Kenny Dillingham Talks About Offensive Struggles, London Recaps and Injury Updates in BYE Week Press Conference

"I'd be fired up to go back (to London)," ASU head football coach Kenny Dillingham said. "I'll be tired again, but I don't care."

ASU's HC may have a future return trip to England on his mind, but for this week, there's nothing on the schedule. The Sun Devils get their lone BYE week of the season before nine straight games.

This week gives ASU to rest and recover from a chaotic two-week stretch of travel and football, but also allows Dillingham and Co. to dissect what needs to change when ASU returns to the field.

Here is what Dillingham had to say in his Tuesday press conference in Tempe:

Rest, Recover & Reload

"Unlike a normal bye where we get a lot of work in and where we, on the football field, I would say we correct a ton of issues and do a ton of work to correct," Dillingham said. "This is more, let's get back to a normal status post-trip, because it does take time to get back."

ASU's bye week will be quiet for the most part: Day off Tuesday, light one-hour practice Wednesday, hard practice on Thursday and then the weekend off.

While it is nice to have the extra week to return to reality post-London, it may hurt ASU in the long run, playing nine straight games from Oct. 3 to Nov. 28.

"I can't bring these guys back with their body clocks all messed up and say, let's go have a 22-period practice, right?" Dillingham said. "That's not smart, especially with nine weeks straight."

An Offensive Overlook

"We've got to figure out a way to get more of the wideouts involved in the offense."

Dillingham's message about the state of the receiving room echoed perhaps the loudest in his Tuesday quotes, addressing an offensive unit that left much to desire in London.

Some of that blame was tossed on Dillingham's situational playcalling. A 17-point lead in the second half had the fourth-year head coach calling a more conservative game.

That being said, Dillingham would go on to grade himself quite poorly in terms of squeezing the most out of this roster.

"We have enough guys who can help us. And like I said, I've done a very, very bad job offensively getting guys involved."

One of those guys included Omarion Miller, who has been a topic of conversation in terms of where he stands in the ASU offensive picture after two quiet weeks.

Miller was put on some "home run"-esque routes in London, compared to his workload against Texas A&M, but it never materialized. Dillingham puts his hand up for that as well.

"Week two at A&M we threw a few more to him and then we said, okay, we got to get him down the field and we didn't get him down the field this last game. We just didn't connect," Dillingham said. "We threw him an out on third down, field out. So he ran field out, boundary option, field glance, field slot post, field home run post. So I mean he was kind of doing it all throughout the game. Like I said, we never got in a rhythm and that's my fault."

Dillingham will now have two weeks to try and find that rhythm, ahead of Week 4's clash against Baylor.

Special Teams, Special Players

CKD spoke on what was arguably the most influential unit of the Kansas victory: Special Teams.

From allowing a punt return touchdown in the first half to running one back themselves on a kick return to open the second, special teams had a major impact on the first-ever Union Jack Classic.

"We had five guys down there and we just didn't leverage the ball correctly," Dillingham said about Kansas's punt return TD. "When things like that happen and two guys make the same mistake, I always look at did we practice that in practice or did we just jog, after 10 yards, we jog to the ending. Well, maybe we need to line up at the end of a punt and sprint to the leverages more."

Following the miscue that led to a Jayhawk touchdown, the ASU special teams unit was just about flawless. Beginning with a pinned punt that started KU inside the one, leading to a poor punt from the Jayhawks that set up ASU's touchdown to Reed Harris just before halftime.

"We had a punt at the end of the half, which got us seven points because we pinned him. We averaged over 40 yards in the punt game, including pin punts. We almost had another one down at the inch (line).

The improved play is promising, but the allowed punt return TD to Kansas and a muffed punt against Texas A&M still stick out in Dillingham's mind.

"We've got to fine-tune every detail. Kickoff was clean. Kickoff return, we got a return. So I think we're very close. That's trending in a good direction, even though we've had two catastrophic plays, which can't happen. Other than those two catastrophic plays, we've been pretty good."

Dilly Details

- Dillingham confirmed that TE Khamari Anderson will be OUT for the rest of the season.

- Despite pinning blame on himself for offensive struggles, Dillingham says he is not concerned about the unit.

- Dillingham was asked about "unsung heroes" on the team so far: mentioned DLs Jalen Thompson and Zach Swanson, D-Line altogether, DBs Ashton Stamps and Rodney Bimage Jr.

- Dillingham and Co. plan to use this week for recruiting as well.

- With Anderson out, tight ends need to help ASU run the football, on top of the screen game, play action game opening up off of it.

- Spoke kindly of Jared Hamilton, following his big kickoff TD: "Jaren has grown up a lot in the last year." "Jaren is one of my favorite guys."

- "We have a good football team. There is zero doubt in my mind that we have a good football team."

Dillingham will speak at the Sparky Den Radio Show on Wednesday, before practices later in the week. He will then return to the press conference podium at the beginning of next week ahead of Week 4's date with Baylor.

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