it's you takes on Mississippi State in 10p this weekend and it is a perfect Benchmark game for Kenny [Music] fillingham you are locked on sundevils your daily podcast on the Arizona State sundevils part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome back to the locked on Sunil podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day my name is Braton I will be your guide for everything Arizona State Sun doubles a special shout out to my everydays who are here every day and thanks for making us your first listen of the day don't forget to hit like hit subscribe and turn on notifications wherever you're getting your show stay in touch by following me on Twitter Richie br36 the podcast at lore sundevils do me a favor if you have not hit subscribe on YouTube yet hit that subscribe button for me we are nearing a thousand followers at a rapid Pace when we get to that Benchmark we'll celebrate together as a channel today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers all of you can bet $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV to check out all those games that are out of Market visit fanduel.com to get started ladies and gentlemen welcome back into today's episode we got to talk about ASU versus Mississippi State we're got to talk about the importance of this game what this game means not only for the season but where you are at as a program under Kenny Dillingham we're going to take a look at how you win this game what you do on offense what you do on defense what you do from a coaching perspective and then end of the show you know what's next what happened after this game win or lose well let's talk about what this game means to start things off first of all ASU has never won an SEC game before fun fact uh if you haven't heard Kenny Dillingham talk about it all week now you know ASU has never won an SEC game before now granted ASU doesn't have a lot on their resume when it comes to playing SEC teams it's not they schedule Alabama and LSU every year but it nonetheless in in a program that has been around since 18 something and has been in a major conference for 70 or 80 years I can't remember when they joined the wack way back when you have not played an SCC team and managed to beat them that will hopefully Chang this weekend and is Mississippi State B no are they Georgia no but Mississippi state is still a quality team in the SEC and they're off to a good start you know they absolutely beat down uh who they play last week Eastern Kentucky 56 to7 the way that they should be they got a brand new quarterback with Blake shapen we'll talk about him more later who had a four touchdown performance for them and racked up almost 300 total yards he's a beast he's a stud they also ran for 203 yards in this game so they're a highly efficient offense in the uh defensive side of the things uh two turnovers and pick six you take that every day of the week this is a quality matchup for ASU this is a quality SEC team an SEC team that should go bowling this year and that's a perfect Benchmark for you this is a Mississippi State program that is going into year two of of course I can't remember their head coach's name I'll look that up right now but they're going in the year two of Jeff lebby or oh it's year one who was their head coach last year man I don't know I guess uh well they're off to a one and0 start under Jeff Levy he previously was an offensive coordinator for Lane kein and for Brent venol at Old Miss and Oklahoma respectively they're off to a good start especially on offense he's a young guy at 40 years old it it's kind of a Kenny Dillingham situation although he's not a Mississippi State Alum that's quite a difference but you're talking about a really young offensive mind who's got a pretty impressive resume that's coming to a program and quickly turning around an offense that frankly wasn't good now last year it was a mess for Kenny Dillingham on offense but you also had suspect play calling and just a ton of injuries at quarterback on the offensive line it was a mess so you can kind of give him a little bit of a pass last week your first game against Mississippi State you you blew up man you recorded where's my total yards here 499 total yards in this game you passed for 241 you ran for H why can't I find it you ran for or you you rush for 241 excuse me and you passed for 258 two rushing touchdowns on the ground to passing touchdowns efficient that's what you're looking for you had a really good game at of Sam levit which we talked about yesterday if you haven't checked out that podcast go ahead and check it out we go through the highs and the lows of Sam levit what he needs to work on all that good stuff levit still looked good the Run game obviously Elite offensive line played a good game you've got several pass catchers who could end up finding really important roles for the team this year so you're you're comparing them to Mississippi State offensive mind and head coaches who are rebuilding their offenses at their respective programs defensively I'm not going to lie I can't tell you too much about Mississippi state's defense obviously they had a very good start to the season uh this uh this past game against Eastern Kentucky as they were absolutely just able to shut down whatever the who are they the I don't know the the colonels interesting they were able to shut down the colonels who had uh 2 95 yards of offense and were only able to manage a uh passing touchdown Which came in the second quarter so they pitched a second half shut out it's a good defense they generated pressure they got the pick six they did their job asu's defense was obviously Elite against Wyoming and they were a terrific defense last year ASU should be ahead of where Mississippi state is but again I couldn't tell you and if you are a Mississippi State fan uh tuning in if you wouldn't mind letting me know about this defense I would appreciate it so I can uh do tomorrow's preview at the best uh potential that I can this is this is a good Benchmark it it's very comparable coaches here it's comparable programs and it's teams that have bowling expectations this year Mississippi State more than ASU but nonetheless you're going to take a look at where ASU was at with this game if you win this game you are ahead of the curve you are making terrific progress and you have been just really taking a big step forward from back toback 3 and N Seasons to starting off the year 2- 0 for the first time since 2021 by the way where ASU went eight and5 they went to a bowl game the Las Vegas Bowl that's that's not bad for for a for a second-year program that's coming off of back toback three- win Seasons again starting a year two and 0 with two wins over FBS teams a Wyoming team that won nine games last year a Mississippi State team that is doing really good progress and again they have bowling expectations you can't ask for much more than that than a two and 0 start to the year that's also going to build confidence for this team moving forward they're going to hit the road for the next two games they got a short week against Texas State then they go to Texas Tech this is not going to be an easy road trip for the team after that you are coming back home you're going to host number 19 Kansas you're going to host number 11 Utah this is a tough slate that's upcoming for Arizona State starting the year 2 and 0 is the kind of confidence Builder that you need to be able to go into this next four game stretch and and have the motivation again have the confidence that you can you can win games here that you're not going to go 0 and four that you can go two- one you can go three and one you can pull off that upset against Kansas or against Utah you just need to be able to go out and execute in this game against Mississippi State it's a perfect Benchmark it's very comparable programs it would be a two and0 start for the first time since 2021 and it's your first SEC win we're going to go ahead and talk about how you win this game coming up on offense on defense and what they need to do coaching this is the locked on subl podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your Team every day you've heard us talk about FanDuel America's number one sports book but we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can make $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV Bas plan you can watch every regular season game Sunday afternoon out of market so if you're a fan of a team on the East Coast this is your chance to give out YouTube TV a try all you need is a Google account a current form of payment you can cancel anytime just visit fanduel.com America's number one Sportsbook wherever you're getting your shows hit like hit subscribe and turn on those notifications so you get an update when we post new content I appreciate you for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day ESP special shout out to my everydays let's go ahead and talk about how ASU can beat Mississippi State this is going to be a team that needs to execute they need to play as perfect as they possibly can if they have a slip up in this game you just need to be able to step up on the other side of the football so if it's big play on defense have the offense answer if it's a turnover by the offense get a three and out Force Force Mississippi State to punt or get a turnover you need to be able to out coach Mississippi State as well I think that's probably the biggest key here is being able to out coach Mississippi State we'll talk about the coaching here in a minute we're going to start with the offense what you need to do to win this game three things first of all run heavy you did it last week look how great you did they spread the football around they got all five of their running backs involved all five of their running backs had at least four carries in this game that includes freshman Jason Brown who was listed as the fourth running back on the step chart Cameron scabo carries the ball 11 times 49 yards in a score Carlos Brooks six times 47 yards in the score real quick you need to get Carlos Brooks double- digit touches in this game six carries and 7.8 yards per carry with a long of 15 chunk play chunk play chunk play he needs the ball double digit times in this game and they need to moving forward because first of all he he was great last year when he was healthy but moving forward for the remainder of the Year D Carlos Brooks needs to be a factor in this running game this is running back two on this team this is a downhill Runner who can set the tone as someone who's just going to run you over there's touchdown potential here D Carlos Brooks needs to be a big part of this but the bottom line is you just need to be run heavy 49 carries as a team last week that does include two sacks it also includes one carry for negative one yards from offensive lineman Kiona Pete it's it's a really good offense it it is it ah I can't talk it's a really good offense when it comes to running the football you also when it comes to passing I want to see you establish a top Target I mentioned again yesterday on Sam lit's uh podcast I want to see Sam levit begin establishing a connection with someone I don't care if it's a wide receiver I don't care if it's a tight end so it can be Shaman mat it can be Jordan Tyson it can be Jake Smith but in this game I think that you need to start having that kind of option in the passing game that you can funnel the ball to Jordan Tyson had four catches for 49 yards last week that is more than quality you will take that moving forward uh Jake Smith three catches 47 yards those two were the only ones with more than two catches in this game and outside of that kaison had two catches Shaman mat had two catches you were able to get the ball to seven different receivers you just spread it out a line and gron you only had 14 completions I just want to see me personally and I said this yesterday as well this is a personal thing I want to see a number one receiver begin to establish himself I'm not asking for Elijah Badger to instantly appear in week two against Mississippi state but I would like to see someone who can be that top option and again it can be a receiver it can be a tight end can be markon Douglas it can be Mel cono ball I just want to see an option in the passing game that's going to prove themselves to be the number one it starts this week hopefully by the end of the month hopefully by the uh time that you finish your uh we we'll say about midseason I I would say by the Utah game I would like to see a number one receiver this is a great game to start taking a look Sam levit keep him upright he he can pass it he's a very Dynam IC Runner as we saw uh hopefully he starts going down a little bit uh Kenny Dillingham says he's not the best slider so if they can just find a way to minimize the hits he takes that's great but when it comes to the pocket you have got to keep him upright ASU for the most part in this past game did a pretty good job in that department only gave up two sacks they they do have some improvement to do I think particularly an offensive tackle where they they're they're figuring stuff out they got depth you've got Josh Atkins you got uh Max ioner you've got EMT bully they've got the depth at offensive tackle they're they're trying to see who works best right now I am the proponent of start your best five ASU is going to take a couple of games to figure that out with the depth that you have it's a great problem that they're facing right now so you just got to keep Lev it uppr right I don't care who your starting five is Mississippi state is a quality team who was able to generate pressure last week against Eastern Kentucky keep him upright this guy can deliver strikes down the field if ASU can take advantage in the passing game you're going to be in a great situation looking at the defense uh speaking of pass rush you need to be able to get home ASU got three sacks last week I thought they should have had more but they still got really good pressure Clayton Smith is a beast Elijah O'Neal is off to a good start for a guy that locked on sun levels is picked to be a breakout this year and Cav and Thunderbird was able to get home from the linebacker spot do not be afraid to Blitz in this game we'll talk about blitzing in a minute I want to see the pass rush absolutely dialed up in this game so whether it's four guys or seven guys you just need to be able to get home and it could look like last week you can have three sacks but if you are able to to make Blake shapen uncomfortable in the pocket force him to make errant throws and hopefully some interceptions that's perfect you also need to be able to take care of this run game again Mississippi state ran for uh 200 and was it 2011 203 yards last week they spread the ball out uh shapen LED them with 44 rushing yards he also took one sack for seven yards uh they gave what is that uh two running backs nine carries one of them eight carries they got four running backs involved this past week so similar to ASU they've got the depth to be able to throw a bunch of those guys in you had 4.4 yards per carry 4.9 4.2 and 5.3 from the four running backs who touched the football a minimum of three times similar to ASU so they're going to run the football in this game you have got to be able to limit the big plays ASU eliminated Wyoming's rushing attack last week it was gone it flat out was not available in this game for the Cowboys keep in mind this is a Cowboys team that is pretty run heavy uh from their from their previous Seasons 32 carries for 40 yards if you you're not keeping Mississippi State under a 100 yards unless the defense is that good and I won't count them out but to be objective you're probably not keeping them under a 100 but if you find a way to keep them under 200 especially or 150 or 120 if you can find a way to get that yards per carry under four if you can hold them out of the end zone your chances for winning this game are going to go up drastically finally you just need to play sharp against Blake shapen that means limiting the big plays that means keeping him uncomfortable in the pocket with that pass rush that means keeping him in front of you when he inevitably takes off as a runner as far as coaching goes Kenny Dillingham slow the game down and maintain the cool calm Collective aura that they had last week against Mississippi State ASU did not commit penalties in this game they had four penalties two of them were delay games that they're disciplined meanwhile Wyoming committed seven penalties they had a couple of person foul penalties because ASU gets in their head they play rough they play tough they talk that is but they're not going to they're not going to instigate stuff if you are able to get under Mississippi state's skin that's that's an outstanding situation for you to be in but Kenny Dillingham needs to make sure that the guys are dialed in the same way they were dialed in against Mississippi State so with the Bulldogs are talking ish if they're committing some late hits or maybe they're just getting a little more aggressive do not instigate do not commit those 15 yard penalties Marcus Royo keep the foot on the pedal with the Run game attack the middle of the field I'm not saying you need to run it 49 times in this game I would ask for at least 25 hopefully 30 or more get the guys involved get scabo get D Carlos Brooks 10 plus carries uh mix it up get kaon out there because he's a beast let see L attack him with his legs on the topic of Sam levit last week he had really good success attacking the middle of the field I don't know what Mississippi state's defense looks like so they may have a different looking defense but with the success that you had attacking the middle of the field short and intermediate I would like to see that again this week have those guys running crossers that are 15 yards deep and just hit them for those pickups see if they can get yards after catch but if you are able to get those chunk plays those 10 to 15 yard completions you're going to really control this game especially with a run game that hopefully will be able to dominate finally Brian Ward I mentioned blitzing that's my key here Blitz Blitz Blitz Blitz Blitz Blitz this game four guys Five Guys six guys seven guys you need Blake shapen as uncomfortable as possible possible for this Mississippi State offense get him off his rhythm try and eliminate him as a runner and hopefully the blitz will be able to help a good secondary play even better and of course trust your linebackers kesan Elliot and zyrus FIU outstanding last week against Wyoming they are already looking like two of the best players on defense trust them to be able to keep up that high level of play I I don't see any reason why they can't do it especially kesan Elliott who may be the best player on this defense in 2024 there there's your keys of Victory on offense on defense and what they need to do coaching what happens next well we're going to talk about if you get a win how that builds the rest of your season or if you get a loss what happens for the rest of the year we'll talk about it in just a moment this is the lock on Sunil podcast part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day I want to talk to you about our friends over at LinkedIn now when you're hiring for your small business you want to find Qualified professionals that are right for the role that's why you need to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the right Professionals for your team faster and for free LinkedIn isn't just another job board to help you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else even those who aren't actively searching for new job but may be open to the perfect role in a given month over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites so if you're not looking on LinkedIn you're looking in the wrong place on LinkedIn 86% of small businesses will get a qualified candidate within 24 hours hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn LinkedIn also knows that small businesses are wearing a lot of hats they might not have the time or the resources to hire which is why LinkedIn is constantly finding ways to make that process easier they even launched a new feature that helps write job descriptions making the process easier and quicker than before two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring post your job for free at linkedin.com locked on colge that's linkedin.com lockon College to Post your job for free terms and conditions apply one more time where you get those shows like subscribe turn on notifications so you get an update when we post new content shout out especially to my every dayers who are here every day make sure you tune in tomorrow we are doing our game Day preview from Mississippi State who needs a step on on offense who needs to step up on defense the the the key players in this game bold predictions and a final score which spoiler alert is going to favor the Sun doubles what happens after this game well if you get a win the obvious is you're two and0 and you're two- 0 for the first time in three seasons that again that season you went eight and five you went to a Bull game a quality Bull game Las Vegas bulll isn't terrible this is the kind of start that really really energizes the fan base izes the team especially with it being two quality opponents Wyoming won nine games last year that is a good non power five football team they were picked to finish sixth in the Mountain West this year they are more than a quality win for you and the way you won even more quality beating Mississippi State another quality game for you more than quality it's an SEC team you've never done it before talk about a statement against a team that is trying to take that next step forward under their head coach the same way that ASU is trying to with Kenny dillam this is also placing you definitively ahead of where you were a year ago last year this is a team that I've said before didn't didn't know how to win they were in a lot of games they almost beat Washington they almost beat Colorado they almost beat Cal they could have beat Oklahoma State that's a seven and five football team the difference is they couldn't finish games they couldn't make the big plays when they needed to make the big plays last week against Wyoming they made those big plays offensively and defensively coaching was terrific pick Marcus a royal was in his back Brian Ward one of the best defensive Minds in college football Kenny Dillingham managed a phenomenal game this is a team that already after one game looks ahead of where they were a year ago they won week one a year ago but it was 2421 to Southern Utah that's not ideal it's two and 0 against Wyoming Mississippi state that obviously you're ahead when it comes to your record from last year but you are just so far ahead as a program at that point you also would need a heat check starting the year two and 0 who is this sunil's team what can they do moving forward can they beat Texas State can they beat miss or not Mississippi State can they beat Texas Tech can they start the year 40 you beat Mississippi State that's a possibility I think I saw earlier this week ASU was now favored in six games I think it was six for betting ODS a team that was picked to finish last in the Big 12 is now favored in six games this year and it might be more you need a heat check if you win this game because you could depending on how you win depending on the confidence level of this team so this is a game you could win by one point you could win by 30 this is still a confidence Builder the the way you win will be important it will it will Propel this program moving forward and you would have a legitimate start or a legitimate chance to start 40 if ASU loses it depends how you lose if you lose by one point or if you lose by 30 but this is bottom line whether you win or lose or not win or lose whether you lose by one or 30 you have failed your benchmark game that that is the bottom line this is a great test to see where ASU was at after thrashing Wyoming following a three and n Season following back to back three nine three and nine Seasons this is your benchmark to start the year you lose this game you are you're just going to be behind the eightball and again depending on how you lose right if you make this a super close game you can still have the confidence that ASU can eek out a couple more wins this year if you're crushed you start to question whether or not ASU was able to play up to competition whether or not ASU similar to last year is capable of winning football games they can get dubs it's a matter of whether or not a game gets close and you can close out and you can secure that win you could have been seven and five last year instead you were three and nine hopefully this team is ahead of that you are also going to have those questions like I said uh just now was your week one blowout over Wyoming a fluke that's that's a serious conversation to have depending on how ASU loses ASU ran for 200 in 43 rushing yards last week they passed for 258 yards this is an offense that was able to do whatever they wanted 241 rushing by the way my mistake they did whatever they want on offense they crush it on defense you didn't give a touch you didn't allow a touchdown until under 30 seconds in the game on a BS drive by Wyoming by the way was it a fluke depending on how you play Mississippi State it might be if this is a 13- 10 game offense might have been a fluke if it's a 31 to3 game defense might have been a fluke if you are blown out defense might have been a fluke and offense might not be able to perform depending on how you lose this game there's going to be questions about how you played in week one finally moving forward we talk about whether or not this team can win we're going to talk about if they can beat quality opponents the rest of the schedule could be FCS opponents you'd still feel confident that ASU could get a winning record at that point but that's not the case because ASU was playing a gauntlet this year after Mississippi State you're playing Texas State Texas Tech Kansas Utah for your next four games you could go 0 and four and no one would bat n you could start the year one and five nobody would be surprised based off the expectations that were placed on Arizona State going into this year it's a possibility and it's a it's a scary possibility for this team if you lose to Mississippi State there's going to be questions about whether or not you're only capable of beating teams that are lesser than you with no offense to you or not Utah with no offense to Wyoming who is a quality team you are not Arizona State talented especially this year are you good enough to beat the teams that are at least your level of competition if you can't beat Mississippi State and again this this is all about how you lose it it truly is if you get crushed you're going to struggle to find two more wins this year if you lose a tight game then you are where you were last year and ASU won three games last year they were in four others right we talked about those four others but they couldn't close it out so if you can't beat Mississippi State you have the same questions that you had a year ago and you start to wonder whether or not ASU is going to take that step forward this year that we are predicting as sundevil fans that they should should be able to take that's where I'm at with Mississippi State that's what this game means to me and that's how you win this game let me know in the comments how you feel about the Mississippi State game are we going to win are we going to lose is it going to be a close game is it going to be a blowout for either side let me know in the comments you can hit me up on Twitter Richie Brads 36 is my at you can hit up the podcast at Lor Sun lels 2 wherever you get your shows hit like hit subscribe turn turn on notifications so you get the update when we post new content I appreciate you guys for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day and ESP special shout out to my every dayers who we here every day tomorrow is Friday which means we are doing our game Day preview for the Mississippi State game looking at offense looking at defense the key players bold predictions and a final score which again spoiler alert may or may not favor the sunnd doubles but we'll talk about it more tomorrow I'll see you then till then you keep it locked right here on locked on sun lels