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Arizona State football looking for spark before Texas Tech game

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Arizona State football looking for spark before Texas Tech game

Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham knows his team has talent. It’s the spark that might be missing.

The Sun Devils rebounded from a blowout loss to Baylor with a win over Hawaii, which was rather underwhelming.

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The Sun Devils (3-2, 1-1) now trek to Lubbock, Texas, for a showdown against reigning Big 12 Conference champion Texas Tech (5-0, 2-0), which also comes in ranked ninth in one national poll and 10th in the other.

Looking at game film, Dillingham doesn’t see the passion, which has been a trademark of past teams.

“I want our football team, when people turn on the tape, I want the opposing coach to describe us as playing with passion and energy,” he said. “(Texas Tech) Coach (Joey) McGuire can go in there and show clips of us and say, ‘Listen, this team plays physical, and this team plays hard.’ And he’s lying to himself. That’s not what the tape shows.

“We can be that, but that’s not who we are right now.”

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Arizona State football faces Hawaii in final nonconference game

Arizona State’s Kyan McDonald (21) celebrates a third-quarter interception against Hawai’i at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on Oct. 10, 2026.

(Nickolas Montei/Special for The Republic)

Dillingham said it is a fixable issue. He is just looking for which button to push to bring that out in his players.

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“The thing that we’re not is something that we can make a change in any waking moment we choose,” Dillingham said. “All we gotta do is say yes. That’s it. As a whole football team, say yes. This is who we’re gonna be. But right now we’re not, and that’s the thing that excites me. That’s why I have so much frickin passion and frustration and excitement.

“We can do it. I have to figure out a way to get them to flip that switch on. Right now it’s flickering. Why isn’t it working? Why is it flickering? How do we get it to stop flickering? That’s the challenge I have.”

He said the spark in freshman running back Cardae Mack and freshman defensive lineman Julian Hugo. He wants to see it from others too.

“You saw Cardae out there; you saw passion. You saw Julian out there. Juice and passion,” Dillingham said. “There was some juice and passion out there from the young guys that I really enjoyed, but we as a football team have to figure that piece out.”

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More Sun Devils: ASU football showed improvement. Here’s what we saw

Dillingham also referred to “drastic” changes as to how the team will practice this week, but didn’t divulge any specifics.

No doubt Texas Tech will have some extra motivation. The Red Raiders were ranked No. 7 in the country last year before the teams played in Tempe, with the Sun Devils pulling off one of the season’s biggest upsets, 26-22.

Like in that game, the Sun Devils will be a double-digit underdog. Dillingham understands that. He said the film doesn’t lie.

“If we don’t find it, people are going to have to go back to old film to try and motivate them to play us,” Dillingham said. “And right now I can guarantee you, people are going back to old film to try and tell their guys, this is what they’re about. We need it to be where they’re watching our current film. They’re watching right now, and we got to get teams to watch our current stuff. Not what we were, not the ghost of the past, the right now.”

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Linemen to return

The Sun Devils should be bolstered by the return of two starting offensive linemen this week. Dillingham said right guard Wade Helton and center Tana Ala-Tupuola will both be ready to play against the Red Raiders.

Helton has missed three games due to an ankle injury sustained in the second game of the season at Texas A&M. He returned to practice last week but did not play against Hawaii.

Alo-Tupuola started the first four games but missed the Hawaii game for what Dillingham termed “personal reasons.”

Players honored

Two ASU players have earned Big 12 honors for their performances in the 30-12 win over Hawaii. Linebacker Owen Long was named Defensive Player of the Week while running back Cardae Mack was named Freshman of the Week.

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The honor was the second this season for Long, who has three consecutive double-digit tackle games. He had 10 total tackles to lead an ASU defense that held the Warriors to 12 points, 64 rushing yards and a 7-of-19 conversion rate on third downs. Long is five tackles shy of 250 for his career and ranks in the top 15 among all active FBS players.

Mack had 13 carries for 154 yards and two touchdowns on his 19th birthday. The highlight was a 67-yard scamper into the end zone in the third quarter. He rushed for the most yards by an Arizona State freshman since Keegan Herring ran for 197 yards in 2005.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football looking for spark before Texas Tech game

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