ASU focused on getting better, after tight win over Southern Utah

Arizona State opened the season with a close win over the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Thursday night into Friday morning, but it didn’t seem like the statement win many fans expected. ASU survived with a win thanks to both sides of the ball stepping up in crunch time.

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham speaks about Southern Utah

Head coach Kenny Dillingham is proud of the way his team finished but knows there’s plenty to improve on.

“We got a punt blocked, not a good situation right, we’re up 10 points, well our defense gets two three and outs to win the football game. Our offense who was struggling mightily in the second half gets the ball back with a little over four minutes left and we end the game,” said Dillingham. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to get the job done.”

Despite the adversity through the Sun Devil’s first game under Dillingham, they were able to hang on for the win.

“There’s a lot of teams every week, it happened this last week, that couldn’t get the job done in situations like that,” Dillingham said.

ASU went into halftime with a 21-7 lead and would go on to only score another three points in the entire second half. Although halftime would last for nearly three hours due to a dust storm and thunderstorms, the team could not get anything going in the second half and committed eight penalties as opposed to just one in the first half.

“I think we got the guys overhyped for the second half. I think we were overly concerned there would be a lack of energy, that I think I may have overenergized them,” Dillingham said. “We were more energy than substance.”

Facing adversity

Dillingham said this week was a great learning opportunity, the team had two entirely different demeanors coming into the game and coming out after halftime. He learned a lot about the players, how they face adversity, and the mindset they have.

“Ok, something bad happened, there’s about 30 guys that are like, ‘oh’, and then you see the guys that something bad happens and they’re like, ‘Oh, we got you’,” Dillingham said. “We have to get everybody with that second mindset.”

This is a week of adjustments for the Sun Devils ahead of the matchup with Big-12 opponent Oklahoma State. However, Dillingham doesn’t want to his players approaching it differently than any other week.

“We’re going to take every game the exact same, every week, none of the other outside stuff matters,” Dillingham said. “Nothing else matters but us getting better every day and us going to play our best brand of football on Saturday.”

Dillingham said two keys for Saturday will be controlling the line of scrimmage and Rashada’s ability to respond to whatever the defense throws at him.

“Our D-line is talented and athletic and they’re big, so it’s gonna be a battle of can we hold upfront, and can we create enough chaos inside to prevent them from running the football,” Dillingham said.

Facing Oklahoma State’s defense

Oklahoma State plays a unique defense, one Dillingham said he has only seen in the Big-12 and American conferences. They have three massive down linemen, long corners, and play a three-high safety monster look where the third safety is a big athletic linebacker that goes in and out of the safety role.

“We have to be very, very sound schematically to not confuse our players and not push too much on them, but also put enough on them so that we can create some leverage in the run game.”

The Cowboys do a really good job of disguising looks and not tipping where guys are coming from. They do a great job of bringing pressure from all over the place, which ASU will need to identify and have a course of action for, according to Dillingham.

“Jaden has to know what he wants to be, has to know what his answers are to his problems,” Dillingham said. “So, when we go to the sideline and they’re counterpunching, it’s something that you can at least go back into your memory bank and go, ‘Oh yeah I remember watching that.’”

Can Arizona State establish a home-field advantage?

After an impressive showing from the students and fans in the home opener, Dillingham is challenging the fanbase to take it a step further, to really create a home-field atmosphere for the players.

“Could we sell this place out? It could be 102 degrees, we could kick off at 7 p.m., we could have 14,000 students and we can sell out and really create a competitive advantage for our guys, and I think people really underestimate the value of that,” Dillingham said. “Let’s get everybody in this city, everybody in the valley out to the game.”

With one week under his belt, Dillingham simply wants his players to get better every day, and be the best player they can be. He wants them watching film and fixing their mistakes the next time they touch the field.

“Find your favorite mistake and learn and grow from it,” Dillingham said. “Don’t watch the film to see you play well.”

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