Over the weekend, it was impossible for Arizona State fans, and perhaps the Sun Devil players as well, not to watch ESPN’s Kenny Dillingham's post-game interview or running back Cam Skattebo’s 40-plus-yard touchdowns on repeat. Granted, last Friday featured a needle-moving victory over Utah, yet sports is defined by the ‘What have you done for me lately’ mantra. And this is the approach Dillingham and his staff plan on reminding the ASU (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) players ahead of a challenging road game at Cincinnati (4-2, 2-1).

“Earlier in the year we talked about the toughness to respond to failure,” Dillingham said. “But it’s even harder to respond to success, and now we’re getting to that point where we have to grow from that aspect. It’s hard to win in college football. You better enjoy them, and then you better be able to rebalance yourself to get right back to work. You fall way faster than you climb…lose one game and see what happens.”

Ahead of Friday’s contest, Dillingham praised the Utes and, more specifically, head coach Kyle Whittingham for building a program centered around sustained success. As Dillingham began the process of implementing what he views as a team culture conducive to success, he established four program pillars. The first two were introduced under previous ASU head coach Todd Graham, an era in which Kenny Dillingham served as an offensive assistant for the Sun Devils in 2014 and 2015.

The pillars read out: Smart, Tough, The Ball, The Team, with each category serving a variety of meanings. Dillingham has seen all four sectors, which adorn the wall in the players' locker room, materialize thus far in 2024 while continuing to push his team to use these principles.

“Smart football wins,” Dillingham said. “You have to play smart football. You have to know when to go down when you have the lead, like we did against Mississippi State.

“Tough is not just physically tough but mentally (tough); it’s the ability to respond. Earlier in the year, we talked about the toughness to respond to failure, which is what we’re used to responding to. But then it’s even harder to respond to success. And now we’re getting to that point where we have to grow in that aspect.

“The Ball is the game. If you have to have the ball, if you turn over the ball, if you take care of the ball…The Ball is the game. It’s self-explanatory.

“The Team is ‘how hard are you going to play? What are you willing to sacrifice for the team?’ When you play Utah they limit possessions, and nobody usually puts up big numbers versus Utah. If you have zero catches in the third quarter, are you gonna be down, or are you gonna be like, ‘Let’s go. It’s a tie game.’ We talked about how you have to be able to sacrifice this week (versus Utah) to win the football game. I think we had a lot of guys who did that.”

To turn these pillars into consistent action, the Pat Tilman Leadership Council was formed ahead of the 2024 campaign. It features 12 players who are in charge of being principals of their respective position groups and aid in fostering a solid relationship between players and coaching staff.

Dillingham understands the importance of effectively communicating with his players in multiple ways. The leadership council has the responsibility of orchestrating practice plans, and these team leaders allow Dillingham to not only set the bar but continually raise it for what Sun Devil football players should emulate daily.

“We met with those guys once a week,” Dillingham noted. “I get a beat on what guys they think may need me to come to meet with them and make sure they know that they’re valued. Those guys help me in terms of setting the tempo of the team.

“I can say what the standard is, but the standard that I set is the minimum expectation. It’s those guys that set the real standard. All of those guys set a standard in practice and prep and how they work. This year, I think our best players are working the hardest, and they believe in the process.”

To solidify and provide additional perspectives on dealing with success, Sun Devil football welcomed NBA Hall of Famer and two-time MVP Steve Nash into their team meeting Monday. The former Phoenix Sun great is not only a Valley legend but also an excellent example of an athlete who has achieved awards and recognition at the highest levels of his sport. Dillingham was pleased to provide his players with a chance to pick Nash’s brain and create a memorable experience.

“I wanted a guy just to come to speak to the team, listening to me all the time that gets monogamous, so come talk to somebody else about leadership,” Dillingham explained. “I think he was a process guy; I remember the things that he did in his process to be able to play the level he did for so long.

“Our guys got to ask him some questions, and I think our guys were fired up. I think it was good for our guys; it also, in my opinion, humbles you. Because success is relative, and even though you think you’re successful right now, you’re not even a pimple compared to what some people's success is.”

ASU will aim to grow that grain of success on its longest road trip of the year, facing the Bearcats on Saturday. The game will kick off at noon EST/9 a.m. MST, which naturally will throw the players off of their body clocks. To properly adjust to this, the Sun Devils will be speeding up their weekly process starting Tuesday, getting in the door earlier, practicing one hour earlier, and finishing their day sooner to better acclimate their bodies to changing time conditions. Furthermore, they will fly out to Cincinnati on Thursday rather than one day prior to kick-off.

“If you look in college football, traveling three time zones, the win percentage is very, very, very low,” Dillingham remarked. “Because it’s such a challenge, especially for college athletes. We’re bumping everything up an hour all week and getting out there on Thursday. So we’re trying to get their clocks changed starting tomorrow.”

Outside of time zone struggles, ASU has seen a noticeable drop in play for its two road games compared to its four matchups at Mountain America Stadium thus far. Their most glaring discrepancy is on the ground, where they rush for an average of 268 yards at home versus 97.5 on the road.

“There are no upsets in this league,” Dillingham said. “Every day is a dog fight, and it’s all about the teams who can mentally flush it and get right back to the main thing. Just do it again and do it again, and that’s the challenge.”

The win over Utah produced two Sun Devils who won conference honors. Skattebo was awarded his third Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honor, the third time he has earned that ward this season. The senior made dominant plays in critical moments once again, rushing for two touchdowns and 157 yards, tallying over 100 yards on the ground in the final 15 minutes of action. Dillingham’s desire to share the load of early carries has benefited Skattebo in the later stages of games. Case in point, ASU's head coach stated that the senior running back hit a speed of 21.8 mph in the fourth quarter, and this following a 2023 season while one that was productive for Skattebo one that didn’t see him register a speed above 20 mph.

“With [DeCarlos Brooks] playing more in the first half, I think he’s been fresh in the fourth quarter of games, which is when most of these explosive plays have been rattled off,” Dillingham noted. “When teams may be a little tired or fatigued from us running the ball earlier, and then he still has seven to eight carries left in him at a pretty high level and then he kind of takes advantage of it.”

Senior linebacker Caleb McCullough was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week following the best performance of his college career. He registered two interceptions and 12 total tackles after starting due to junior Keyshaun Elliott’s first-half targeting suspension. McCullough is the proverbial ‘door-to-door’ Sun Devil, the longest-tenured defensive player on the roster, and never played for another program. He patiently waited for his moment and was rewarded greatly for that.

“Caleb did a great job reading eyes in the game,” Dillingham said. “He’s a quarterback’s eyes guy, and he’s a veteran.”

For ASU, all the newfound praise and admiration from the local and national media is appreciated without being overstated. For the first time in 2024, the program received votes for the AP Top 25 poll, narrowly missing a spot in that poll. In the words of both Dillingham and Nash, ‘Process over outcome’ is where the focus should be.

“I really don’t care,” Dillingham admitted regarding the Top 25 poll snub. “I really don’t even talk about winning with our guys ever, or records ever, never have, never will. We’ll never talk about results.

“We always talk about the process of how to be successful, repeat, repeat, repeat. If you continue to do that, you’re going to continue to have really fun moments. If you get lost in the moments, your fun moments are going to disappear, and then bad moments are going to show up more. So, let’s just stay focused on us and stay focused on the process.”

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