don’t ever want that … But it shows the respect people have for our football team.”​

To most base-level football fans, when a team is up three points with under a minute left in a contest. The goal on defense is to simply prevent a touchdown; a field goal won’t beat you, but a touchdown makes it nearly impossible to rectify before the final snap. For Dillingham and defensive coordinator Brian Ward, several factors contributed to the aggressive play call when defending the 3rd-and-nine play near midfield that ultimately led to the go-ahead touchdown.​

“Hindsight for me means if something doesn’t work, you always second-guess yourself,” Dillingham remarked. “We had struggled scoring in their endzone, and had penalties in their endzone. So you don’t want to play that game for OT, because if we played that game for overtime in that environment, we’re gonna have to play perfect football.​

“You always live in this hindsight world, so anything that doesn’t work, I literally constantly second-guess after the game and what we could’ve done. 100% I wish we were in soft two coverage on that last play that broke for a touchdown.”​

However, the Sun Devils defense earned a level of respect during Saturday’s contest, despite giving up three explosive touchdown receptions of 47 yards, 48 yards, and 58 yards. Those three plays defined the day for Shapen; however, his other 16 completions totaled just 126 yards, less than eight yards per catch.​

On the ground, the team averaged just 2.2 yards per carry, rushing 30 times for a net of 66 yards. The Bulldogs knew how to score in bunches; however, they did go scoreless for over 42 minutes from 12:51 in the second quarter until the final moments of the game.

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​Offensively, sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt struggled to find any sort of rhythm, particularly in the first half. The second-year starter finished 10-22 for 82 yards, one touchdown, but two interceptions as well. Dillingham isn’t worried about his starting signal caller, however, even if his performance wasn’t up to standard.

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“I think he’s been great,” Dillingham stated. “He came in yesterday, he’s got to work. Everybody doesn’t have great games every game; the dude is unbelievable. I wouldn’t trade him for any other quarterback in the country. That’s the quarterback I want to coach. That’s the quarterback that I have complete faith in.

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Leavitt’s subpar play can somewhat imply his downfield targets haven’t flourished either. Junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson completed six catches for 68 yards; however, no other receiver completed a catch. Through two games, only senior wide receiver Malik McClain, who made two receptions for five yards against Northern Arizona, has added to Tyson’s 18 combined completions thus far in the position group.

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“We gotta get more guys involved,” Dillingham admitted. “During (fall) camp, we had more guys involved all the time. That’s simply, we have guys out there that can be involved and should be involved.”​

A lack of offensive cohesion through the opening stanza of the season has led to a lackluster 4-24 third-down conversion rate for ASU thus far. The stat hit home for Dillingham as it is a sign of many issues compounding on top of each other, particularly within the passing game.​

“That’s not good if you’re wondering, that’s really bad,” Dillingham said on having a 17% third-down conversion rate. “I think we just need to simplify things; we need to give our players easier things to see. We gotta get our guys more comfortable. When do you throw it? If you don’t feel good about third and medium.​

“You can’t go three and out and get in rhythm, so we gotta get into third and better managables. Some things just kind of feed off each other.”

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​The one offensive area ASU did find success was the run game, particularly in the second half. The Sun Devils gained 251 yards on the ground, with juniors Raleek Brown and Kanye Udoh combining for 215 of those yards.​

Udoh, who only got two carries for 19 yards against the Lumberjacks in week one, had his coming-out party in Starkville, rushing 18 times for 110 and scoring his first touchdown in the Maroon and Gold.​

The second-half dominance on the ground was the primary reason ASU was able to climb back into the game, as the duo of backs and a high-level performance from the offensive line and senior tight end Chamon Metayer led to 17 unanswered second-half points, and a positive for fans to take away from the game.​

“We ran the ball an absurd amount of times in the second half,” Dillingham commented. “You don’t usually go into a game saying you’re going to run the ball on 14 consecutive plays. That’s usually not a recipe for success. We started to get a rhythm on where things were hitting. I think up front at tight end, we gotta give a shoutout to Chamon, usually tight ends who are blocking go under the radar, you gotta respect how he’s playing right now.”

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On the injury front, junior running back Kyson Brown, who left Saturday’s contest in the first quarter with an ankle injury and didn’t return, is “unlikely” to play in ASU’s next matchup with Texas State, according to Dillingham. On a positive note, graduate defensive lineman Justin Wodtly, who didn’t play against the Bulldogs, is back, and junior wide receiver Jalen Moss’ status remains uncertain after he was scratched from last week’s game as well.