ASU had no interest in hiding wildcat package in opener, wanted to show its balance

TEMPE — Arizona State football likely was going to blow Morgan State out even if it didn’t pull cards out of head coach Kenny Dillingham’s sleeve, such as a new-look wildcat package or an early onside kick.

So with ASU’s road game coming Saturday against a top-10 team in Texas A&M — and one that features one of college football’s most hostile environments, Kyle Field — why didn’t ASU keep its cards close to the vest?

The onside kick has the simpler explanation: ASU saw a perceived advantage on tape that it wanted to exploit, and Dillingham noted it came in what was then a close game at 7-0 after 93 seconds.

The wildcat package — and no, Dillingham will not call it the Sparky package, much to the chagrin of some ASU fans — was something the head coach wanted to establish, showing on tape how balanced the Sun Devils can be when they make that call.

Freshman running back Cardae Mack, who played quarterback for Atascocita High School in Texas, took three wildcat snaps. Two were fourth-down runs that moved the chains, while the other was a pitch back to quarterback Cutter Boley, who nearly connected with Omarion Miller for a touchdown.

cardae mack's qb shift plays were very fun. they also give texas a&m another thing to prepare for.

asu established him as a runner earlier in the game then executed the shift plays well, two of which got first downs on fourth. nearly connected for a receiving td aside from that. pic.twitter.com/82wB9ZSQew

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) September 7, 2026

“I just want people to know that we can toss back to the quarterback and throw it,” Dillingham said Monday. “Like it’s not actually wildcat. If you can count your hats, but it’s not wildcat because the quarterback is still back here and you choose to play it like wildcat, we have the ability to run normal plays.

“So, I think it’s more just us putting on tape that we have the ability to be balanced in that set. And just ’cause we direct snap it to a different person doesn’t change, you know, what we can do from different sets.”

ASU went away from the package in 2025, but it was a real part of the offense with Cam Skattebo, who took 13 snaps at quarterback in 2024 and 59 during the injury-depleted 2023 campaign.

Dillingham added he doesn’t believe in hiding things in a game plan because that would mean taking the opponent in front of him lightly.

“I’m not going to ever go into a game and disrespect the opponent,” Dillingham said. “Disrespecting is when you don’t run the best things possible to win the game early in the game. So, like, (the onside) was there, so we took it. … I’m not really worried about saving things.

“At the end of the day, you can save things, great. It’s awesome, but every time you run something, you open up something else. You open up more options or you maybe limit what somebody can do versus you.”

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