ASU football: Dillingham takes over offensive play-calling

TEMPE, Ariz. — In the first practice after ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham said he’d fix the offense, Dillingham took over the play-calling duties. Offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin has been the offensive playcaller for the first three weeks of the season. After practice, Dillingham confirmed that he would be calling the plays on Saturday against USC.

Dillingham takes over play-calling for ASU football

The Arizona State offense has had a rough start to the season, to say the least. The Sun Devils were shut out at home against Fresno State, the first home shutout since 1988. ASU hasn’t scored in six consecutive quarters now.

In three games, they’ve only scored five touchdowns and averaged 13 points per game. The Sun Devils average under 100 yards per game rushing and under 300 total yards per game.

That’s not great, and after a Drew Pyne fumble at Mountain America Stadium, fans booed the product on the field. Yikes.

“Probably,” Dillingham said when asked if he would be calling the plays offensively on Saturday. “Just because I’m trying to get us into a little bit of a rhythm. I don’t know exactly how it’s gonna play out, to be honest. It’s just one of those deals where I’m trying to get our guys into a rhythm, and me as the head coach, whenever I’m more involved in one side of the ball, they’re gonna feel a sense of urgency.”

The Sun Devil offense certainly needs a sense of urgency. Against an opponent like No. 5 USC, they can’t let the defense stay on the field forever, USC has too great of an offense. If Arizona State wants any chance to play spoiler, the offense will need to score.

Kenny Dillingham’s history as a play-caller

The Scottsdale native was hired by ASU in large part due to being considered an offensive genius and quarterback guru in the world of college football.

Memphis

Dillingham first took the reigns of an offense in 2018 at Memphis and had immediate success. He led the Tigers’s offense to a record-breaking season, compiling 7,324 total yards and 3,919 rushing yards, both program records. Memphis also scored 42.9 points per game (seventh in FBS).

Auburn

The Arizona State grad then headed south to play with the big boys at Auburn. At Auburn, he led the Tigers’ offense to score the third most points per game in the SEC (33.2). He also coached the quarterbacks and was dealt with the task of developing the first true freshman starter in the modern era for Auburn, Bo Nix. Together the duo flourished, Nix won SEC Freshman of the Year Honors and broke multiple freshman program records.

In Dillingham’s final game at Auburn, he helped coordinate the offense to score 48 points in a win over No. 5 Alabama. That’s the most points a Nick Saban-led Alabama team has given up… ever.

Florida State

Then Dillingham met up with his former head coach at Memphis, Mike Norvell. This time the two were in Tallahassee, looking to rebuild a once dominant Florida State program.

During Dillingham’s first season at Florida State they averaged 199.9 rushing yards per game, the program’s highest since 2016 and 20th nationally among teams that played at least nine games in 2020. Florida State averaged 5.11 yards per rush, its most in a season since 2015.

Instant results, and they only got better the following season.

His offense at FSU in 2021 was one of the most explosive and exciting in college football. The Seminoles finished 18th nationally in plays over 60 yards, and eighth in touchdowns longer than 75 yards. They were also one of the top teams in the red zone, converting their final 32 red zone trips into points, the second-longest streak in the nation.

After his success in Tallahassee, where you can still see results today with FSU’s success this season, Dillingham headed to the Pac-12 and joined Dan Lanning’s staff in Euguene.

Oregon

Dillingham rekindled with his former quarterback at Auburn, Bo Nix, and breathed life back into his career. Another season with Dillingham brought Nix’s best season yet and entered him in Heisman and NFL Draft discussions. Remember, this is the same guy that got benched at Auburn after Dillingham left.

In 2022 Oregon finished fourth in the nation in yards-per-game (507.8) and scored the eighth-most points per game in FBS (39.7).

The new Arizona State head coach has coordinated extremely successful offenses wherever he’s been, and his getting more involved with ASU’s offense is a good thing.

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