TEMPE — Kenny Dillingham was perked up by the wake-up call Arizona State football got in its 38-19 victory over NAU on Saturday.
“Happy we got a W, and it’s always good to win ugly,” Dillingham said postgame. “That’s one of the best things about coaching is when you win ugly and it wakes people up a little bit. That’s great, this is good.”
The game was never in any real jeopardy, but 12 penalties and a 1-for-10 performance on third downs showed just how far ASU (1-0) still has to go this season.
The closest NAU (0-1) got was 17-6 at halftime before Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt provided some breathing room with a breakaway touchdown run early in the second half.
Kenny Dillingham took responsibility for ASU’s penalty issues (12 enforced) in its season opening win, noting the stat sheet could look 200 yards different if a few plays stood. pic.twitter.com/8ewcDTHwj0
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The Sun Devils were riding a smooth start after scoring 14 points across its first two possessions, with special teams playing a big role. The Lumberjacks, over the same span, mustered just three net yards of offense.
Dillingham credited NAU’s coaching staff led by Brian Wright, who took the Lumberjacks to an FCS playoff appearance in his first season, for unique defensive looks that had ASU out of sorts.
“It’s not just what we did wrong, it’s also what they did right. I’m a fan of that staff, so go Lumberjacks,” Dillingham said. “And I know coach Wright’s come out to a practice or so down here, and I hope we continue to have a relationship ‘cause he did a phenomenal job today, did a phenomenal job last year.
“And I wanna make sure people are giving him his credit, because I believe that he out-coached me tonight. That’s something that I gotta look at and I gotta figure out how that doesn’t happen again moving forward.”
Dillingham said that as much as ASU tried to prepare for the “exotic” defenses, there were also some looks that NAU hadn’t shown before. That kind of thing can happen when a program’s regime is in its infant stages, as Wright just began Year 2.
It’s why Leavitt was left scrambling as much as he was, eventually forcing the issue as a runner with 73 yards across 10 rushes — that’s factoring in the 21 yards he lost on two sacks.
“If we take the performance overall, we did some good stuff,” Leavitt said postgame. “Obviously got to go back and address the holdings and take care of the ball a little bit on my end as well.
“But the accountability that we have as a team, I’m not worried about it. We’re going to come back and just go to work and figure out all the little things.”
He finished with two touchdowns on the ground as well as through the air, the only big blemish on his performance being an interception with 5:05 remaining in the game.
By that point, NAU had already switched out its starting quarterback, Ty Pennington, with the score 31-13.
OL injury concerns for Arizona State
The offensive line certainly bears some responsibility for the lack of time Leavitt had.
The expectations might be higher for a group returning four starters from last season’s Peach Bowl, although it’s more like 3.5 with Ben Coleman moving over from left guard to his first time playing center in college.
Only two of those, left guard Jimeto Obigbo and right guard Kyle Scott, played every snap on Saturday. Coleman, right tackle Max Iheanachor and left tackle Josh Atkins all exited at different points in the game. Atkins, however, was back after just one play off.
Coleman, whose bad snap led to one of the two sacks on Leavitt, was replaced in the lineup by Wade Helton late after the two battled for the starting job late in fall camp.
“We got a bunch of depth really in all of our rooms, so I’m not too worried about it,” Leavitt said of the line’s shuffling. “When a new guy comes in, you know, get acclimated to the game. Know it’s their first reps, so really dialing them in to whether it’s protections or what the play call is, my voice, things along those lines. Wade came in and did a really good job.”
Iheanachor was replaced at first by Champ Westbrooks before Doughless Teloma got a crack at it. Westbrooks is a redshirt freshman whose development has been promising, while Teloma just came over from Riverside Community College, the same JUCO program in California that produced Scott.
It’s likely no status update for Coleman or Iheanachor will come before Dillingham’s Monday press conference.
