Sun Devils' penalty woes raise questions following season opener
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham typically does not respond strongly to media discourse. Case in point, he did not actively challenge the 2024 Big 12 preseason media poll in which ASU was selected to finish last among the conference’s 16 teams.
Dillingham has withstood the test of time in that instance; his team went on to run the table and win the Big 12 in the program’s first season in the conference. The Preseason Media poll was discontinued this year, seemingly due to what transpired.
It’s no surprise, then, that on Monday, Dillingham maintained his composure when asked about the team’s 12 penalties that cost his team 93 yards against Northern Arizona in the Sun Devils’ 38-19 win. The dozen infractions committed, the most in any game since Dillingham arrived in Tempe ahead of the 2023 campaign, have made discipline an early focal point for the season, especially given that the previous high was nine penalties, which had been matched five times before.
“There were a lot of positives in the game too,” Dillingham argued. “You look at how explosive we were on offense, we averaged 7.5 yards per play, that should not equal the result we got. There are so many positives you can take from the game, and that was kind of what the message to the team was, ‘we can make (Saturday vs NAU) what we wanna make it.’ To the staff, we gotta get out of the way of the players, let the players play … and all is good.”
***
Despite committing 12 penalties—eight of them on offense—the Sun Devils still finished with 458 yards of total offense, though an additional 150 yards were negated due to some of these penalties. This underscores how the transgressions directly limited their scoring opportunities and dampened drives. Sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt completed 25-39 pass attempts for 247 yards and two touchdowns, both to junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, who finished with 12 receptions for 141 yards.
Leavitt threw an interception in the dying embers of the fourth quarter when ASU was already up by multiple touchdowns. After the game, he said he’d grade himself a “C+ or B-” for his personal performance.
“I think he played a really good game, Dillingham claimed. “I know he’d say the opposite, but that’s the standard, that’s what you want. Seeing things you aren’t used to, I thought he handled it well. Sam’s pretty good at adapting on gameday. That’s one of his biggest strengths.”
The offensive game featured impressive production from more than just the passing game. ASU finished with 229 yards on the ground, including over 100 combined yards from juniors Kyson Brown and Raleek Brown. The duo was dominant, averaging 9.25 yards per carry. Kyson Brown also added 72 yards over the air on six receptions, and Raleek Brown opened the scoring with a rushing touchdown, his first-ever score as a Sun Devil in the game’s opening drive.
Although he received just two carries on Saturday, Army transfer junior Kanye Udoh ran for 19 yards as well, and the three-headed snake in the backfield showed more than a few flashes and well-rounded potential as a whole.
“I thought they played really well, all three of them,” Dillingham added. “They ran hard, they ran through tackles and had positive runs, we should’ve had more positive runs to get downhill and establish an identity.”
***
Defensively, ASU also had an impressive showing, giving up 331 yards to the Lumberjacks; however, the standout figure is the 2-15 third-down conversions NAU was held to. The Lumberjacks did cause the Sun Devils plenty of problems, however, outscoring the host 6-3 in the second quarter and creating some explosive plays of their own. NAU scored on 3-of-4 red zone chances, converted 3-5 fourth downs as Dillingham admitted Saturday night that he felt Lumberjacks Head coach Brian Wright “out-coached him.”
“We were struggling with what they were doing,” Dillingham admitted. “We don’t see much of that stuff, and I’m excited to clean it up. That’s the best part about it. We had a little bit of a lighter camp; anyone who’s been at our practices can see it. A first game for us like that isn’t absolutely shocking to me, and that’s my fault. We have a lot of vets, so it’s good to get a game like that out of the way.”
Tyson was a constant outlet of attack for ASU, with him hauling in 12 of the 14 receptions in his position room, with senior Malik McClain earning the other two catches. Spring additions, redshirt freshman Alabama transfer Jaren Hamilton and Fresno State junior Jalen Moss didn’t register a reception. Moss did see a lone target come his way, but he wasn’t featured after halftime when dealing with an injury, and Hamilton didn’t see the field at all.
“Going into the game, we had a game plan in terms of how we wanted to attack it,” Dillingham noted. “(Hamilton) didn’t play as much as he probably planned on playing. Jalen went down, so that kind of threw a little curveball in that plan.”
***
On the injury front, Dillingham said at the time of Monday’s noon press conference that Moss, senior defensive end Justin Wodtly, as well as senior offensive linemen Ben Coleman and Max Iheanachor, are all being evaluated, and no determination has been made yet as to their availability for Saturday’s game at Mississippi State.
When asked, Dillingham noted the importance of early games for getting in the groove of coaching, as well. With no scrimmages or exhibitions preceding a season opener, week one can often reveal a multitude of problems.
“I think every team is different,” Dillingham stated. “On the field, some people can handle more on gameday than others. Some people can see a change and adapt; some people are really good if they master something to be better than everyone else at one thing.
“When you’re early in the season, you’re trying to learn ‘What is this team best at?’ I absolutely hate early-season games; it’s so hard because you, as a coach, don’t feel like you can prepare your players as good early in the season as you can late in the season. There are so many unknowns.”
