Kenny Dillingham points out biggest problem against Oregon

TEMPE, Ariz. — No. 6 Oregon showed why they are one of the best teams in the nation as the Ducks took down ASU 49-13. A lot went wrong for Arizona State football, but there was one particularly major issue that was prevalent all afternoon long. Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said that the Sun Devils struggled to tackle the Oregon offense.

Dillingham points out a big issue for Arizona State football against Oregon

“There was definitely a tackling problem,” Dillingham says. “They’re just hard to tackle. You wish there was like a coaching answer, but there’s not. There’s a one-on-one, human-human, tackle him. Sometimes that dude’s really good makes you miss.”

Dillingham says he “gives credit” to Oregon as they are a “great” football team. “We could have won football games. That team right there, that team’s better than us,” Dillingham says.

Defensive lineman Dashaun Mallory says the Oregon offense “didn’t hit us with anything we haven’t seen all week,” and they came “ready to play.”

Mallory also says that Oregon’s running backs are tough to tackle. “There was a lot of times where you felt like they were going down to the ground with you and you look up and they’re still getting yards after carry.” Mallory says the defense “just didn’t execute.”

Mallory says even though they lost, no one is “pointing fingers” at anyone on the team. “It’s life,” he continued.

The offensive struggle

ASU quarterback Trenton Bourguet says that the offense needs to do a better job of getting touchdowns as well as field goals on drives.

“We just got to convert,” Bourguet says. “Once we drive down to the red zone we got to either score touchdowns or convert field goals. But being the quarterback we got to make sure we score touchdowns.”

“It’s football, but it’s life,” Bourguet said.

Arizona State tight end Jalin Conyers said that the offensive line did a good job against the Oregon defensive line. Conyers credits the offensive line and says that they “opened up a bunch of gaps” for the ASU run game.

The Sun Devils plan to move past the loss and continue to prepare for their rival, the Arizona Wildcats in the Territorial Cup.

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