ASU showed growth in loss to USC, but there’s still room for more

TEMPE, Ariz. — ASU football played its best game of the season Saturday night against USC and despite the loss, there was plenty for Sun Devil fans to be proud of. But head coach Kenny Dillingham said there’s still work to be done.

Kenny Dillingham says there’s more work to be done for ASU football

“Better is nowhere to be confused with good,” Dillingham said. “We’ve got a long way to go to get to where I feel like the standard of an offense is.”

ASU’s rushing attack has been improving each week, which is volatile in keeping the offense on the field and sustaining drives. Saturday against USC, junior running back Cameron Skattebo gave the Sun Devils their first 100-yard rusher of the season.

“He ran his heart out and ran with a passion,” Dillingham said. “He ran with great pad level.”

Skattebo transferred to Arizona State from the FCS level at Sacramento State. Dillingham said it’s been an adjustment for him. He may not be the fastest, strongest, or best athlete on the field anymore, and he’s learning to trust the play and the line in front of him.

“He liked to jump cut a lot, I think this was the first game he really trusted his tracks, stayed tight on double teams, and was able to run off double teams and keep a pad level,” Dillingham said. “It was really good to see his growth.”

Showing signs of discipline

Another area the Sun Devils have been strong in this season is minimizing penalties. In its opener, ASU had nine penalties for 100 yards. Since then they have averaged just over three penalties a game for under 30 yards. Their opponents have just over nine penalties for over 65 yards during that same span.

“We’ve been a fairly disciplined team. We haven’t committed many penalties and most of them are aggressive penalties, knock on wood. We haven’t jumped offsides many times, we haven’t had many stupid personal foul penalties,” Dillingham said. “We’ve been playing a brand of football that can win, from that standpoint.”

Something Dillingham has been vocal about since the start of spring ball is the physicality and conditioning level of the team. But the injury bug has made that goal more difficult throughout the season.

ASU’s physicality

“Obviously we’ve been banged up, so we haven’t been able to build upon that,” Dillingham said. “Throughout the season, I’m used to lining up good on good and doing a team run period and doing two minutes together. To say we’re where I want to be is not accurate, we’re building there.

ASU’s team physicality and conditioning will be important to watch going forward, especially as the Sun Devils get deeper into Pac-12 play. The games get longer and tighter and the players’ bodies start to wear down throughout the season.

“I think the next step is perimeter, and then late in game. Can we keep that focus on the physicality and are we conditioned enough to play that hard battle? Because that’s hard,” Dillingham said. “People don’t realize it’s not the running that always fatigues you, it’s pushing on people. It’s playing hard, it’s like wrestling somebody for 60 minutes.”

The offensive playcalling

Saturday was the first game Dillingham called the plays for ASU, and it worked out pretty well. The Sun Devils scored a season-high 28 points and showed flashes of creativity and aggressiveness that had the crowd on its feet. But Dillingham thought there were still times when he could’ve put his players in better situations.

“I felt it when I rode the wave of the emotion, and I responded with an emotion, not an as sound overall response that I would like,” Dillingham said. “I’m always looking for ways I can improve me better and I think there were a few plays that I could’ve put our guys in a better position based on that scenario.”

The Sun Devils will hit the road and play an early afternoon game for the first time this season when they face the California Golden Bears on Saturday. But Dillingham isn’t worried about a new routine, or a difference in preparation for a road game versus a home game.

“I think the key is none of that stuff matters,” Dillingham said. “Get ready to meet, eat your breakfast, let’s go play football.”

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