“Excuses are like buttholes. Everybody has them and they all stink.” That’s how Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham summed up his team’s wild travel hurdles and their impressive 26-13 thrashing of Central Florida on the road in Big 12 play this past Saturday, November 14. After a cross-country travel nightmare, Dillingham made it crystal clear: nobody cares about your problems, they care about results.
FAA Ground Stoppage Throws Game Into Chaos
This wasn’t just a regular road trip for the Sun Devils. They got hit with a nationwide ground stoppage by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that messed with a ton of college football teams heading to their Week 11 games. For Arizona State, it meant their flight from Tempe to Orlando was delayed until Saturday, November 14, the very day they were supposed to play. Talk about an already tough cross-country trip getting even tougher.
The game, originally set for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff, got pushed back two hours to 5:30 p.m. ET. Even with the delay, the team still had to catch a brutal 6 a.m. flight to Orlando. Imagine trying to get 105 college kids organized for a pre-dawn flight after what was essentially a late Friday night in Tempe, all while knowing you’ve got a Big 12 road game hours later. That’s a recipe for disaster for most teams.
Zero Complaints, All Execution
But Dillingham wasn’t having any of it. He hammered home his philosophy: “At the end of the day you’re going to take the field, for 60 minutes, and play a football game. You’re either going to get it done or you’re not. Nobody’s going to care what the circumstance was, because nobody cares about circumstances. They care about results.” And his team absolutely backed him up.
The coach praised his squad for not just handling the adverse conditions, but for taking personal responsibility to make the travel smooth. He pointed out that he let the 105 college players stay in their own rooms the night before the game, a pretty unique move given the circumstances. Yet, every single player was in their seat at 5:54 a.m., six minutes early. “Talk about a good sign,” Dillingham said. “And when I saw that happened, I was like, ‘OK. It’s Friday night in Tempe. It’s the most unique thing that could happen. And we got everybody, (every) person six minutes early, ready to rock, at 5:54 a.m. Zero complaints from our football team.’”
That’s the kind of mentality that translates into wins, especially when everything else is falling apart around you. The Sun Devils didn’t just win; they proved that excuses are exactly what Dillingham said they are. They showed up early, shut up, and played ball.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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