‘They’re the program that I envision’: ASU coach trying to emulate Utah’s ‘elite’ program
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As Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, the youngest coach in college football at the age of 33, works to build his program, he has a standard he’s aiming for.
That’s Kyle Whittingham and the Utah football program.
“In terms of Utah, this is the culture that we want, that I envision here. They’re the program that I envision, hopefully having here a coach who’s been there for 19 years, who’s built it up, who’s established physicality in the program, toughness.” — ASU coach Kenny Dillingham
Over 19 seasons as head coach, Whittingham built Utah into a national power. After coaching the defense on Utah’s undefeated 2004 team, he took the reins from Urban Meyer and became Utah’s head coach in 2005.
In 2008, Utah went undefeated again, cumulating in a Sugar Bowl win over Alabama, and the longtime Utah coach guided the Utes through a transition to a Power Five league in 2011, reaching the Pac-12 mountaintop with back-to-back conference titles in 2021 and 2022.
Very few, if any, coaches in the country do more with less than Whittingham — just look at Utah this season, sitting at 6-2 with a host of players out with injuries, including veteran starting quarterback Cam Rising.
Though Utah’s recruiting has seen a jump as of the last five years (the Utes’ 2022 class ranked No. 20 in the nation, according to 247Sports), historically, Utah has been able to find the diamond in the rough, the underrated talent, and develop them into NFL players.
Utah and Whittingham have built a brand — tough and physical — and that’s exactly what Dillingham and the Sun Devils want to emulate.
“In terms of Utah, this is the culture that we want, that I envision here. They’re the program that I envision, hopefully having here a coach who’s been there for 19 years, who’s built it up, who’s established physicality in the program, toughness,” Dillingham said this week.
Arizona State (2-6, 1-4 Pac-12) prepares to face Utah (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12) at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday (noon, Pac-12 Network) for the final time as members of the Pac-12 Conference. The two programs will be seeing a lot of each other in the Big 12, facing off in 2024, 2025 and 2027.
Dillingham has been tasked with building the ASU program back up after Herm Edwards’ firing last season. Under Edwards, Arizona State was alleged to have recruiting violations during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, which the NCAA is investigating, and as a result, Arizona State self-imposed a one-year postseason ban on Aug. 27, 2023, just four days before the season started.
That was a blow to a reeling program that had 50 players transfer out in 2022 and 2023, including starting quarterback Jayden Daniels, who transferred to LSU and is on the shortlist of Heisman finalists as the quarterback of the No. 14-ranked Tigers.
The former Oregon offensive coordinator, who guided Bo Nix and the Ducks’ offense last season, has a long road ahead of him.
“That’s what we’re trying to build here,” Dillingham said of Utah.
“So this is the standard, the gold standard in the league in my opinion, for what a program should look like, should feel like. And it starts with stopping the run and running the football with them,” Dillingham explained. “And I think any elite program, which I consider Utah an elite program with coach (Whittingham) there and what they’ve done, and I think any elite program has that physicality upfront and they have that. I’ve been talking to our guys about this game for a long time, showing clips of what it takes to win at this level at a high level. And I’ve been using Utah as the example.”
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With that in mind, Arizona State has done a good job in stopping the run and getting to the quarterback this season. The Sun Devils rank No. 18 nationally in rushing defense (allowing 104.4 yards per game) and rank No. 31 in sacks (21). Of course, Utah is ranked higher in both of those categories — No. 7 in rushing defense (86 yards per game) and No. 15 in sacks (25) — but if Dillingham is trying to emulate a Whittingham-coached team, he’s got a good start on it.
“Arizona State’s been playing some pretty good defense, they’re in the upper of the league in most every category defensively, and so we expect a big challenge,” Whittingham said.
Make no mistake, the Sun Devils’ defensive line isn’t at Oregon’s caliber, but will still be a test for a Utah offensive line that had a poor showing against the Ducks last Saturday.
The Sun Devils’ defense is allowing 340.9 yards per game, ranking 39th in the nation, and 26.50 points per game, which ranks 73rd in the country.
Defensive back Chris Edmonds leads Arizona State with 52 tackles, while edge rushers Prince Dorbah and B.J. Green II have combined for 11.5 sacks this season.
Utah’s looking to get the run game right, which will help open up the passing game, after a 28-yard rushing performance through three quarters in the 35-6 loss to Oregon.
“We’re at our best when we’re running the football efficiently. That sets up the play-action game and everything else and so we’ve got to find a way to get back on track with that and it’s not panic time. It was one game and we feel like we’ve got a really good O-line, good backs and so we’ll make an effort to get that back on track,” Whittingham said. “Typically, as the run game goes, so goes the offense, so that’s going to be an important part of responding this week.”
Ja’Quinden Jackson’s ankle injury looked to flare up against Oregon, and two-way player Sione Vaki wasn’t “feeling up to par,” Whittingham said Monday after the Ducks game. The Utes will need both to be at their best on Saturday to help out a passing game that stalled at times against Oregon.
Speaking of the passing attack, helmed by quarterback Bryson Barnes, could we see the Utes go up-tempo? About the only time the offense had life was in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half last week, when the Utes went 53 yards in 1:22.
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“Possibly,” Whittingham said in regards to if the Utes would utilize more of that offense this week. “... That was probably our, I don’t think probably, that was our best drive of the game. We probably should take a look at that and we have used that in the past and would’ve probably been a good idea to go to it more in the second half.”
Offensively, Arizona State crossed some milestones last week in its 38-27 win over Washington State that snapped a six-game losing streak. The Sun Devils scored over 30 points for the first time this season and passed the 500-yard mark in a game.
Quarterback Trenton Bourguet threw for 247 yards on 73% accuracy, and running back Cameron Skattebo ran for 121 yards and a score.
Though Arizona State certainly doesn’t have the offensive firepower that Oregon does — the Ducks score 45.5 points per game compared to the Sun Devils’ 19.6 — Bourguet tries to get the ball out fast like Nix.
“Almost the same type of offense from last week. They don’t give up too many sacks because the ball gets out pretty quick,” defensive ends coach Lewis Powell said.
Utes on the air
No. 18 Utah (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12)
vs. Arizona State (2-6, 1-4 Pac-12)
Saturday, 12 p.m. MDT
Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: ESPN 700/92.1 FM
Arizona State has a lot of short passes in the playbook that allow Bourguet to get the ball out quickly and let his receivers do the rest, so open-field tackling will be key for the Utes this week. Skattebo is a key part of Arizona State’s short passing game (20 catches for 273 yards and a touchdown), along with Elijhah Badger (45 receptions for 532 and two touchdowns).
Skattebo has carried the ball 115 times for 534 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Sun Devils missed six offensive linemen against the Cougars — Ben Coleman, Emmit Bohle, Max Iheanachor, Sione Finau, Kyle Scott and Bram Walden were all out for last week’s game, according to Michelle Gardner of the Arizona Republic. The Sun Devils allowed zero sacks last Saturday, a turnaround from the 22 Arizona State has allowed thus far, ranking in the bottom third of the nation.
Utah’s defensive line will be looking to get back on track after failing to record a sack against Oregon.
At 2-6, Arizona State is better than its record indicates (the Sun Devils have lost three one-score games, including to Washington on Oct. 21), but Utah is favored by 10.5 points and ESPN’s analytics give the Utes an 88% chance to win on Saturday afternoon and start a new home winning streak.
