TEMPE — Kenny Dillingham called the way Arizona State football has responded to success “terrible” on Monday, noting it’s been much better at bouncing back from failures.
It was a top-15 team when it went into Mississippi State and lost, it was 4-1 entering a Utah game before getting blown out and it was coming off a win over top-10 Texas Tech when it lost to Houston at home.
Its last time out, ASU had perhaps its most improbable success of the season when Jeff Sims accounted for over 400 total yards in a win at Iowa State despite the elements.
Now would be as good a time as any to buck the trend of not being able to sustain success, as its next loss would bury it in the Big 12 title race.
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Dillingham said he’s looking for “intensity and physicality” in the days leading up to a matchup against West Virginia on Saturday, and he said he got it on Monday in an abbreviated “get our feet back” practice session coming out of the bye week.
“It was only a 10-period [roughly 40-50% of a typical practice], like work-the-kinks-out (practice) so Tuesday’s practice of a game week is really good,” the coach said. “We hit, we got to thud a lot. We got to play catch. So I thought the guys’ energy was good.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to do something a little bit different, but it was necessary. Like, let’s go put in the work now and hopefully it was a good decision.”
He said his team will need a heightened sense of urgency because of the physicality West Virginia has displayed, with some things clicking in back-to-back wins over Houston and Colorado after coming within one score of TCU.
The Mountaineers kept all three opposing rushing attacks under 100 yards (76.3 yards per game) after allowing 226 per game in the first four conference contests, all losses.
“The one thing I really admire about (West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez) is his teams play really hard,” Dillingham said. “They play tough, they play physical. … They’re going to fire off the ball and double-team your (defensive tackle and put them) six yards deep.
“They have a mindset and a way to play the game that is attacking and physical and aggressive. And I think that starts with him.”
As for where ASU is on the line of scrimmage, it expects to get Prince Dorbah (four sacks in last three games before missing two contests) back to its pass rush. The offensive line is coming off its best game of the season in Dillingham’s eyes and first without allowing a sack.
“We’re playing seven guys in there, which I think is a positive. You want to go seven or eight, in my opinion, but one of those guys is out in Ben (Coleman),” he said. “So now we’re at seven-ish. I think we’ve kind of found a rhythm.
“But then last week, Wade (Helton) went out for a little bit … so you talk about playing clean. It’s like all the moving pieces makes it more challenging but I was proud with the guys who stepped in for him and then found a way to win.”
In addition to not allowing any sacks, the unit also paved the road to a season-high 290 rushing yards as a team.
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