Dillingham: Arizona State football needs to get back to its identity out of bye week

TEMPE — Arizona State football hasn’t played hard enough to match the identity it established in the season’s first two wins, head coach Kenny Dillingham said Monday.

“I think we have to get back to what we’re good at,” Dillingham said. “The Texas State game I think just got us to chase too many ghosts in terms of trying to make every play perfect. I think we can kind of scare our guys into playing passive. … We gotta get our guys playing more aggressive on the O-line and D-line again and not as passive.”

Dillingham pointed out opposing coaches didn’t talk about ASU as a team that plays hard in their week-opening press conferences ahead of the last two games. Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby raved about the Sun Devils’ intensity at the start of Week 2.

“I think at times the last few weeks, we’ve been a lot more bark than we have bite. … We’ve talked about (playing hard) more than we’ve actually played like that,” Dillingham said. “We got to get back to being that team that just plays extremely, extremely hard that coaches talk about.”

He credited safeties Xavion Alford and Shamari Simmons along with linemen C.J. Fite and Leif Fautanu for bringing that standard back up over the bye. All four are members of the 12-man Tillman Leadership Council.

Red zone inefficiency was the biggest on-field problem ASU addressed over the bye week, Dillingham said. The offense has produced 15 scores on 19 red zone possessions, with no passing touchdowns from close range.

ASU’s defense is one of six across Power Four without a stop in the red zone. The Sun Devils have given up nine touchdowns and two field goals across 11 red zone possessions.

Dillingham said when a statistical category stands out the way red zone does for the Sun Devils, it’s usually on the coaches for not working on it as much as they should. ASU adjusted by spending more time on it last week than any regular week.

Getting it right on both sides will be especially important this week, as the Kansas offense has been nearly perfect in the red zone with 14 touchdowns and four field goals across 18 possessions. No. 3 Ohio State is the only other Power Four team with scores on all tries.

What tweak did Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt make over the bye week?

Dillingham said he also took some time with quarterback Sam Leavitt to work through a technical issue with his throwing.

“Sometimes he gets elongated in his base and he lunges forward. He’s a hop thrower, which means he likes to hop to get into rhythm,” Dillingham said. “Sometimes when you do that, you’re off balance a little bit, so we just made sure he’s not hopping or lunging into some of his throws.”

They also worked on protections and hot route recognition, tying back into Dillingham’s desire to simplify game-plans over the bye week.

Kenny Dillingham details the technique tweak he made with Sam Leavitt over the bye week, plus why the narratives around young quarterbacks are funny to him sometimes. pic.twitter.com/YqevEtTNCK

— State of the Sun Devils (@AZSportsDevils) September 30, 2024