Kenny Dillingham's Availability before Arizona State Travels to Texas A&M

TEMPE- Arizona State football head coach Kenny Dillingham spoke to the media on Monday afternoon, just five days before the team travels to College Station to face the No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies.

When asked about the Sun Devils' game plan against one of the contenders for the Heisman Trophy, senior Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, Dillingham provided a one-word response: "Pray."

Here are some takeaways from today's availability with Dillingham, where he gave lengthy answers on preparation against the Aggies, Cutter Boley winning the Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Week, embarking on a two-game road trip, etc.

Full availability on Dillingham can be watched here:

Dillingham on observing the film from Saturday's home opener against Morgan State (Q- Chris Karpman, Sun Devil Source): "There's a lot of things we got to get better at. We didn't stoke too many MAs across the ball—none of the perfect plays. Obviously, critical penalties at times didn't take the ball away. Put the ball in jeopardy too much. Not going to be a good team doing that. ... I think there are some things you can learn there. Our opponent this week is one of the best teams in the country, so this is about as big of a step up as you can get to play them on the road at their place. I don't think it's going to get more challenging than this."

Dillingham on playing at Kyle Field on the road for the first time since September 15, 2015 (Q- Blake Niemann, Fox 10 Sports): "About as challenging as it gets. It's loud. They're well-coached, physical, explosive on offense, (and) gigantic up front on offense. They've got good [defensive guys]: backs, corners, defensive linemen, linebackers, safeties. They've got [good offensive guys]: tight ends, quarterbacks, running backs, specialists, coaches, and a great crowd. That's why you play football. You play football because you want to compete against the best, and you want that. Anybody who doesn't want to compete and go out there and play the best, who doesn't want that?"

Dillingham on what he has seen from Cardae Mack against Morgan State (Q: Jordan Hamm, Sports360AZ): "Consistency. He's just consistent. When we've gone live, he's been hard to tackle, and he's obviously played quarterback in his history, so he has some history playing quarterback. We felt comfortable with him being back there in those settings, and we told ourselves we want to get him some reps of playing real quarterback or wildcat quarterback, not real quarterback. He thinks he can throw, but he actually threw for 1,500 yards or something. He's decent, but wildcat quarterback, and getting some direct runs rocking. I thought he did a good job with that."

Dillingham on Cutter Boley winning the Big 12 co-offensive player of the week (Q: Aya Abdeen, Echo from the Buttes): "I didn't actually know that about Cutter. That's awesome, cool for him. I mean, that's last week, like we're about to move on. [It's] awesome to see him have success. I'm glad he's here. He's a great person, awesome to coach on game day, [and] he's got great energy. That's great [to see Boley receive the honors from the Big 12]."

Dillingham on freshman quarterback Jake Fette getting some reps in the game for Arizona State (Q: Jakob Brooks, Sun Devil Source): "I love how you just said, ' Get some burn.' That's great. New era right there. But it was awesome to get in the game. I jumped around him when he pulled the one run. He got loose. He had a six-yard run. He got loose, and he was like, 'Oh man, that's a little bit different; it's college football. I used to get loose and go for 40,' so I choked around on the little headset. I spoke to him. I said, 'You in college now,' but it was good to get him out there [and] get a feel for the game. I mean, it's a different world. He was fired up to be in, and I was happy to see him out there."

Dillingham on coaching against Texas A&M defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill in 2021 (Q: Tyler Weiss, Cronkite Sports): "They're the same trees, so they complement each other perfectly. I mean, he was there last year with them [as a senior assistant], too, so they perfectly complement. They know what they want to be, and that's the teams that are the scariest teams to play. The teams on the map and you play the best. defense. They don't try to trick you. We know that and we have our wrinkles

Dillingham on the game plan against Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed (Q: Charlie Goldring, Cronkite News): "Pray. He's a really good player. He's athletic, but what people don't give him credit for is he has unbelievable touch on his deep ball and on his intermediate passing hame. Like his touch on the sideline on field throws, he can throw a field out route that's caught on the sideline, slash the tick, and it's supposed to look. He throws the ball vertically down the field really well, and then you can't sack him. It's very challenging to sack him."

Link to postgame quotes after Arizona State's historic win can be viewed on Echo from the Buttes right here.