Kenny Dillingham Shares His Thoughts on Rich Rodriguez and the Mountaineers

The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-6, 2-5) are on the road to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils (6-3, 4-2). Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. EST and the action will be televised on TNT and stream on HBO MAX.

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham met with the media on Monday and gave his thoughts on the upcoming matchup against the Mountaineers.

The difference between the two run games

“Their defense is going to face some of that. What we did was a little different, there are big zone reads, counter reads, and flat mesh read teams. We were more direct run last week. There wasn't a read, it was catch and run, when you do that it's more of a math problem. When you're in the zone read game, it's more schemes and in numbers advantage and triple option based, so they're a little bit different philosophically, but the premise of it is the same. It's one extra person, Coach Rodriguez is a guy that I've studied for a long time. Dating back to when I was a high school coach out here and he was the head coach in the state, and he did a phenomenal job down there. He won a lot of football games, so for us this is a really good challenge, and his team plays really hard. They're on a two-game win streak, they could very well be on a three game win streak. This is a team that's getting better and better.

Thoughts on Rich Rodriguez’s career

“I think Rich Rod's coached in a lot of places, so he’s kind of been all over the country. I think the one thing that I admire about him is that his team plays really hard. They play tough, physical, and they know who they are. They're going to fire off the ball and double team your three technique. They have a mindset and a way to play the game that is attacking, being physical and aggressive, and I think that starts with him and every team you've ever watched him coach. They play the game with that level of passion and intensity, and I think that's what I admire about him is the way his teams play. I think anytime that you're a coach and other people can say your teams play hard and physical, I think that's a win, and I think his teams do that.”

Does the WVU rushing attack have similarities to Utah

I wouldn't say it's similar to Utah. I don't know if we faced a team like them, in their scheme yet, it’s a little bit different from that perspective. They successfully run the ball at a high rate and they threw the ball last week at a successful rate.”

The difference between the two run games

Thoughts on Rich Rodriguez’s career

Does the WVU rushing attack have similarities to Utah

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