What Kenny Dillingham said about West Virginia
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham met with reporters this week to preview Saturday’s matchup against West Virginia. The Sun Devils return from a bye week at 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big 12 play, while the Mountaineers have won two straight to move to 4-6 overall and 2-5 in conference action.
Respect for Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia’s physicality
Dillingham opened by praising West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez, noting his long-standing success with quarterback-driven run schemes.
“He’s dedicated to the plus-one run, and he’s won a lot of games doing it,” Dillingham said. “Coach Rodriguez is a guy that I’ve studied for a long time, going back to when I was a high school coach out here. His teams always play hard, tough, and physical. They know who they are.”
He emphasized that Arizona State has tried to add some of that element into its own offense. “We’re trying to take a little bit of that towards the end of the year and add that for us,” he said.
On West Virginia’s improvement and rushing success
Dillingham said the Mountaineers are trending up at the right time.
“They’re on a two-game win streak and could very well be on a three-game win streak,” he said. “This is a team that’s getting better and better and better throughout the year. They’ve successfully run the ball at a high rate and thrown the ball really, really successfully last week.”
He credited West Virginia’s commitment to running the football and discipline at the line of scrimmage. “They’re the number one rush defense in our league the last three weeks,” Dillingham noted.
What he admires about Rodriguez’s coaching style
When asked what stands out most about Rodriguez, Dillingham pointed to the consistent mindset of his teams.
“They’re going to fire off the ball and double-team your three-technique. They don’t care if they get to the back or not,” he said. “They’re going to put your three-tech six yards deep. They play attacking, physical, aggressive football, and I admire that.”
Focus after the bye week
Dillingham said the bye week helped the Sun Devils reset physically and mentally.
“I watched tape, watched recruit film, and went on the road recruiting,” he said. “We had good energy at practice today. It’s a great opportunity for us to stack good football games.”
He also said that responding to success has been a season-long focus. “We’ve been really good at responding to failure but horrible at responding to success. We need to show we can play a good football game and come back and play another one.”
Balancing the quarterback run game
Dillingham addressed the heavy use of quarterback Jeff’s legs in their last game, saying they want to find a balance going forward.
“If you can run the ball without the quarterback, great,” he said. “But if you can’t, then sometimes you’ve got to go plus-one and play to win the game. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen as much moving forward.”
Injury updates and team mindset
The Sun Devils will be without key veteran Jordyn Tyson for the rest of the year. “He’s been a heartbeat of our program. It pains me that he’s not going to be able to make it back,” Dillingham said. “Prince will be back, JT Tate Romney should be back, and we’re working some other guys in.”
He added that despite the injuries, his team continues to battle. “We’ve had a really tough conference schedule. With all the injuries, I’m very impressed with our guys’ ability to just keep fighting,” he said. “We still haven’t played a complete football game in all three phases, and that’s what we’re chasing.”
Respect for West Virginia’s challenge
Dillingham knows Saturday will be a physical battle.
“They’re going to be a team that shows up and hits you in the face,” he said. “If we’re not ready for it, watch out.”
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