Nov 30, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham against the Arizona Wildcats during the Territorial Cup at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
I know earlier in the year you talked about you want to see if this team does handle success and is still effective. You know, as a result of that, suffice to say it that at a record of an attendant to you don’t feel like it should be like a different approach to this week just because it is the big 12 championship game.
Yeah, no different approach.
Do you have an update on Jordan Tyson?
Yeah, Jordan’s going to be out indefinitely. So unfortunately, I don’t want to give a complete three to four months out timetable, but he’s going to be out indefinitely.
Does that mean that he potentially could play if you guys go far in the…
I don’t, I really don’t want to comment. I don’t know that in the depth of that. I just know he’s out indefinitely.
And then just to follow up. What does that, um, do with offensively?
Yeah, I mean, it’s time to time to move some people around, time to get more people on the field. Create a little more balance offensively. Like we always have to be able to run the ball and have good play action.
I want to ask you what you see your role as at this university beyond football. We had Willie in here two weeks ago talking about he couldn’t be doing what he’s doing without you. Greg said the same thing last week. The whole university is not succeeding without Missy Farke. This week, the woman’s golf coach called you her mentor. That’s someone who’s been here for a decade has won a national championship. What’s it like to hear that from your colleagues and how would you describe what that role is?
Yeah. I don’t really think about it like that. I just try to be me. And that’s really it. I don’t like to look at that side of it. Just go and be a good person, make good decisions and have more fun working harder than anybody in the country. Like that’s how I look at it every single day. And is that going to happen every day?
No. Am I going to yell at people sometimes? Yeah. I mean, I’m sorry it’s going to happen, but you know, I just be the same person every day and hopefully it impacts the people around you. So, it’s cool to hear that. But I don’t really know what the impact is. I do know football. I do know sports is a great connector.
It’s one of the best connectors here at this university. We’re trying to create infinity within our university. We’re trying to get more people back involved. We’re one of the largest universities and we’re trying to get more of the alumni back involved back in games. I think we have over 20,000 alumni in Dallas or Texas and trying to get them out to the game.
Football is a great connector, and when you can connect people through sports, it’s special because of the emotions that sports create. So, I do think what we can provide that with football, what our program can provide is the connecting of people in ways that you know, academics cannot.
When Jordan’s not on the field, what’s the toughest part of his game to replace?
He’s a really good player and then he’s very physical. I mean, he blocks people. Thought I saw a few people highlight his blocks on social media, which were awesome because I think that’s what really has been separating our team is how hard we play all 11, not just, blockers just blocking, everybody blocks, the wideouts don’t just run.
It’s everybody doing the things that are extraordinary. What makes it more difficult is obviously he demands two people to cover him. So, if people don’t have to demand two people, then they can load the box. So, you have to find more creative ways to win those one-on-one matchups.
And then after the UCF game, you said Tyson could take a lot from that game and learn from it. What have you seen him apply to his game that went from the UCF game to what he did on Saturday at Arizona?
I don’t know anything specifically that I saw that was different. I thought we had a good plan for running the ball, and I thought our O line moved people, our wide outs blocked on the edge, and then he made people miss.
I mean, that sounds really, simple, but like, that’s the game of football. And if there’s something different. I just think he’s going to get slowly better and more comfortable seeing things, every carry he gets. And I think he went for over 100 yards, over 10 or 11 and a half, or something like that, yards per carry. I mean, that’s incredible. It’s incredible.
You guys have pushed the Texas to Tempe message for a long time with trying to get recruits in the door and everything like that. And with this game being in Dallas, in one of the biggest cities in the state, what does that one mean for you?
And do you guys have any plan on trying to maybe get even more pull from Dallas or Phoenix or Dallas natives trying to maybe get people that want to, are interested in ASU and coming through?
I mean its just That’s we’re making it. Two years ago when I got the job here, we made an emphasis on recruiting the state of Texas.
The direction of college football was us towards the big 12 us towards the big 12, which means we play games in Texas. We play games in Oklahoma. Which means it’s easier to recruit the state. So, I do think playing a game there and being televised there being one of the things on the billboards.
This is huge for the brand of Arizona State football, but just Arizona State as a university, like you alluded to for all sports, being in the Metroplex in that area. Will it do more in terms of that stuff? I don’t know. What I hope, is big time alumni from that region show up to the game and maybe somebody who hasn’t been to a game in 12 years or 10 years or eight years shows up to the game and we get them back engaged.
Going back to what we said earlier, football is a great, and sports are a great connector. And I think this is an opportunity to connect people back to the program that have maybe been disconnected for years.
Kenny, I believe when you guys left the stadium on Saturday, you were not aware of whether or not Texas Tech had lost or one or whatever.
Can you kind of paint the picture of what that was like when you guys learned on the way back to the valley that you guys were indeed in the Big 12 championship game?
I asked him to go through all the scenarios after the game and give them to me so we kind of had a clue. So, I was watching the games on the way home on the bus. I always ride the defensive bus.
So, we were on the defensive bus and right when the game was put away and TCU won, I made an announcement to the guys that, uh, you know, we’re in the Big 12 title and they were pretty fired up. And it didn’t matter the opponent we were going to play. The whole goal was to get there and that’s all we could control.
And then you kind of woke up in the morning and found out who we got to play.
A quick question about AT& T Stadium. There’s been examples this year of a window creating immense glare during certain hours of the day in Dallas.
It’s blinded CD lamb a few points this season. Uh, curious if you have any thoughts of that, what you make of it and then a follow up after that.
No clue
Matt Campbell at Iowa State won three games in his first season. He’s been over .500 every year since then. Um, what do you make just of the sustained success that he’s had?
It’s one thing, of course, to turn a program around and its another thing to repeat that for years to come. His culture and his realness, I think he’s one of the most just real people in the sport. I mean, you see the passion, emotion on the sideline like you see it like it’s not fake. It’s real. And when I was at Auburn, I had the ability when I was the OC at Auburn, I had the ability to go study at one program in the country.
I had two days that at that time, Coach Malzaun would let you go and study with the team. And I alluded to this first Cincinnati because the defense coordinator at Cincinnati was the linebacker coach at Iowa State. And I chose to go visit Iowa State. That was the program that I wanted to study from because I thought that they were overachieving at that time early in his career at a high level before he had built it up.
Now he’s built it up. Now they’re achieving at a high level consistently. And I wanted to go just study. And what I took away was the realness of the culture. I was like, man, like he’s over here, like joking around with a dude. And then he gets to the front of the room and demands respect. And I’m like, man, this, this culture that he created, I feel like it’s sustainable. I feel like this is a winning formula.
So, all the X’s and the O’s I learned, I studied that stuff, but I was really trying to get a vibe and a feel for how he created that culture. And he was one of the youngest head coaches at the time, and he was one of the youngest head coaches in the country at Toledo before he got to Iowa State.
And I think his genuineness is infectious, and I think that’s why he’s had that success is I think he’s just a. A real person I think is a good person. That’s real. And I think the guys see his passion and saw his vision because he lives it.
The last time you guys in the force of turnover were against Kansas. So, seven consecutive games and the regular season of course in a turnover. What does that do for the offense to keep those opposing defenses out there and break them down and wear them down over the course of the game?
Yeah, obviously possession of the ball, like you can’t score without the ball. So, the longer we have it, I know some people don’t agree with that, but I still believe there’s some power in the ball, in possessing the ball and keeping the offense on the field and keeping your defense off the field, staying fresh.
So, it’s been huge for us. Turnover margins. Obviously, it’s one of the strengths of the team. We’re about to play Iowa State as well. So, we got to be hopefully better than them at taking care of the football and they’re going to hopefully be better than us.
Obviously, it, it seems very glaring that the winner of this game is going to be the only Big 12 representative in the 12-team playoff. What have you had kind of just seen over these last few weeks as the national attention has just grown and grown and grown and you have been very vocal of just making sure that none of the players necessarily try to pay attention to that as much.
What have you tried to tell them about the idea of this team being the best team in this con in, in this conference, which is a new look, which is 16 teams now? And trying to necessarily try to set that standard of being like, no, we could be the best program in this conference, which has a new look for years to come.
I’ve never talked about it. Like, let’s go. We get to play another game. I mean, that’s what I said. Now you get to play for a championship, but like best team, just because you win a conference doesn’t make it the best team in the conference makes you, you won the most games in the conference. That’s why there’s so much volatility.
I mean, at the end of the day, I guess winning is the determining factor for best teams, you know, but I think what our goal is to be the very best version of ourselves. I’m going to say that from now until forever, and then people are going to get really bored of asking those questions, because I’m going to say the same thing for a long time.
Just be the very best version of us. After the game. I said, congratulations, we won. This is awesome. Celebrate. Who are we going to play next? I don’t even know if we’re in the title game. I don’t care. We’re going to play another game. Let’s be the best version of us when we play them.
And then following up on that, then what is the significance you would say of winning a conference championship?
Is it not to be the best team in the conference?
What is the significance of winning it?
I think it’s a reward for success, for finding ways to win, right? Finding ways. Best teams don’t always win. The most talented teams don’t always win, right? But the way we define sports is through winning. And if you can find ways to win that’s the reward, is winning.
Finding different ways to win. And I think that’s the fun part, is we’ve gotten here. We’re in a position to compete and win a championship. Not many people can say that at this time of year. Only two teams in our league can say that they’ve put themselves in a position to win a championship and that’s the significance, is it’s the about all the challenges to get to this point that you’re one game away from accomplishing something that people said couldn’t be done.
That’s significant, and I think that the significance is finding ways to win. I’ve never looked at it like, Oh, you’re the best team. You’re the worst team. Nobody really cares.
Who’s the team that won and repeat, repeat, repeat, finding ways, different ways to continue to win.
Are there any programs or coaches that you don’t have connections to at this point?
I actually don’t know. I don’t have connections to Utah. I don’t have connections to BYU. I don’t have connections to Kansas state.
I don’t have connections to most people to be honest. I just respect them from afar. I don’t have many, I don’t dislike many people. That’s just not my personality. Like I try to take something from everybody. Everybody’s gotten to the position that they are in because they’re really good at something.
What can you learn from everybody that you go verse and what can you take from everybody that you go verse and try to take a little bit of that into your own program from what you watch the Iowa State this year? And what’s the biggest challenge that they posed to you guys on Saturday?
Physicality, put a full back in, put a tight end into the boundary and we’re going to run toss G lead on 1st and 10. Let’s go stop it. And if you load the box, we have two big 2000-yard-wide outs.
We’re going to throw it too. So, play one high. We thought these guys play too high. We’re going to run G lead right at you.
And do it again and do it again and do it again and then find a different way to do the same thought process. There’s a clear identity and the best teams in the country have a clear identity and when you watch this team play, the toughness, the physicality across the board is the clear identity that they have in the program.
Do you guys do anything different just in terms of early kickoff? Do you guys do a walk through?
We’ll add a little bit. It’s a good question. Well, we usually do a walk-through Saturday morning, but with the early kickoff and the time change, our guys are already going to have to wake up at roughly 5:45 a.m. our time to adjust to this time change, which that’s part of it. So we’re probably going to have to move our walk through, shorten it and move it to Friday night, which we don’t normally do anything when we get to the hotel.
How rewarding is it knowing that the guys who started the culture shift with you, like Cam and X, that they’re able to experience success before they’re gone?
Yeah, it’s super cool to see that to see X come on these last two weeks and make critical plays. Super rewarding for him. We’re going to need more of those plays this week and to see Cams name on list to be in the top 10 for the Heisman is awesome. I mean, I think he’s number two or something in the entire country in yards from scrimmage right now.
I mean, that’s remarkable. I mean, when you talk about the Heisman Trophy, you talk about impact, right? I think it’s the most impactful player, the best player. I don’t know exactly what the clear definition is, and it goes back and forth a little bit, but I don’t know of a player who makes a bigger impact on a program.
He took a team that won three games, and now they’ve won ten, that takes on his exact identity of him as a person, which is passionate, intense, physical, tough. The team’s taken on that identity as a program, which has completely changed the trajectory of the program, and he’s put up unreal stats that I think he’s going to be one of a hundred people, potentially, in the history of college football to put up another stat.
I saw about rushing 2000 yards from scrimmage or something. One of the other guys I coached in the past. It’s like what he’s accomplished is something special, and I think he should be talked about for that. Whether he should win it or not. I mean, there’s two guys that are unbelievable right now. But whether he should be in the conversation, I don’t think that’s a question.
What gives you confidence that the culture can maintain after they’re gone?
Hopefully the retention of players. Your culture is your players. I am not the culture. The players are the culture. Right? And the retention of players is what keeps the culture alive. So, the retention of players, guys coming back, and then the recruitment of guys that want to fit this culture.
Not the recruitment of the best players, but the recruitment of the best players for us, which are two different things.
You’ve been a lot of different places, a lot of different elite programs in your career. Is this the most special thing you’ve been a part of in your football career this year?
Yeah, this is pretty cool. As a team, this is probably the coolest thing I’ve been a part of, watching Jordan Travis in my second year ago from a guy that didn’t think he could, wanted to move positions out of the quarterback room. To being a guy that people didn’t believe in to then being the savior was probably the most individual cool thing I’ve ever seen in my career was this kid completely transform his life into now a guy who plays on Sundays when he didn’t even think he was a quarterback at one time.
That was the most individually like for a player person to person gratifying thing I’ve ever seen. Second would have been the Cam scenario, which was a very similar situation to see a kid go from where he went from to like, Whoa, he’s in the Heisman race. This is the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of from a team.
This is a special team. Like, this is a very, very unique and special football team that we have here.
What makes it so special and so meaningful to you?
I just think the guys and the work they’ve put in and the relationships they have with one another is unique in an era where a lot of things there’s different motives than there used to be.
I think our guy’s motive being winning, and like the competitive nature of like, I just want to win. That is like, that sounds so fundamental. But like, there’s so many other distractions now. And it’s not the guy’s fault. And there’s nothing wrong with those distractions that like, whoa, they just want to win?
What I’m excited for is because they had that mindset. I think they’re all going to be individually rewarded. And that I think is what college sports is about. It’s look, you can come together for a greater cause and then see individual reward at the same time. I think that’s the message that college sports can send out where other people say, all these kids are transferring all this.
I want to create that message of man; you can do this together and receive individual rewards. That’s what it’s meant to be. And I think our team has that mindset and I’m hoping to then give those individual awards and get these guys those individual awards and accolades and all the things they want individually because of that mindset that I’ve put together this year.
Kenny, you mentioned the 2000 scrimmage yards. Henderson did that in 2018. Obviously, the, um, how important is that to an offense and how ingrained is that in you? With Mike Norvell and what happened here with Marion Grice and D. J. Foster.
Yeah, I think any time that you’re running back can be a weapon out of the backfield.
It just creates another element. And I think we always, from now until forever, want to have a back who can become a pass catcher. Catch the ball out of the backfield, be a weapon and you want to give that dude the football. You want an elite back and I think that’s one thing that we’ll always have here is a back that can play on Sundays. You know, I’ve been blessed to coach a lot of those guys. I mean, a lot. Coach Aguano’s coached a lot, and I think this is one. I can say this with confidence, there are not many places better in the country right now to be a skill player. You’re a wide out or a tight end, you have a quarterback who’s going to play on Sundays, throwing you the ball for two years. If you’re a running back, you have four linemen that can return behind a guy who just was up for the Heisman. I don’t know a much better situation. Somebody could walk into from a skill position player than those two split in that situation.
Coach, it seems like your wide receivers blocking has been an emphasis this entire year. So I’m just curious from your perspective how that’s kind of evolved from Mississippi State to now.
Yeah, I mean, I have a question. Why do you think our wide receiver blocking is really, really good?
Heinz Ward, baby. When you have a guy who lived it and did it and smiled when he did it and blocked you into the cooler and then smiled again and then caught 10,000 yards and 100 touchdowns. And he tells you, if you want the ball, you better block. You’re going to block. If he told me to block, I’d probably go block somebody.
Like, that’s just the respect you got to have for what he’s accomplished. And then, how he operates as a football coach. So, it’s that mindset that he’s instilled in that group is uniquely special.
With the, uh, change in schedule in the, uh, signing day, how does that affect? How you guys do things and one more thing on a already busy week?
It’s a lot going on. It just adds more stuff. How does it change how we do things? Like I tell our coaches, everybody’s got to recruit. Everybody knows recruiting is the lifeblood of the program. But, at the end of the day, it’s about your own players. And I always tell our guys that it’s always the priority and the guys who chose to come here. So yes, is there a time-of-day Wednesday? Yes. Do we have to recruit? Yes. Is the portal opening? Yes. Is that the backbone of the program? And we have to do that? Of course. But should that take one minute of time away from how you should prepare to pour everything into these players in this game?
Absolutely not. Because it’s our duty to be the best we can be for the guys who choose to be here. If you choose to be here, we’re going to pour everything we got into you. We’re not going to go and say, ah, you know what, this recruits here and I know you wanted to meet, but I’m going to go meet with this recruit because I’m worried about next year.
We’re going to pour everything we have into you if you choose to come here. And if you don’t choose to come here, then you don’t. But we’re going to pour everything we got into our players, repeat, repeat, repeat. And then whenever kids come here, pour everything we have into them. And that’s going to be our mindset.
It’s always about the kids on our roster. And I really believe if you treat your own people well, they’ll recruit for you.
I want to ask you about Shaman mater who’s matched all of his career numbers from three years at another program this season to go back to what you just said about scope positions.
What is he added to the offense and how would you describe his playing style both blocking and obviously catching the football?
He’s very versatile. He’s a big dude, but he’s very physical. He’s one of the best, if not the best blocking tied him in T Ferg up in Oregon. Two of the best blocking tight ends I’ve ever been around.
So, his physicality and toughness is unbelievable. And then his ability to stretch the field and catch touchdowns, catch screens. I joke about coach Roy. I’m like, man, we get in the red zone. Like it’s like, get him the ball time. Like golly, I need to block, block, block, block, touchdown. Like that’s nice. But it’s just he’s, he’s vital to the team and he’s great for the culture too. I mean, he loves ball. Absolutely loves it and he’s physical and physical at that tight end position, which is becoming a rare breed.
