Kenny Dillingham and his Arizona State Sun Devils thrived on what was a unique and incredibly chaotic college football Saturday.
Arizona State was among the many teams around the country that were affected by the nationwide ground stoppage issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday. While several teams opted to scrap their flight plans altogether and travel to their destination via bus, that wasn’t exactly an option for the Sun Devils traveling cross-country from Tempe, Arizona, to Orlando, Florida, to take on UCF.
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Ultimately, the contest was pushed back two hours from its originally scheduled time of 3:30 p.m. ET to give the Sun Devils more time to arrive on Saturday, and arrive they did. Arizona State jumped on a 6 a.m. flight on Saturday morning, took care of business, and left with a 26-13 victory.
Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images (Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
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Following his team’s impressive road win, Dillingham gave some insight into his mindset given all the hurdles he and his team had to face, and did so with quite the epic saying involving a body part.
“Excuses are like buttholes; everybody has them, and they all stink, the head coach explained during his postgame press conference. “And that’s what tonight would have been. Like, it’s just an excuse. At the end of the day you’re going to take the field, for 60 minutes, and play a football game.
“You’re either going to get it done or you’re not. Nobody’s going to care what the circumstance was, because nobody cares about circumstances; they care about results.”
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Arizona State Sun Devils running back Cardae Mack (25) is tackled by UCF Knights linebacker Lewis Carter (20) during the second quarter at Acrisure Bounce House. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images (Mike Watters-Imagn Images)
While it may be a bit crass, Dillingham told no lies.
It would have been easy for the Sun Devils to show up lackadaisical, and even easier to lean on the built-in travel excuse if they hadn’t pulled out the win on the road, but they didn’t have to live in that reality after taking care of business against the Knights.
Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Jake Fette (2) throws a pass during the first quarter against the UCF Knights at Acrisure Bounce House. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images (Mike Watters-Imagn Images)
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Arizona State’s win in Orlando marked its first win away from home this season after losing on the road to Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and BYU earlier in the year.
Dillingham’s group improved to 6-4 on the season with the win over UCF, with the most impressive stat line from the contest being the Sun Devils’ defense holding the Knights to just 54 yards on the ground.