Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham shows true class with post-game gesture after Peach Bowl loss

Kenny Dillingham wasn’t about to let his players walk off the Peach Bowl field Wednesday and hang their heads after a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Texas.

Dillingham circled back to midfield and made sure to gather up as many Sun Devils he could and shake the Longhorns’ hands.

“You lost the game. Doesn’t mean you just get to leave. You shake hands. It’s what you do. That’s sportsmanship,” Dillingham said. “So nothing more. If we would have won, you shake the team’s hand. You lose, you go out there, and it’s not fun, but that’s part of life.”

Dillingham said before Wednesday’s Peach Bowl that his team was playing with house money. Nobody picked the Sun Devils to win the Big 12, much less make it to the College Football Playoffs this season.

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Arizona State dug itself out of a 16-point hole against Texas and put up a hellacious fight before falling 39-31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Running back Cam Skattebo was named the Peach Bowl MVP despite his team coming up short. Skattebo tallied up 284 yards by running, catching and throwing the football and living up to all that he was advertised.

Sam Leavitt said he would prove who the best quarterback was in a battle against UT’s Quinn Ewers. Leavitt completed 24 of 46 passes for 222 yards and ran for a stunning 16-yard gain on third-and-14 in the first overtime.

But Leavitt also threw the game-ending interception to UT’s Andrew Mukuba, who read and jumped the route near the sideline.

“Coach Dillingham’s got the longest future in coach history, I promise,” Skattebo said, sitting next to Leavitt. “This kid next to me, he’s going to play on Sundays. I’m going to play on Sundays. Us three right here, we’ve got a long life ahead of us. This is just the beginning for us.”

Arizona State finished the season with a 11-3 mark, and there’s little doubt Dillingham’s team will not be overlooked in 2025.

“At the end of the day, the best team is the team that that wins football game, bottom line,” Dillingham said. “And that’s a really good football team we faced. That’s one of the best teams in the country. They’ve built that thing over four years to get to where they’re at. And I have the utmost respect for Sark and that entire football team, and I know our team does as well, because that was a battle.

“But when you look at it, did we belong in the field? I think a lot of people were questioning that, and I don’t think any person questions if we belonged on the field.

“Now, there are no moral victories when the season ends,” Dillingham added. “There’s no such thing. This should hurt. This should be painful. The locker room is dreadful right now, and it should be, if it wasn’t, something would be wrong.”