Jesus Gomez’s last-second field goal sealed Arizona State’s 27–24 victory over Baylor, but Kenny Dillingham wasn’t pleased with what he saw. Even though the Sun Devils won to open their Big 12 play, nothing was pretty about the offense until the 4th quarter. The ASU head coach revealed as much in his post-game comments.

Similar to that tough Mississippi State loss earlier in the season, ASU could have easily let the game slip away in the closing minutes, but they managed to get through this time. Dillingham noted Sam Leavitt’s performance, but he wasn’t happy with the offense as a while. “I mean, I think Sam was what, 22 or 32. That’s pretty good. 221 yards, ran the ball 72 yards, so he accounted for almost 300 yards of offense, didn’t turn the ball over,” Dillingham said.

Even Leavitt’s box score was helped by the two scoring drives he led in the 4th quarter. The clutch gene is there, but the QB had thrown for less than 100 yards through the third quarter. But if you look at it in totality, those numbers were also because of the receivers’ struggle to win their routes.”

“We’ve got to be better. Like, we got to get off man coverage… we got to be able to separate. We’ve got to be able to put guys in better situations to win. So we win for him, and it’s not just JT beating man,” stated Dillingham.

In simple terms, other players must step up if defenses keep locking down star receiver Jalin Conyers (JT). That eventually happened when Leavitt connected on a 61-yard pass to WR Derek Eusebio. The drive led to a touchdown in the 4th quarter, giving ASU a 24-17 lead.

The ASU head coach wasn’t all negative about how his team played. “But you know what? They don’t look at that at the end. They look at wins. They look at losses… Our offense sputtered. Defense picked it up. Defense sputtered. Offense picked it up, and special teams weren’t good. Won it there at the end. And we’ll never win like that again. That exact same way. Got to find another way,” he said.

Winning a game where your team doesn’t have its best outing is almost a perfect scenario for a head coach. You get to point out the basics while also adding to your win column.

A flawed game

Less than a year ago, Kenny Dillingham was pleading with students to attend tryouts while live-micing his own special teams. Fast forward to Waco, where Jesus Gomez, the transfer from Eastern Michigan, easily defeats Baylor with a 43-yard strike. But the Sun Devils’ night wasn’t exactly perfect.

Three Baylor turnovers only resulted in nine points, and the offense continued to stall in the red zone. After the game, Dillingham essentially sighed that it “should not be this close.” He was right: something is wrong when you outscore the opposition, win the turnover battle, and still require a field goal at the last second.

Still, the pieces are there. The defense gave Leavitt three takeaways, Jordyn Tyson still found the end zone when it was needed, and Derek Eusebio suddenly changed the course with that 61-yard grab. Although ASU is 3-1 and has a 1-0 Big 12 start, Dillingham still seems to be waiting for a more polished, commanding performance. But for the time being, he has a clutch kicker who can come to their rescue when things get messy.