It took three different quarterbacks, fourth touchdowns from a freshman tailback and a couple defensive stops for ASU to find the win column, but a victory is a victory nonetheless for the Sun Devils.
Now at 4-3 and 2-2 in conference, ASU prepares for a Halloween trip to Provo, taking on No. 2 BYU-who fell to unranked UCF on the road in double overtime earlier today.
Back on the right side of the scoreboard, many questions still circle ASU head football coach Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State: How will they handle freshman QB Jake Fette going forward? What is Mikey Keene's diagnosis? Where does the offense go from here?
Here is everything Dillingham had to say after the home game vs. Kansas State:
Will Jake Fette Be The Starter at BYU?
Yes, he (Fette) will be the guy next week. I mean, we'll see what happens with Mikey, and we haven't got all that setback. So, maybe I spoke too soon, but I would anticipate that."
The Decision To Bring In Freshman QB Jake Fette:
"We just wanted some energy. We felt like there was a lull, and you could see what the guys on the sideline (were) like. We're a team that we can't get into those lulls, right? We can be suffocated by them at times. So I thought Jake...Jake's got that look in his eye. Jake's got the swagger, the confidence when he moves around. So I think we just wanted the spark there with Jake. We already all know how good of a player Jake is, you just want to do everything you can to protect really good freshmen at the quarterback position. You never want to put them in a position that can ruin them, which sometimes you can do to."
Thoughts On Freshman RB Cardae Mack's Four Touchdown Day:
"He keeps showing up every day to work. Great energy, keeps showing up. (Freshman DL) Julian Hugo, as well. We're playing some freshmen here that are playing good football. I think we've got a lot of guys or a good amount of guys in there that are young bucks that are making an impact early. I said this the other day, but in media a week or two ago, I think that trend's going to continue the longer, we're here and you know there's support and people are excited, and we can recruit at a high level because there's an awesome fan base who's cheering for our guys and celebrating for our guys. That recruits look at and say, "Man, I want to be a part of that that culture." The longer we have that, the better players we're going to get, like those guys, and the better freshmen we're going to get. We're going to get kids who choose to be Sun Devils for the right reasons through the highs and the lows, and they're going to be Sun Devils."
Number Of Reps Fette Had In Practice To That Point?
"Under 10...(he's a) gunslinger."
Texas Tech Lost, BYU Lost, The Big 12 Is Opening Up...Is ASU Back in the Race?
"I'm not worried about that. I worry about our football team getting better because we played better tonight. We played with better energy, but we can still keep getting better. I thought we did get better, and I think that's the goal of football, right? Is to just get better, and you can't get worried about what other people say. You just got to go to work, and like Steve Nash said, whether you shoot 20% that night or 80%, you show up in the morning and you do your same processes. That's it, and repeat."
Thoughts on Another Big Day From WR Reed Harris:
"He's a superstar. Shows up every day with smile on his face, with a great attitude to get better, and he does that, and he keeps making plays in games because that's what he does in practice, and nothing really rattles him. He's the definition of consistency, and I'm glad we have him."
What Did You See From The Defense Today?
"Played man coverage, made people win. They were getting us with some curl flat there on some second and longs, third and mediums, and that we kind of got attacked by that quite a bit. But we challenged people and put a lot of man coverage and had really sound run fits. The game's not hard. Know where to fit, tackle the person, cover the person. If you get beat, you get beat. Tackle them, go to the next play, and we had I think three, two or three pass interferences in the game, and that's fine. It's going to happen when you play challenging defense. You can't get upset with that. You've got to say, okay, if those are their plays, if their big plays, our PIs, yeah, we don't want to do that. But the same token, it's better than free access, 15-yard comebacks. So I think we challenged them. We committed to it. I think the guys in the back end held up, and then I thought we had great fits, and we made the tackles."
Prep week for Dillingham and the Sun Devils kicks off on Monday, with Dillingham set to talk to the media again to open up the week before a Halloween meeting with BYU.
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