LONDON - Kenny Dillingham looked like a coach who had been through it by the time Arizona State’s week in England wrapped up. He was tired, his team was tired, and after two straight weeks of long-distance travel, everyone in maroon and gold was ready to get back home.
“I’m tired,” Dillingham said. “Our players are going to be tired when they get home. We need to go get some rest.”
The Sun Devils still found a way to leave Wembley Stadium with a 24-17 win over Kansas on Saturday in the Union Jack Classic, the first college football game in England between two FBS teams. It was not a clean performance by any stretch, but Dillingham made clear he was perfectly willing to live with that.
“It wasn’t clean on all three phases, but it was clean enough to come away with a victory,” he said. “That’s really what happens in football. It’s the teams that find ways to win (that) win.”
That fit the day. The game had the same rough edges as the weather hanging over London, and both sides spent plenty of time helping the other out.
Kansas turned it over three times, Arizona State managed only 95 passing yards, and the two teams piled up 11 penalties for 105 yards. Special teams supplied both a touchdown and a kick return score, while the rest of the afternoon offered plenty of teaching tape.
Dillingham didn’t flinch from the mess. After a week in which ASU piled up better numbers than then-No. 8 Texas A&M but lost 48-20, he was happy to take the opposite outcome.
“Give me losing the stats and winning the game 100 times out of 100,” Dillingham said. “I was glad that we found a way to win, even if it was ugly.”
Arizona State needed a little time to settle in. After a sluggish opening stretch that saw the Sun Devils stuck on three points for most of the first half, they scored 21 straight. A Kansas punt from deep in its own end barely traveled 17 yards with less than 30 seconds left before halftime, and ASU cashed in when quarterback Cutter Boley hit Reed Harris for a 25-yard touchdown across the middle.
Kansas had another chance to tighten things up later, but Martin Connington missed a 44-yard field goal that would have pulled the Jayhawks within two scores.
Senior wide receiver Jaren Hamilton, who brought back a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, said the formula was simple when the Sun Devils stayed out of their own way.
“When we just stick to our keys, play our game, not let what the opponent does affect us and we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, we’re amazing,” he said.
The biggest defensive standout was Owen Long, the junior linebacker and Colorado State transfer who had a hand in all three Kansas giveaways. He intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and forced another fumble, giving Arizona State the kind of disruption that carried the afternoon.
“Our defense as a whole played great,” Dillingham said. “I’ve known all camp that I think this is going to be one of the better defenses we had here. They did an unbelievable job of creating takeaways and stopping the run early.”
Dillingham also liked the part that didn’t show up on the stat sheet: no turnovers from his own offense. Even while acknowledging the offense struggled to move the ball, he found value in simply avoiding disaster.
“The clock was turning. We didn’t turn the football over.
We didn’t make any catastrophics,” Dillingham said. “Even though we couldn’t move the ball, we were playing complementary bad football.”
The week in London was about more than the final score. University leadership had made clear that opening a new school in London was the bigger mission, and the football game was part of the package. For Dillingham, that meant the trip had to be about more than X’s and O’s.
He spent the week pushing his players to enjoy the setting and treat it like something rare. The team had free rein Monday through Wednesday, and he said they handled it well.
“You’re bringing them out here to not just play a game,” Dillingham said. “You’re bringing them out here to get a once-in-a-lifetime experience with their teammates.
“We let our guys go out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They had free rein and they did a phenomenal job in managing it and handling it.”
The players sounded like they got the message. Sophomore defensive lineman Hyrum Vaeono called the experience special and said the group enjoyed being together in a different place.
“It was incredible,” Vaeono said. “Being in London, across the pond, being with my guys in a hotel, just going at it day by day, and then we’re here and got the win.”
Arizona State now heads into its bye week at 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12, carrying the reward that matters most after a trip like this: a win and some rest. Dillingham said he regrets locking himself in his room to prepare for Kansas instead of getting out more with his team, but he expects the memories from the trip to stick.
For him, that was always part of the point.
“For me, it’s more just being able to reflect on their stories and how much fun our players got to have here and the experience our players got to have,” Dillingham said. “We had multiple players that are like, ‘Man, I want to come back now. I love this place.’”
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ASU Big Man Delivered The Play Kansas Fans Wont Forget
Arizona States trip to Wembley Stadium produced a defensive moment that will stick with Kansas fans for a while. Early in the 24-17 win over the Jayhawks, defensive lineman Hyrum Vaeono pounced on a forced fumble and rumbled 75 yards to the Kansas 2-yard line, setting up the kind of short-field swing that can change an overseas game in a hurry. The Sun Devils defense kept building on it, forcing three turnovers and making life miserable on Kansas in crucial fourth-down spots.
Vaeonos impact carried a little extra edge because he is a Kansas native and a Lawrence Free State High School graduate, making it his first game against KU. Arizona State also got a huge boost from special teams when Jared Hamilton took a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, giving the Sun Devils the kind of all-phase performance that can make a statement even far from home. [Read more 🡒]
ASUs London Win Got An Emotional Twist Fans Will Love
Arizona States trip across the Atlantic turned into more than just a historic win on the field. In the first-ever Union Jack Classic at Wembley Stadium, the Sun Devils edged Kansas 24-17 behind a defense that kept producing answers, from Hyrum Vaeonos 77-yard fumble return to the turnover pressure created by linebacker Owen Long.
For a team still settling into conference play, the result carried real weight beyond the novelty of playing in London. It was Arizona States first Big 12 win, pushing the Sun Devils to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the league, and it came in a game where the defensive effort was the difference long before the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona State Just Opened Big 12 Play With A Grit Fans Will Love
Arizona State opened Big 12 play in a way Sun Devils fans will appreciate, leaning on defense and special teams to outlast Kansas 24-17 in the inaugural Union Jack Classic in London. Even while being outgained in total offense, the Sun Devils kept finding answers, forcing three turnovers and making enough high-leverage plays to stay in control of a game that never really felt comfortable.
Linebackers Owen Long and Martell Hughes were central to that effort, helping set the tone for a unit that refused to break when the Jayhawks pressed. Jaren Hamilton gave the performance an extra jolt with a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown, the kind of explosive play that can swing a game and, in this case, helped Arizona State leave London with a statement win to start conference play. [Read more 🡒]