Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham isn’t making excuses ahead of Saturday’s historic Big 12 matchup against Kansas in London, but he also isn’t thrilled with how the schedule played out leading into the game.
Kansas played Missouri last Friday night in Lawrence, giving the Jayhawks an extra day before making the trip overseas. Arizona State, meanwhile, played Texas A&M on Saturday in College Station before traveling directly from Texas to London.
Dillingham pointed to that difference Tuesday while discussing the challenges of preparing for the first major college football game at Wembley Stadium.
“You don’t expect the scheduling to be different when you schedule a game like this, but at the end of the day it is what it is,” Dillingham said. “There are no excuses; you either get it done or you don’t get it done.”
Dillingham said teams playing in unique international games should ideally have similar schedules the previous week, calling it essentially an “unwritten rule.”
The Sun Devils faced a difficult decision after Saturday’s 48-20 loss to Texas A&M: immediately head overseas or return home and potentially sacrifice valuable practice time during the week. Arizona State chose to go directly to London.
Dillingham also acknowledged there is “zero advantage” from a football standpoint to playing a Week 3 game internationally, but said he wanted his players to have the opportunity to experience London.
The unusual travel situation is one of the biggest wild cards surrounding Saturday’s game, as we noted in our Kansas vs. Arizona State prediction, pick and preview.
Both teams enter the matchup looking to bounce back from Week 2 losses as Big 12 play gets underway at Wembley Stadium.
