TEMPE – When a player publicly announces to local media before a game that his team is going to “come in and take over their trap,” as Kansas State offensive lineman Dylan Villarouel did, the natural inclination is to take offense.
However, considering the recent results for Arizona State, who, in its previous three games, suffered two defeats by 28 or more points, it wasn’t an outlandish assumption to make at the time.
Kansas State starting OL Dylan Villarouel on ASU: “…respectfully, we’re going to come in and take over their trap.” https://t.co/bCJikuXQ5N
— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) October 24, 2026
ASU had been pushed around, battered and left on the mat. It’s a position that the Sun Devils had to learn to embrace.
“I think they feel a little bit disrespected,” Dillingham said of his team. “It’s fair. It’s not a false disrespect. It’s real. We’ve earned that. … Now we’ve got to respond from it.”
On Saturday afternoon, ASU finally dusted themselves off and punched back against a Big 12 opponent, defeating K-State 28-17 at Mountain America Stadium.
After the game, Arizona State players acknowledged that they heard the talk from the Wildcats’ side. When the topic of the KSU offensive lineman’s comments came up, grins stretched across the faces of junior linebacker Martell Hughes and freshman running back Cardae Mack.
“We just had to take it to the chin and just show up on Saturday as proof that we’re good as a team,” Hughes said.
Throughout the past year and a half, ASU hasn’t been a home underdog all that much. Sure, last season against then-No. 7 Texas Tech, it went in as more of a long shot, but to not be favored over an unranked team at home without their starting quarterback?
It signaled an outside belief that the program had taken a sharp decline. And, while it may be warranted, it’s forced the team to lean on each other to get through the rough patch.
“It’s just us,” Dillingham said. “We’re all we got, and we’re all we need.”
His words were exemplified late in the first half, when starting sixth-year quarterback Mikey Keene went down with an apparent lower-body injury.
A murmur fell over the crowd when he didn’t get up off the ground. It was quickly pierced by jeers from boo birds and chants of “We want Fette” when sophomore quarterback Cutter Boley jogged onto the field, much to the dismay of Dillingham. On ASU’s radio broadcast, he called out the actions of his fans before heading to the locker room.
“I’m always going to defend our players,” Dillingham said. “Don’t boo. My players are first. … It’s me and my team versus everybody against us.”
Once Boley took over under center, the boos continued until finally Dillingham decided to make a quarterback change, inserting freshman Jake Fette into the game. The move helped spark a fourth-quarter comeback for the Devils, who rattled off 14 straight points to end the game.
“We just wanted some energy. We felt like there was a lull,” Dillingham said. “You could see it with the guys on the sideline.
“Jake’s got the swagger, the confidence when he moves around, and so I think we just wanted the spark there with Jake.”
In the past few weeks, fans have called out the perceived energy that the Sun Devils have played with. While Fette’s debut certainly helped trigger an infusion of energy into the team, Mack believes that the team has taken strides to increase its intensity at practice, which helped produce more energy on the sideline against the Wildcats.
“Just creating more competition in practice and around the guys, showing that we actually want to be here,” Mack said of why the Sun Devils had more energy.
Dillingham has also taken his fair share of blame for the Sun Devils’ struggles and perceived lack of intensity. After recent losses, the fiery fourth-year coach continually vowed that he would solve ASU’s issues, even admitting that he nearly broke his hand by slamming a wall on one instance trying to rally his team.
Yet, as Dillingham came to learn, sometimes less is more.
On Saturday night, Dillingham made a 180-degree flip on his approach. He appeared calmer, at least more than he has with past teams, letting his players generate the juice on the sideline. Amid mounting pressure generated after losses, Dillingham has learned that he doesn’t always have to be the hype man, especially when the players have plenty of external noise to use as fuel.
“I’ve been on it with getting us to play harder and play better, and I feel like I created a pressure to not play loose and free and play their own style of play,” Dillingham said. “Some teams want me to be fiery and passionate, and other teams need me to be a little bit calmer. … I think I was creating more stress with my passion and energy.”
ASU will look to keep its momentum going when it heads up to Provo to take on No. 2 BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium next Saturday at 12:30 MST.
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