Arizona State enters Week 9 with a familiar kind of uncertainty, the sort every coach has to wrestle with when the injury report starts stacking up. For Kenny Dillingham, the answer didn’t come from a medical chart or a depth chart alone. It came from “Madden.”
Dillingham pointed to New Mexico head coach Jason Eck as he tried to explain how ASU is handling its questionable bodies heading into Saturday’s matchup against No. 8 BYU. Eck’s explanation, centered on a video-game style calculation of who should play when a starter is dinged up, clearly stuck with him.
"I thought it was absolutely perfect how to describe when you're dealing with injuries..."
Eck had made his point after New Mexico’s win over North Dakota State, explaining why he pulled a hurt player.
"If a guy gets injured on Madden, you've got to make a substitution," Eck said. "It comes up on the screen, like your starter is usually a 90 (overall grade) and your backup's an 80, but because of the injury, the 90 guy is down to 78, so the backup's a little better than the guy with an injury. So you go with that."
That line made the rounds online, with some fans confused and others immediately getting the reference.
"All the kids will know exactly what I'm talking about," Eck said.
Dillingham, for his part, said the whole thing was too good not to mention.
"Go see what Coach Eck said, because I don't want to copy what he said..." ASU head football coach Kenny Dillingham said. "I don't want to copy and paste what he said, but I want to copy and paste what he said."
Now the Sun Devils are stuck with the same kind of decision Eck was describing. Arizona State lists three players as questionable and five as probable, with starting safety Lyrik Rawls and quarterback Mikey Keene among the names to watch.
"The Lyriks and different guys on our team," Dillingham said. "and Mikey (Keene), when to play them and when not, when they are cleared and healthy."
That leaves the obvious question hanging over the weekend: does Dillingham go with the veteran who may not be at full strength, or lean into a less-proven option like Jake Fette?
There is at least one piece of good news for Arizona State. BYU will again be without star running back LJ Martin, even though there had been some speculation he might be back against the Sun Devils. Martin hasn’t played since Oct. 3 against TCU, when he suffered a lower-body injury against the Horned Frogs.
It still shapes up as a tough assignment for Arizona State, but the Sun Devils won’t have to deal with BYU’s top back. The injury situation on ASU’s side remains the bigger story for now, especially with Rawls, Keene and the rest of the questionable group still waiting on final word. This story will be updated if there are any new developments on Fette, ASU’s quarterbacks or any other injury news.
In Other News...
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There have been brighter moments, too, which is why the next stretch feels so important. In the win over Kansas State, the Sun Devils looked cleaner in tackling and found more disruption in the backfield, signs that the front can still settle in if the execution tightens up. Defensive coordinator Brian Ward and coach Kenny Dillingham have pointed to tackling and forcing turnovers as the central fixes, and with the schedule moving forward, how quickly that front answers is going to shape the rest of the season. [Read more 🡒]
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Arizona State also showed up in the leagues preseason picture, landing fifth in the Big 12 media poll. That kind of respect does not guarantee anything once the games start, but it does raise the stakes for a team trying to follow one strong first year under Miller with something even more convincing. The blend of proven production, outside additions and new faces gives the Sun Devils more depth than they had a year ago, and it should make every step of the season feel a little more meaningful. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona State Heads To BYU With One Huge Question On Offense
Arizona State heads into its trip to BYU with a very different kind of offensive conversation than it had a month ago. Kenny Dillingham has spent the week preparing a team that may be led by likely starting true freshman quarterback Jake Fette, and the focus around the Sun Devils has been less about asking the rookie to carry everything than about giving him help around him. That means leaning on a steadier ground game, with freshman Cardae Mack and veteran Kyson Brown standing out as key pieces in the mix.
The challenge only gets trickier in Provo, where BYUs option approach puts a premium on discipline and physical tackling. Arizona State has shown recent improvement in that area, but the Cougars bring a different stress test with mobile quarterback Bear Bachmeier and an offense built to make defenses think on the fly. For the Sun Devils, the question is not just whether Fette can handle the stage, but whether the rest of the offense can make his job manageable against a defense that rarely gives away easy answers. [Read more 🡒]