Jeff Sims Discusses Final Home Game, Arizona Rivalry, More
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TEMPE -- Arizona State starting quarterback Jeff Sims spoke to media following Tuesday's practice ahead of the final regular season game - Sims discussed playing in his final home game, the rivalry with Arizona, and more.
To watch the full availability, view below.
Below is a partial transcript of Kenny Dillingham's Monday press conference ahead of the rivalry game.
On Arizona Matchup
“Yeah, it's awesome. It's awesome to have this game being played with two really good football teams. I think there's five teams that have eight wins in our league. Potentially, I thought I saw something like that. Maybe there's a six, but other was five at this point, two of them were playing in a robbery game. And I think that's what you want. You know, you want to play this game to matter, and it's awesome that it matters.”
On Territorial Cup Memories
“You know, I don't know if I have anything specific otherwise, other than, like, I think about it and Thanksgiving kind of go together. Like, when I think about Thanksgiving, I also think about, like, the territorial cup, and that they just kind of go together. So it's almost like, you know, the holidays, like the territorial cup is, you know, you get together with your family, you eat Thanksgiving, you eat leftovers, and you watch the Territorial Cup.”
On Arizona’s 2025 Team
“I mean, they're playing very, very good football, if not, you know, top two football in our league. I mean, they're playing as good a football our league as anybody right now. And you know, the thing about them is they won 10 games two years ago. Their quarterback is the same quarterback. Their free safety was the most valuable player in their defense is the same kid, like they have another dB who is the same starter, who's been there forever.
They have the core of that team is still there. So there's not it's not a shock that they're having this amount of success. It's that same group and that same core of kids who have stayed there through and through, and they've been loyal to the program, stayed sure to the program, and now they're playing really good football. And I really think it's because that core and that group of people are still there from that team, and that they're doubling down and people are out and behind them.”
On Plan of Attack vs Colorado
“Yeah, I think every game and every game and every game plan is a little bit different, you know. So I think that game plan, we felt like, you know, the way they play defense, that we could run the ball with our running backs a little bit more, and we needed to be able to run the ball with our backs a little bit more. And that showed up in the game, you know, you know, relief obviously, have an unbelievable game. So I think it was more just the game plan and what we were seeing and how we wanted to attack.”
On Mindset Heading Into Final Game
“It's a one game season. That's what I told him that in the locker room after Colorado was this a one game season, and we finished the regular season 8-3 we get the bonus game right here, and then whatever's after that, but that's how I view it. And so I think our guys are excited. You know, it sucks that we got in at 2:30am on a short week, because we still gave the guys off on pretty much Sunday just because of getting in at 2:30 you know, you don't want to really bring those guys back up and practice. So I told them, you know, we're probably behind a day on them based off the scheduling already on a short week.”
Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on major takeaways from the Sun Devils’ convincing win over Colorado in week 13 here.
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.