From Tempe to Lubbock: A weekend with Sun Devil Football

LUBBOCK, Texas — It was Monday afternoon, five days before the Arizona State Sun Devils would play Texas Tech in their inaugural Big 12 game, and the meaning was not lost on coach Kenny Dillingham.

“This will go down in history,” Dillingham told reporters. “There’s only one game that’s a first, and very few times in sports do you get to accomplish a first.”

To chronicle that first, ASU News joined the Sun Devils on their trip last weekend, to get a behind-the-scenes look before and after the game.

Come join us. Come and share history.

Check-in for the charter flight passengers begins at the north end of Mountain America Stadium. Five buses that will carry ASU’s players, coaches, university staff, sponsors and donors to Sky Harbor International Airport are lined up outside.

ASU Athletics Director Graham Rossini, wearing a sport coat, slacks and a white button-down shirt, greets everyone with a handshake or a fist bump. He gets it: Part of his job is public relations, to make everyone feel welcome and important.

At about 12:30 p.m. the players begin to board the busses, but not before they choose either a steak or chicken bowl from WaBa Grill and a variety of smoothies from Smoothie King.

Food, as it turns out, is an essential part of taking 70 growing young men to play a football game. Each passenger on the flight is handed a bag that includes a sub sandwich, chips, pretzels, fruit snacks, beef jerky and a bottle of water.

Then, a few minutes after the American Airlines flight departs, flight attendants pass out cookies, chips and fruit.

If there’s a word to describe the charter flight, it’s convenience. When passengers check in at the stadium, their bags are taken and placed on their assigned bus. The busses, led by a police escort, drive onto the tarmac at Terminal 3 and park next to the plane, and boarding begins immediately.

The 180-person traveling party includes three donors and two corporate sponsors, the trip a perk for their continued financial support of the athletic department.

“I do believe it’s probably the premier experience you can have as a supporter,” says Bo Moos, who joined the Sun Devil Club as assistant athletic director for development in 2021.

“It’s just a great way to spend time with everybody who’s involved with ASU,” says former student and longtime donor Travis Leach, who’s on the trip. “They obviously take care of us, but we also see how they take care of the other fans and the kids. “That’s what is really encouraging.”

At 2:05 p.m., wheels are up. Lubbock awaits.

The traveling party is dropped off at the Hilton Garden Inn. It will be a quiet night for the players. They have study hall, chapel for those who want to attend and, of course, dinner.

As the players disperse to their rooms, Bryan McGinnis, ASU’s assistant athletic director for football operations, hangs back in the hotel lobby.

McGinnis and Mike Chismar, ASU’s longtime senior associate athletic director for operations and facilities, are responsible for the logistics of every road trip.

The planning starts in January, when the Big 12 conference schedule is released. The hotels that McGinnis contacts — “we call around in each city to hotels where most teams stay,” McGinnis said — receive ASU’s list of specifications and bid to host the traveling party.

Charter flights are booked with American Airlines, which has a multiyear partnership with ASU. Then, each week, the list of people going on the trip — from student personnel to equipment personnel, team doctors, etc. — must be determined. Even the players can change week to week because only 70 can travel to conference road games.

“We have a lot of meetings to follow up on every detail,” McGinnis said. “This week, we had a conference call with the charter coordinators to make sure we’re dialed in with the plane, we had a conference call with the stadium game operations people so we could tell them what time we’re arriving and what we need, we had a conference call with the hotel, and we had an internal meeting with all the people who touch travel to go over all the logistics and make sure we know who’s doing what, where and when.”

Because it’s a charter flight, ASU even has to submit its manifest to the Department of Homeland Security 48 hours prior to the trip.

“We have to tell them how much weight is going under the plane, the average number of bags, where everyone is sitting, even body weights calculated,” McGinnis said. “There’s a lot that goes into it.”

As McGinnis is talking, Dillingham briskly walks to the elevator, his dinner wrapped up in a plastic bag.

The game will start in 18 hours. There’s still time to watch more film.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

One noticeable and immediate difference in Big 12 travel compared to Pac-12 travel?

Hotel accommodations.

When the Sun Devils traveled to Los Angeles or Seattle or the Bay Area, they stayed in large hotels with plenty of conference room space for meetings and the game-day walk-through.

But in Lubbock, at the smaller Hilton Garden Inn, the walk-through takes place in the parking lot behind the hotel. Defensive coordinator Brian Ward and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo put their respective units through the paces while Dillingham, dressed in maroon slacks, looks on.

Two of the buses that will take the team to Jones AT&T Stadium are lined up at the parking lot exit so any bystanders passing by won’t be able to see what’s going on.

At 11:07 a.m. the walk-through ends, and the offense and defense have their “last clap.” At 11:57 a.m., the buses leave for the stadium.

The opportunity for ASU to start the season 4-0 awaits.

Having finished their pre-game warmup, the Sun Devils walk up a long tunnel toward their locker room. As they get to the top of the tunnel, team trainers are imploring the players to hydrate and handing out water, Powerade or pickle juice.

The players settle into folding chairs in front of their lockers. Some are quiet. Others, like running back Cam Skattebo, are bopping their heads and singing as YoungBoy’s “In Control” blares through the room.

At 2:25 p.m., Dillingham walks around the room, clapping his hands and exhorting his players. When he sees left tackle Josh Atkins he says, “Let’s get it. Dominate up front.”

But it’s not Dillingham who gives the pre-game speech. Instead, it’s safety Xavion Alford.

“First Big 12 game. Another chance to make history,” Alford shouts. “Let’s go make a statement today. Put four quarters of hardball together. Not one. Not two. Every play, every quarter.

“All we gotta do is focus on us. Let’s make a statement to the world. Last in the conference (referring ASU picked to finish last in the Big 12)? Let’s go show the world they’re wrong.”

The Sun Devils slowly walk off the field, their jerseys stained with grass, their thoughts on the 30-22 loss. But before they can get to the tunnel and up to the locker room, they see a familiar face.

Alford slaps every player’s hand as they pass by. Few words are exchanged. None are needed. It’s the gesture that’s important.

Dillingham waits at the entrance to the locker room. He doesn’t want to start his postgame speech until every player is inside.

When the entire team is gathered, he’s short and to the point. He tells the players they lost the game in all three phases — offense, defense, special teams — but one game does not extinguish the hope that was created by the 3-0 start.

A few minutes later, in his press conference, Dillingham once more laments the loss but also puts the season into perspective. ASU is 3-1. A bye awaits, and then two home games.

“Everybody should feel absolutely miserable for two weeks. I know I will,” he says. “But we’re not in a bad spot.”

The players quickly shower, leave the locker room with a box of food from Jimmy John’s cradled in their hands, and spend a few minutes talking with family and friends gathered at a chain link fence.

At 7:12 p.m., just one hour and six minutes after the game ended, the five buses are on their way to the Lubbock airport.

Rossini, seated in Bus 5, is disappointed in the outcome but not the weekend. He’s focused on the bigger picture.

"We’ve been preparing for our transition to the Big 12 since the summer of 2023, and our trip to Texas Tech marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Sun Devil Athletics,” Rossini says. “We're eager to showcase ASU across the national footprint of the conference.

“The incredible turnout of Sun Devils in Lubbock shows that our fans are ready to embrace these new cities and towns across the Big 12. I want to give a special thanks to our amazing support staff, who make moving such a large operation on every road trip look seamless, all while providing our coaches and student-athletes with a first-class experience."

Thirty hours after leaving campus, the Sun Devils return home. In the quiet and dark of the night, the players gather their overnight bags, get into their cars and drive away.

The trip didn’t end the way they wanted.

But it was a beginning.

The beginning of their Big 12 journey.