Sam Leavitt’s 1st-half struggles didn’t cause Arizona State’s run-heavy pivot, Dillingham says

TEMPE — Arizona State football turned into a full-blown run-heavy team in the second half at Mississippi State, and Kenny Dillingham said on Monday it was more about leaning into a strength than it was turning away from Sam Leavitt.

The Heisman hopeful began 1-for-7 in Week 2 with 23:21 of game time between his first and second completions for positive yardage. He finished the first half 5-for-15 with 30 passing yards and an interception, as many of the throws appeared to be flat-out misses.

The offensive game plan veered sharply away from him in favor of the run game coming out of halftime.

“I don’t think we went away from Sam, I think we leaned on our strength,” Dillingham said.

The Sun Devils rushed 17 times (two of which were Leavitt) with 15 pass attempts in the first half, which lined up with what Dillingham said in the week prior to the game about returning to a downhill identity.

But with the passing game not firing on all cylinders, they came out with a touchdown drive of eight straight runs to begin a second-half rally. Six pass attempts came across the following three drives (31 plays) before his interception to start ASU’s final drive ended the game.

It was seven pass attempts to 34 rushes in the second half for ASU, including no pass attempts on a first-and-goal series from the 3-yard line with the game in the balance.

That was after Leavitt found Jordyn Tyson for a third-down conversion earlier on that same drive (the lone pass of a 17-play, nine-minute drive) and after the pair connected for a goal line touchdown on the previous drive.

Dillingham said that stand was about “establishing an identity of who we want to be the rest of the year.”

Did Arizona State go away from quarterback Sam Leavitt after he struggled in the first half against Mississippi State?

Or was it just about setting an identity?

Kenny Dillingham's answer ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0F3zTfC7eQ

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) September 8, 2025

Despite tightening up the passing game in limited second-half opportunities before the interception (5-for-6), Leavitt finished with a career-worst completion percentage (45.5%).

The performance also set a career-worst mark (54.9) for PFF offensive grade, coming in just below a 57.8 he recorded off the bench as a true freshman at Michigan State against Nebraska.

“Everybody doesn’t have great games every game,” Dillingham said. “The dude’s unbelievable, like I wouldn’t trade him for any other quarterback in the country. That’s the quarterback I want to coach, that’s the quarterback that I have complete faith in.

“So I think for me and him, there’s really no difference. It’s let’s get back to work. … It’s part of being elite and being a high-level player is the expectation is so high. I think for him, that’s the fun part is we’re going to bounce back.”

The coach also reiterated a point he made postgame about getting Leavitt in a rhythm early in games, and he said the coaching staff hasn’t done a good enough job of that to this point.

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