Arizona State boarded a plane in Starkville, Mississippi, to return to the Valley Saturday night feeling the sting of their first loss and with cowbells still ringing in their ears.
Once the underdog, now playing the part of the favorite, the Sun Devils found themselves on the wrong side of a field storming after a 24-20 loss to Mississippi State.
Still, Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham always manages to find a silver lining.
“I think our team’s in a good spot,” Dillingham said Monday. “Like I told our guys, the outside noise and the clout is going to disappear. Whatever that means. But the goal of the season and the vision of the season has no change.”
Dillingham was surprisingly chipper while speaking to the media Monday, despite the loss, which dropped the Sun Devils to 1-1.
The reigning Big 12 champions face planted on the SEC doormat, which finished just 2-10 a season ago.
The Sun Devils’ offense, led by quarterback Sam Leavitt, stumbled from the start. Leavitt missed multiple open receivers early in the game and failed to get into a rhythm as the team fell behind 17-0 at Dean-Wade Stadium.
Leavitt completed just 10 of 22 passes, and he was intercepted twice in a game for the first time as a college quarterback. Dillingham shouldered the blame for his star signal caller’s disastrous performance.
“I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job putting him in positions to have early success,” Dillingham said. “I think one of the best things that I’ve done in my past (jobs) is giving quarterbacks the ability to just operate, and then when they need to make special plays, make it.
“I think sometimes we’re asking him to make too many special plays and not enough easy plays. I’ve got to find ways to not let that happen in the future so we can help him.”
Dillingham added that he’s been here before.
“I’ve called some horrible games,” Dillingham said. “Absolutely atrocious. We played Georgia, year one at Oregon. Golly, did I not set up (former Oregon Ducks and current Denver Broncos quarterback) Bo Nix to succeed that game. I absolutely set him up to fail. It’s part of being elite and being a high level player.
“The expectation is so high. … It’s really not (Leavitt). It’s us as a staff.”
Help could also come from Leavitt’s supporting cast, which has been seldom utilized outside of wide receiver Jordyn Tyson.
Tyson caught six balls for 68 yards and a score in the loss but was the only wide receiver to catch a pass. With transfer wideout Jalen Moss out while nursing an injury, receivers Malik McClain and Jaren Hamilton combined for just six targets and failed to haul in any of them.
“We’ve got to get more guys involved,” Dillingham said. “In fall camp, we had more guys involved all the time.”
What the Sun Devils lacked through the air, they made up for on the ground. Switching to a run-heavy approach, ASU rallied after trailing 17-3 at halftime to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
On the Sun Devils’ final scoring drive, which ended with kicker Jesus Gomez converting an 18-yard field goal to give ASU the lead, offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo leaned on running backs Kanye Udoh and Raleek Brown to methodically pound the Sun Devils down the field.
Udoh and Brown carried the ball a collective 15 times on the drive that spanned 17 plays and covered 95 yards, bleeding nearly nine minutes off the clock.
“(I’m) just trying to take advantage of my opportunity and do what I can to help this team win,” Udoh said following the game. “Raleek did the same thing, so it wasn’t just me out there.”
Brown, visibly upset, was succinct with his comments after the defeat.
“Play fast. We can’t start slow,” Brown said. “I feel like we had to run the ball to open up the offense. That was our game plan for the second half, to run the ball and get downhill.”
While the Sun Devils were able to eventually climb back into the game and take a late lead, a miscommunication on the back end of the defense ultimately cost Dillingham’s squad a key road win.
Defensive coordinator Brian Ward dialed up a blitz that reminded ASU fans of the team’s January demise in the Peach Bowl against Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
The blitz didn’t get home, and Bulldogs quarterback Blake Shapen uncorked a 58-yard touchdown pass to Mississippi State’s speedster at wide receiver, Brenen Thompson that won the game. The Sun Devils were in quarters coverage, Dillingham said, and cornerbacks Kyndrich Breedlove and Javan Robinson failed to communicate quick enough in coverage.
“In hindsight, I wish we were in cover 2,” Dillingham said. “That’s the best part about coaching. Sometimes it doesn’t work, and it sucks, and then you get to say that you wish you were in something different. One-hundred percent, if something doesn’t work, I’ll lay up in bed all night saying, ‘Man, should we have gone for it? Man, should I have kicked the onside kick at the end of the game?’ Everything that doesn’t work, I literally constantly second guess after the game.”
Ward’s defensive play call was meant to prevent a shot downfield, according to Dillingham, and sack Shapen to potentially end the game, keeping the Bulldogs out of field goal range.
The incessant ringing of cowbells in Starkville led to several pre-snap penalties for the Sun Devils. The aggressive call was made with the hope to avoid overtime, in which Arizona State would possess the ball and have to face the wrath of noise once more.
“You don’t want to go into overtime versus that team because you’re going to get the ball and it’s going to be cowbell and loud,” Dillingham said. “You’re probably going to get a false start at that point. It’s harder to play a game on the road and overtime in that environment. So you’re not playing to hold them to three. You’re playing to win.”
Looking forward, the Sun Devils have just one more opportunity to clean things up before conference play begins. Texas State has scored more than 40 points in both of its wins so far this season, so the ASU secondary will have another challenge on its hands Saturday.
The Bobcats played ASU tough a season ago when the Sun Devils escaped San Marcos, Texas, with a 31-28 victory. Leavitt threw for 246 yards with one touchdown and one interception in that game.
An early loss will test the Sun Devils’ resolve, especially before facing several of the Big 12’s top contenders. Dillingham believes his team can rebound and improve to play its best at the end of the season to go on a run once again.
“This is the best thing that could happen to our football team,” Dillingham said. “We need to face adversity before conference play. We need to have our backs against the wall before conference play. Conference play is when everything starts to count.
“We’re going to find out what we’re made of.”
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