In Kenny Dillingham’s coaching debut, Arizona State ended up winning the contest by a final score of 24-21 vs. Southern Utah to move to 1-0 on the season.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Pac-12 AFTER AFTER dark ???? ???? #ForksUp /// #ActivateTheValley pic.twitter.com/OldbSv4EVq
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) September 1, 2023
However, the game came with a lot of unusual turn of events that Dillingham’s team wasn’t expecting. During halftime, the game on Thursday night got canceled due to a dust storm that took over at around 8 o’clock at night and didn’t end for another 3 hours.
Go to an ASU football game and get stuck in the middle of a dust storm. Only in Arizona ????????♂️ pic.twitter.com/htouZuFhQJ
— Stephen Perez (@thestephenperez) September 1, 2023
At this point in the game, ASU was leading Southern Utah in the contest 21-7 after freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada connected with Texas transfer Troy Omeire right before the half ended and the delay occurred.
Coach Dillingham talked with the media for his weekly presser on Monday and talked about the incident that was going on during the delay and even gave a learning lesson for his players during the situation.
Dillingham on delay and it’s affect on second half: “I got the guys overly hyped for the second half. I was so concerned of a lack of energy that I probably over energized them. That was probably why we had more penalties in the second half.”
— DevilsDigest.com (@DevilsDigest) September 4, 2023
Dillingham understood that there was a chance that his squad may come out of the half with a lack of energy so he wanted to make sure that his squad was amped up and ready to go.
So much so that he ended up getting his team a little too amped which led to ASU gaining a total of 9 penalties with more than half of them coming in the second half of the game.
Another interesting thing that happened during the delay was that some of the players on the team were getting last-minute homework done which led to Dillingham making a statement during his pressor to make sure that stuff gets done on time.
Kenny Dillingham says his players got out their computers and were doing homework during the near three-hour delay last Thursday night against Southern Utah ????????????@CronkiteSports pic.twitter.com/oSQI7Gydp1
— Ben Parris (@BenParris04) September 4, 2023
It’s safe to say that Coach Dillingham had a memorable first game for ASU that led to a lot of unforgettable moments.
