Kenny Dillingham trying to ‘make the right turns’ in ever-changing college football

The College Football Playoff Management Committee unanimously voted to expand the playoffs to 24 teams on Monday, the latest of many changes in college football over the last few years.

“Every year it’s changed. Our rules just changed last Friday. They completely changed,” Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Friday. “I didn’t pick my kids up from school because I’m navigating the new rule change on a Friday so I can get it to the staff. … Everything is changing, all the time, constantly, every year.

“So every time you have a plan, you got to be able to change your plan. There is no real plan other than there is no plan.”

The Sun Devils coach compared navigating the current college football landscape to getting to a destination you’ve never been before without GPS.

With NIL continuing to evolve each year, and rule changes happening weekly, coaching staffs across the country have to be able to adjust and adapt on the fly.

“That’s the nature of it. I would say college football is like traveling on a road that you’ve never been on 40 years ago, before MapQuest,” Dillingham said. “Then all of a sudden, you’re like, ‘I know how to get to this destination.’ And they’re like, ‘But that road is closed.’ Do you still know how to get to that destination? Like, alright, I gotta turn right and I know eventually I gotta go back left. I don’t know what road to take, and everybody’s trying to figure out, ‘When is the proper left to take, to take another left to get back straight on the road I started on.’ But you don’t know the roads.

“You’re gonna make the wrong turns in that, unfortunately, because there’s so much change. That’s why you see so much parity in the sport because this rule changes or that rule changes and you may have turned right and then make your first left when you should have made your second left, but nobody knew the second left was the right decision in this era.”

The new 24-team CFP structure will change multiple aspects, including selection day, moving the Army-Navy game and the elimination of Power 4 conference championship games.

“It’s just constantly changing. Way back in the day, we didn’t have conference championships. You just named a champion,” Dillingham said. “So we’re back to where it was 30 years ago. I just try to make the right turns. Sometimes I make the wrong ones. I just try to make the right turns.”

Dillingham and the Sun Devils will try to win back-to-back games for the first time this season Saturday at UCF coming off a 20-10 win over Colorado.

Related

ASU AD Graham Rossini embraces 24-team College Football Playoff shiftFiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic returns for 2nd yearASU football picks up pair of 2027 commitmentsExpanded CFP could change how teams build rosters and schemes, Kenny Dillingham saysKickoff time announced for ASU-Oklahoma State, other Big 12 gamesCFP will expand to 24 teams, last Big 12 title game will take place in 2026