Liverpool, Man City put on a show, Luis Suarez humbles Barcelona
What a weekend! It feels like we say this every weekend, but it was especially true here. Liverpool and Manchester City put on a show, Atletico Madrid (in particular Luis Suarez) made a statement vs. Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo made a scene after Manchester United‘s frustrating home draw vs. Everton. Elsewhere, Bayern Munich were beaten (but don’t worry), Borussia Dortmund won (and they should worry), Real Madrid lost again and Paris Saint-Germain‘s billion-dollar team was humbled by Rennes.
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It’s Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
Jump to: Liverpool-Man City | Suarez beats Barcelona | Bayern lose | Milan are back! | Real Madrid woe | Ronaldo’s sulking | PSG misfire | Dortmund need a Plan B | Arsenal need time | Lucky Inter | Leverkusen keep rolling | Napoli still perfect | Chelsea’s depth steps up | Locatelli lifts Juve | Son stars for Spurs
Talent runs rampant when Liverpool play Man City
It finished 2-2, but unless you were a fan of either club, the result wasn’t the main thing. What mattered to most neutrals at the final whistle was the spectacle to which we had been treated by Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and their players. From Mohamed Salah‘s goal and weak-foot finish, to the Bernardo Silva run and shimmy that set up Phil Foden amid a crowd of red shirts, there was so much to please the eye.
– Ogden: Liverpool vs. Man City is now a great rivalry
But make no mistake about it, this wasn’t just about entertainment, technical ability unleashed or even the aesthetic smorgasbord it was. This was putting talent at the service of a game plan. Guardiola mixed it up, deploying Jack Grealish at center-forward — almost as if to troll the “recognized striker” brigade. City dominated a first half that finished scoreless, but could easily have seen them a couple goals up at the break. It’s not that Liverpool were poor in the first 45 minutes, it’s just that City were superior by several orders of magnitude.
Then came the break and Liverpool got back into the game, powered by an irrepressible Salah, who set up Sadio Mane‘s goal and then notched his own “Goal of the Season” contender. Both times City equalized, first with Foden, then with Kevin De Bruyne. And then, heading to injury time, came Rodri‘s last-ditch block of Fabinho‘s shot, sealing the 2-2 draw.
View the game strictly through the lens of merit and City deserved three points. Not just for the chances created (Alisson had to make several more super saves, De Bruyne sent a wide open header over the bar), but because James Milner stayed on the pitch rather than being sent off.
Milner was deputising for the unavailable Trent Alexander-Arnold and he had one of the roughest afternoons of his (recent) career, with Foden repeatedly getting away from him. Milner was booked once and he twice escaped an additional booking: once when Foden was through at the edge of the box (referee Paul Tierney didn’t even see a foul) and once when he hacked down Bernardo Silva, who did a 180 in the air and landed, literally, on his head.
Milner is a tremendous professional and a very likeable man whose selflessness and versatility, at age 35, are commendable. But that doesn’t change the fact that he was very lucky not to have been sent off (you hope it was just Tierney getting it wrong rather than some misguided attempt by the referee “not wanting to spoil the game” by keeping it 11 vs. 11). With a man advantage, it would have been hard to see City not taking home all three points. But that’s the sort of cold analysis that doesn’t seem right after what these two teams served up. Better then to talk about the performances.
0:34
Julien Laurens struggles to understand why some fans spoil games of football by abusing or spitting at the opposition.
Liverpool started slow, but reacted well, which is what you expect from teams of this caliber. Alexander-Arnold was missed as was, especially in this sort of game, the calm and quality of Thiago Alcantara. But they were fearless, committed and, crucially, unflustered, even after enduring that rough first half. That’s the sort of quality you see in champions.
As for City, it’s important to put this in context. In the past week they faced Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool — as good a trio of opponents as they’re likely to face this season. They beat Chelsea, lost to PSG and split the spoils with Liverpool, but in each game, they showed the ability to outplay quality opposition for long stretches. And, in a very Pep way, each time they did it with an entirely different look.
At Stamford Bridge, Foden led the line, with Gabriel Jesus and Grealish wide. In Paris, it was Grealish and Riyad Mahrez wide, with Raheem Sterling through the middle. And at Anfield, it was Grealish in the center-forward role, flanked by Foden and Gabriel Jesus. When you can throw so many different looks at the opposition without a drop in performance, you’re on to something special.
It was unmistakable. Having made it 2-0 against his former club, Luis Suarez initially didn’t celebrate — he’d later say it was a mark of respect for Barcelona, where he spent six seasons. Then, as he jogged back, he put his hand to his ear, middle fingers folded in, thumb and pinkie extended in the classic “telephone gesture.” The reference was obvious. It was Ronald Koeman, in the summer of 2020, who told Suarez — then a Barca player — over the course of a two-minute phone call that his services were no longer needed at the club. Not only did Suarez end up leaving for nothing, and joining Atletico, but Barca literally paid him several million just to go away.
It’s obviously not all on Koeman — Barca were (and are) hemorrhaging money, Suarez was on a big contract, the decision was clearly made above the manager’s head — but it was the Dutchman’s voice that Suarez heard on the phone. And that was more than enough.
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Ale Moreno saw nothing from Barcelona to suggest the players ever believed they could beat Atletico Madrid.
In the grand scheme of things, this ignominy is at the bottom of Koeman’s laundry list of problems. It’s not so much the league table — defeat to Atletico leaves them eighth, but if they win their game in hand, they’re fourth — but the Champions League performances (two games, two defeats, zero goal scored and seven conceded) and the one victory in their last six in all competitions. And it’s that intangible sense that the only reason that he’s still in a job is because Barca remain close to insolvency and firing Koeman and hiring a replacement costs money — money they’d rather not spend unless they absolutely have to.
As for the game itself, Koeman’s decisions on Saturday blew up in his face. He stuck the youngster Nico alongside the veteran Sergio Busquets, with Frenkie De Jong out on the right. The idea, you presume, was to slow down Yannick Carrasco, Joao Felix and Thomas Lemar; it did no such thing and, in fact, that’s where Atleti’s first-half goals came from.
Why you would reinvent arguably your most important player in a role he’s never played before is one of the many mysteries of Koeman lore. By the time he fixed it at the break, sending on Sergi Roberto, Atletico were 2-0 up and more than comfortable sitting back.
It’s tough to know where you go from here. There were bright spots that maybe shouldn’t be forgotten. Philippe Coutinho started again and actually looked quite dangerous (though, again, he’s the guy who came off to make way for Ansu Fati with half an hour to go). Fati himself, you hope, will be ready to start after the international break. And sure, this wasn’t a game Barca expected to win (or even get points from), but the sense that Barca don’t score unless Memphis Depay wears his super hero cape, and Barca won’t keep opponents out no matter how many guys Koeman sticks in front of his defence, is hard to shake.
As for Atletico, Simeone deserves a ton of credit both for reading the game correctly — dropping Antoine Griezmann was overdue, but still took courage, as did trusting Joao Felix — and for, lest we forget, generating their first convincing 90-minute performance since August. Yes: between late goals, lucky breaks and refereeing errors, it had been that long since they logged such a comprehensive victory.
Call it the randomness of football. A late Filip Kostic goal meant Bayern were defeated at home by Eintracht Frankfurt. The visitors deserved the win for the intensity, energy and quality they displayed. At the same time, Bayern did not play poorly and, in fact, this game could have gone either way. Yes, both things can be true.
Given the perfectionist Bavarian media, you imagine some will question Julian Nagelsmann’s lack of rotation, or whether Niklas Sule can be an efficient right-back against opponents who sit deep. And sure: when you give up a lead at home and you’re Bayern, there will always be criticism. But as I see it, Kevin Trapp made some unbelievable saves, Bayern created plenty of chances and, as the old cliche goes, the other guys are also trying to win.
So Bayern may as well take it on the chin and move one. As long as it doesn’t become a habit, there’s no reason to be concerned.
Milan’s young guns take down Atalanta as well
Fresh off a crushing — and controversial — Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid, the last team you’d likely want to face are Atalanta and their mile-a-minute intensity, which Pep Guardiola famously compared to a “trip to the dentist.” But this Milan side, as their coach Stefano Pioli put it, manage to be young without “acting young” and their win over Atalanta was more comprehensive than the 3-2 scoreline suggests.
The likes of Fikayo Tomori, Mike Maignan, Brahim Diaz, Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao again looked impressive, though for me, it was Sandro Tonali who stole the show, showing just why folks raved about him when he was a teenager, comparing him to one Andrea Pirlo.
They’re also confounding the critics, and it’s worth reminding themselves that they’re doing it without Gianluigi Donnarumma (by choice) as well as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud (by injury). Their decision to trust in youth and quality rather than big names is being rewarded with their best start in 17 years.
You wonder what happens when Ibrahimovic returns. He’ll get into the team you imagine, but in many ways this is no longer Zlatan’s Milan. It’s a different side. And if they’re going to succeed, it’s likely he’ll have to adapt to them rather than the other way around.
Real Madrid beaten as their hunt for balance continues
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Luis Garcia explains where Real Madrid fell short in their shock 2-1 defeat against Espanyol.
I’ve lost count of the different versions of Real Madrid that Carlo Ancelotti has served up this season. Against Espanyol on Saturday, he brought Lucas Vazquez back at right-back, moved Nacho inside with David Alaba wide, dropped Casemiro and played a 4-4-2 with Toni Kroos and Luka Modric flanked by Fede Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga. The outcome was a 2-1 defeat that could have been heavier if not for Karim Benzema‘s solo effort and what Ancelotti himself described as Madrid’s “worst performance of the season.”
It certainly was far worse than the shock defeat against Sheriff Tiraspol, a match Real Madrid dominated.
You can see what Ancelotti was trying to do in alternative solutions for when Casemiro needs a break (he was on the bench and, based on his recent performances, he most definitely needed one). It’s just that even with so much talent, you still need chemistry and, at the very least, time together on the pitch.
Taken individually, all his moves, to varying degrees, make sense. Taken collectively, they backfired badly against a well-organised Espanyol. The good news is that they’re still top. The bad news is that at some point he’s going to need to settle on some sort of backbone for this team.
Glum Ronaldo overshadows Man United’s home draw vs. Everton
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Stevie Nicol has doubts over Man United’s squad depth as they give up a lead in their draw with Everton.
When you sign Cristiano Ronaldo and he doesn’t start and you don’t win, you know what’s coming. Just ask the three guys who coached Juve in the past three seasons. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows this, and he probably knows that the fact Ronaldo looked disconsolate at the final whistle after the 1-1 draw with Everton has more to do with the home draw than the fact that he came on as a substitute. And that giving him the occasional time off is not just inevitable; it’s the right thing to do at age 36.
– Dawson: Ronaldo can’t rescue Man United off the bench
More problematic, as I see it, were the defensive wobbles from a back line that was only missing Harry Maguire, and a starting XI missing not just Ronaldo, but Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho, too. Along with Bruno Fernandes, those are United’s most gifted individuals. What made him think Everton would be such pushovers that he could easily dispense with their services?
0:49
Gab Marcotti feels Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs to stay humble to keep Manchester United fans on his side.
Picking Anthony Martial down the left ahead of Sancho is especially perplexing. United’s record signing has started just one Premier League game since August. Against Rafa Benitez’ predictably organized defensive system, one would have thought Sancho’s individual trickery and creativity would be a better fit than Martial, who these days is much more a forward than a winger anyway.
Who knows? Maybe it suits Solskjaer that folks are needlessly focusing so much on Ronaldo’s body language that they’re overlooking United’s other shortcomings in this game.
Reality bites for Messi, Neymar and Mbappe
Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter since prior to Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Rennes, PSG had won all eight of their games in Ligue 1. They still have a six-point lead and it’s early October. So why not take the afternoon off against Rennes, who had won just once since August?
It certainly looked as if that’s what Neymar did. Lionel Messi hit the woodwork, but also faded as the game wore on. Kylian Mbappe at least showed some bite after missing a sitter, but goals just before and just after the break condemned PSG. This is something Mauricio Pochettino will have to deal with as the season goes on: with those three guys up front, some games will be boom (a moment of genius) or bust (when’s the next Champions League fixture?).
Maybe the solution will necessarily be more rotation and days off, especially after Champions League fixtures and before international breaks, perhaps with more room for Mauro Icardi. Otherwise, the risk is more days like Sunday, which might not affect who wins the Ligue 1 crown, but is simply deflating.
1:38
Julien Laurens explains all about Kylian Mbappe’s future after the forward confirmed he asked to leave PSG in July.
Three points, but no Plan B for Dortmund vs. Augsburg
Erling Haaland is one of several players unavailable to Borussia Dortmund and coach Marco Rose right now. And because it’s not as if there’s an off-brand Haaland alternative waiting to come off the bench, when he’s not there, Dortmund necessarily need to play differently. That’s not easy to do, but hey, you’re managing in the Bundesliga, your club moved heaven and Earth to get you, you’re Marco Rose — get it done.
Only he hasn’t, and it didn’t work again for the visit of lowly Augsburg. Marco Reus hit the woodwork and Dortmund took plenty of shots, but they did little in terms of attacking fluidity and were helped by a goalkeeping error and the gift of an early penalty. This team is nowhere near their ceiling and there’s still lots of work to be done, both with Haaland and without him.
Arsenal revival continues, but Brighton draw reminds us they need time
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Steve Nicol explains why Arsenal can be happy with a well-earned point at Brighton.
It might seem counter-intuitive to speak of an Arsenal revival on a day when Brighton outplayed them for long stretches in a 0-0 draw, and on a day when they created little on the attacking end (thanks to a poor day at the office from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang), but this was the sort of game you could easily see them lose earlier in the campaign.
That they didn’t and, in fact, might even have won if Emile Smith Rowe had made a different choice late in the match, speaks volumes about how far they’ve come… and how far they have yet to go. Brighton may not be better than Arsenal man-for-man, but they are a better side right now; they’re a more cohesive unit and better coached, too. The operative words being “right now.”
Mikel Arteta has work to do, but the spirit seems to be there and the raw material. It’s a long way back to the top four, let alone the top.
Inter Milan ride luck — and quadruple change — to beat Sassuolo
For nearly an hour, Simone Inzaghi’s Inter got battered by Sassuolo. (By the way, coach Roberto De Zerbi may have gone, but Alessio Dionisi continues in the same vein, making them one of the most attractive and entertaining sides in Serie A, if not all of Europe.) They went a goal down, Samir Handanovic had to make a stellar save to deny Jeremie Boga and then Handanovic himself was very lucky not to be sent off after colliding with Gregoire Defrel outside the area.
Inzaghi made a quadruple change, sending on Edin Dzeko, Fede Dimarco, Matteo Darmian and Arturo Vidal, and the impact was immediate. Dzeko equalized with his first touch and won the penalty that Lautaro Martinez converted for the 2-1 win.
When stuff like this happens, a coach looks like a genius. But you can’t erase the first hour or so either, nor can you count on Dzeko, who is 35, to save you time and again.
Don’t look now, but Bayer Leverkusen are joint-top of the Bundesliga
But for a draw on opening day and a wild 4-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen have won every game this season and the streak continued with a 4-0 trouncing of Arminia Bielefeld. It was enough to lift them to the top of the table alongside Bayern, and it shows just what an impact Gerardo Seoane has had since joining from Young Boys in the summer.
Seoane has cleaned up Peter Bosz’ mess, gotten the best out of Moussa Diaby, turned Patrik Schick into a goalscorer and helped nurture the prodigy that is Florian Wirtz. All in a few months’ work.
Can they stay at or near the top? It will be tough against better-funded and more talented opposition. But Leverkusen continue to grow and, certainly, a top four finish feels like an attainable goal.
Napoli still the only perfect team in Europe’s big five leagues
You wouldn’t have expected it after a summer that saw them make only one significant signing (midfielder Andre Zambo Anguissa on loan from Fulham), while replacing a popular manager (Rino Gattuso) with one who is more of a misunderstood genius-type (Luciano Spalletti). But after coming from behind to beat a tough Fiorentina side, 2-1, Napoli have seven wins from seven games and sit atop of Serie A.
Spalletti deserves praise for how quickly he’s connected with his players, but also for putting so much trust in them. Victor Osimhen, fit again after missing nearly half the campaign last season, obviously grabs the headlines, but players like Lorenzo Insigne (despite his contractual dispute), Fabian Ruiz and even Kalidou Koulibaly look positively regenerated by Spalletti.
Yes, coaching does matter, and the lesson here is evident. Too often, when a new manager comes in, debate focuses on whether the club will “back him” and what new players he’ll sign. First and foremost, the criteria ought to be whether he can do a better job than his predecessor with the guys who are already there.
Late goals and squad players deliver hard-fought win — and first place — for Chelsea
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Steve Nicol explains Thomas Tuchel’s surprising decision that proved a masterstroke in Chelsea’s win.
I’m not sure what it says about Chelsea that they really haven’t had a convincing 90-minute performance since August, and yet they now sit atop the Premier League. On Saturday, against Southampton — a team that lost Ryan Bertrand, Danny Ings and Jannik Vestergaard over the summer — they put together a 3-1 victory, facilitated by two late goals and a lineup that suggests Thomas Tuchel is ready to use more of his squad in an effort to jolt the European champions into life.
– Olley: Werner, Chelsea’s fringe stars find redemption
Trevoh Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi all started (and Ross Barkley came on as a substitute), and maybe it’s what they needed after back-to-back defeats against City and Juventus in the Champions League. Of the above quartet, Chalobah may end up getting the most playing time, Chilwell may be the most expensive and Hudson-Odoi may have the biggest long-term upside, but it’s Loftus-Cheek who is the most intriguing.
Tall, strong and powerful, but blessed with a delicate touch, he’s the guy who never made the transition from teen prodigy to first-team regular at a Champions League-caliber club. When that happens, you often get the tag of “lazy” or “injury-prone,” but he looked fit on Saturday and, crucially, he has a very different skill set to Chelsea’s other midfielders. Whether it’s offering an alternative to Mateo Kovacic or N’Golo Kante or, possibly operating further up the pitch, Loftus-Cheek may well end up having the biggest long-term impact out of Saturday’s quartet.
Locatelli powers Juventus to fourth win in a row
Right now, Juventus are about two things: results and individual growth. The latter is important because in the absence of Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata, it’s critical that the kids they put their faith (and resources) in show they can grow in the face of adversity. Federico Chiesa and Manuel Locatelli (who scored the late winner against Torino) are doing just that. The others will need to catch up.
As for results, they’ve always been Allegri’s (and Juve’s) bread-and-butter, and the 1-0 win over Torino makes it four wins in a row. It also ended the horrific run of 20 games without keeping a clean sheet.
It was far from a sparkling performance — more the old-style defend-and-counter against Ivan Juric’s aggressive Torino — but it does alleviate the pressure and offers time and room to grow, which is just what Allegri needs in the post-Ronaldo Era.
Son shows that rumors of Spurs’ demise are vastly exaggerated
It was all set up for the wheels to come off. A week after humiliation in the North London Derby, there were protests against owner Joe Lewis and chairman Daniel Levy. Aston Villa were in town, fresh off wins over Everton and Manchester United and a solid performance away to Chelsea. Oh, and the international break was around the corner — that time when clubs like to change (or threaten to change) their managers.
Yet Spurs showed plenty of bite and plenty of fight in their 2-1 victory. Heung-Min Son was in fine form, showing he can be near unplayable when in full flight. But many of the players who, supposedly, had lost faith in Nuno Espirito Santo, from Tanguy Ndombele to Cristian Romero, turned up on the day. Nuno may or may not be the right guy to lead this team, but on Sunday’s evidence, the players are still on board.
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Paolo Uggetti, ESPN
WHEN KENNY DILLINGHAM speaks, it is hard not to listen. The sound of his voice, however, is only half the portrait. Watching him speak paints a far more complete picture.
Dillingham’s eyes seem to widen and ignite as if they have been flickered on by a match. Sometimes, his hands join the party while his eyebrows shoot up to the sky and his head bobs up and down, all of it harmonizing with the cadence of his words, which often feel like they are being spoken a mile a minute.
This season, Dillingham’s postgame interviews after wins have become a fascination and a small, but significant manifestation of his character. Whether baptized by a vat of celebratory Gatorade or simply worn out by being planted for three-plus hours under the Arizona sun, Dillingham often appears drenched and out of breath, as if he has gone through an entire game himself or run through a mental marathon. But even so, that only taps into a portion of the energy he possesses. Whatever remains, he seems to channel into his public speaking.
Even through a screen, Dillingham comes alive. His coaching staff and players gravitate toward the combination of youth and bravado that makes him unique. And for those who decide to use the word “quirky” to describe him, they quickly follow it up with a caveat.
“He marches to the beat of his own drum,” ASU assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Charles Ragle said. “But he knows who he is and I think that that combination is what makes him special.”
Once in a press conference room, Dillingham might be slightly more subdued, but he doesn’t hold back. He calls for his players to get paid “what they deserve,” and he has no problem referring to them as “underpaid.” He’ll announce an impromptu kicker tryout in the middle of the season, or he’ll explain matter-of-factly why he will support Arizona State players entering the portal while letting them stay on the roster throughout the playoff run.
In this new, evolving era of the sport, Dillingham has little issue saying the quiet part out loud, which feels integral to his approach. The 34-year-old’s filter is more like a sieve, which stands out against the backdrop of monotone coachspeak machines that equate any display of personality as antithetical to their mission.
Whether he has his arms around his players, whom he can’t stop waxing poetic about, or he is jumping with the ASU student crowd or even arguing with referees after they put one second back on the clock, like they did against BYU, Dillingham — and by extension the Sun Devils — have become the sport’s Energizer Bunnies, speeding past expectations with a combination of fearlessness and chemistry that takes other programs years to achieve.
Arizona State has a running back in Cam Skattebo who has supercharged its offense. It has a defense that has improved leaps and bounds in a year, and a quarterback in Sam Leavitt, who could be a Heisman contender next year. But how the Sun Devils went from being 3-9 in Dillingham’s debut season and picked to finish last in the Big 12 this year to conference champions and College Football Playoff quarterfinalists (where they’ll face Texas in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET) can’t be explained without Dillingham, who is at the center of the glorious frenzy he has created. The Arizona native’s approach, creativity, edge and zeal have all been part of the recipe that has turned a struggling program into a winning one overnight.
“He’s somebody that stays true to himself. He’s not trying to conform to an image,” cornerbacks coach Bryan Carrington said. “He’s trying to do this in a unique, sincere, organic way, and for him being a Sun Devil, you can tell that he’s very passionate about this place, he’s very calculated about this place. He treats this place like his baby, because it’s his dream.”
CHARLIE RAGLE SITS in Arizona State coaches meetings these days and listens intently. His brain often fluctuates between nostalgia and mild disbelief.
Ragle isn’t just the Sun Devils’ assistant head coach and special teams coordinator. He isn’t just a longtime football coach who has coached up and down the ranks of Arizona high school football. He’s, maybe most importantly, the one responsible for Dillingham being here, at the head of a meeting room in front of an entire coaching staff, and not anywhere else — especially not a courtroom.
When Dillingham was entering his senior year of high school football at Chaparral High in Arizona, his father John — a lawyer and member of the school’s booster club — asked Ragle to give Kenny a shot despite him coming off a knee surgery. But once Ragle, then the head coach at Chaparral, saw Kenny struggling to move on the field, he offered him a different opportunity.
“His knee was screwed up, and he came to me at some point that spring and was just like, ‘I can’t play. I can’t do it,'” Ragle said. “”I’m basically done with football.'”
Ragle didn’t want to see Dillingham walk away from the sport, so he asked him to stay, not to play, but to help as a student coach. Dillingham agreed. Once the season was over, however, he told Ragle of his uncertain plans: go to Arizona State and maybe become a lawyer, like his dad. Ragle didn’t want to get in the way, but he asked Dillingham to take his classes and then make his way over to Chaparral in the afternoons to continue helping him.
“I just kind of took a liking to him,” Ragle said. “He was full of energy, same way he is now.”
If Ragle was the one who started the fire within Dillingham to coach, neither he nor anyone else had to do much to stoke it. Dillingham was hooked and poured everything into coaching. He quickly went from student coach to quarterbacks coach from 2007 through 2012 at Chaparral. He was the offensive coordinator for the school in 2013 when he willed himself into a job at Arizona State.
“The energy that he has right now is the same energy he had back then,” said Todd Graham, who was the Sun Devils head coach at the time. “He would come around our program every day and just wear me out wanting to come and sit in on meetings.”
Graham and Mike Norvell, who was then the offensive coordinator at ASU, finally relented and let Dillingham join. The 23-year-old asked if he could attend every day and Graham agreed, not expecting him to actually do it.
“Sure enough, he came every day,” Graham said. “I remember me and Mike watching him and talking about, ‘Man, this guy wants it, he loves ASU, he loves the kids, he loves the program.’ So we let him come around and the next year we hired him as a [graduate assistant].”
Dillingham’s big break turned into a tidal wave of promotions. When Norvell went to be the head coach at Memphis in 2016, Dillingham followed as a graduate assistant. A year later he was the quarterbacks and tight ends coach. A year after that, he was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator at just 28 years old.
“People always told him he was going to be a great coach. That usually means you’re not a very good player,” Ragle said. “But he said they were telling him that when he was a little kid in little league. So I just think that the further he went in this, I think that he saw the success he was having in that. I think he realized he could be pretty good at this.”
Over the years, Dillingham made a name for himself as a youthful personality who could get the most out of quarterbacks such as Jordan Travis and Bo Nix. From starting at Memphis to becoming the offensive coordinator at Auburn, Florida State and Oregon, he was charting a path that seemed to be on an eventual collision course with a head coaching gig. Then, just a few months after he turned 32 years old, his alma mater called.
WALK INTO THE Arizona State locker room on any given day and you might not be able to differentiate player from head coach so easily. Between the fracas of music blaring and Madden playing, Dillingham is often right in the middle, sticks in his hands, trying to do what he does on Saturdays: win.
“He will be head coach one minute and then he’ll be the guy that’s kicking the player’s ass in Madden in the locker room an hour later,” Carrington said.
“He’s definitely a coach that’s a full-time competitor,” graduate offensive lineman Ben Coleman said. “And I think that’s really cool, because if your coach wants to compete so bad and everything, how can you show up to practice and not want to compete?”
Whether it’s video games, pingpong or any other competitive forum, Coleman and his teammates have noticed something else, too: Dillingham isn’t afraid to lose.
“He does care if he wins, but he’s not scared to put himself in a position where he may not be favored in a situation,” Coleman said. “I think that was a good thing this year, because we saw it everyday. He’s not scared to put himself in a situation where, ‘I know you guys don’t think I’m favored. I don’t really care. I’m confident in my work and my abilities.'”
As Arizona State went into the season coming off back-to-back 3-9 campaigns and into the Big 12 without much fanfare, coaches and players say now that they thrived off letting Dillingham’s self-belief seep into the rest of the roster. It does help, Coleman adds, that Dillingham’s youth is more than just relatable; it’s magnetic.
Motivation and self-belief can only carry you so far in a game decided by slim margins and execution. But Dillingham’s attitude goes hand in hand with his football acumen. Players and coaches rave about his ability to think outside the box when it comes to anything from offensive formations to trick plays.
“It’s just how he looks at things and how his mind works. He sees things differently, he’s really good at seeing numbers, and I think he’s better than most people that I’ve been around when it comes to what football is — a math problem,” Ragle said. “He has a gift with numbers and how his mind works. Sometimes you’re like, ‘Dude, that’s completely ass backwards.’ You know what? Nobody else in here sees it that way and that’s OK.”
“He’s a genius. He is a genius forwards and backwards on both sides of the ball,” Carrington said. “The way this game comes to him and how fast he can regurgitate information, find a competitive edge and seek to be crafty.”
Carrington, who completed his diversity coaching fellowship under Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, often sees the similarities between Dillingham and McVay in terms of their thinking, wittiness and deep wells of football knowledge and concepts.
“From finding ways to exploit teams, to get offenses or defenses in conflict, he’s always got ideas,” Carrington said. “Some of the stuff that we’ve tried this year is almost like he’s playing video games just like he plays Madden against the kids. If that’s a creative field goal fake or a punt, fake or onside kick, he’s always trying to find a competitive edge.”
The edge can often be tangible — a play here, a formation there, a matchup over there — but for Dillingham and ASU, the intangible advantage they have employed this year has come with ease. All season long, Dillingham’s pulpit has professed an often-used “nobody believes in us” mentality that has resonated with a congregation ripe for hearing that message.
Last season, the program had nothing to play for because of a self-imposed bowl ban that followed coach Herm Edwards’ tenure, which was being investigated by the NCAA because of allegations of repeated recruiting violations. The Sun Devils brought in 23 players in the transfer portal last season (only one of them was a four-star recruit). Seventeen of them started in the Big 12 title game.
“I think we’ve embraced being the underdog, because he’s allowed .us to do that and has ignited a fire within everybody to embrace us being picked 16th,” Carrington said. “We’re in the College Football Playoff a year after having a team with nothing to play for and a disaster situation. We were behind the eight ball. So yeah, the guys that chose to come here already had a chip on their shoulder and they wanted to flip the script.”
Not even those inside, however, expected it to flip this quickly.
In the span of a year, the Sun Devils nearly doubled their combined win total of the past two years. Their offense is averaging over 100 more yards per game than it did last season while nearly doubling its points per game total. Their defense, meanwhile, ranks in the top 30 of SP+ and has forced 22 turnovers this season. Last season, it forced nine — a mark that was better than only four teams in all of FBS.
“I would’ve thought we would’ve probably been probably one year away from it, but I knew with the excitement and plan Kenny brought into this program, I knew it would happen pretty quickly,” running backs coach Shaun Aguano said. “We knew [winning] was going to come along sometime. It just happened faster than we thought.”
THE MORE GAMES Arizona State won this season, the more Aguano’s phone kept buzzing with calls and texts from local high school coaches.
Aguano, a longtime staple of the Arizona high school scene and one of the winningest high school coaches in the area, became the interim coach at ASU after the school fired Edwards in 2022. In and around the city, there was a lot of support for Aguano, and keeping him on staff was one of Dillingham’s first decisions. It didn’t take long for Aguano to see that Dillingham had the right mindset for the program.
“When he talks about activating the Valley, he’s got the community involved more than I’ve ever seen in the years I’ve been here,” Aguano said. “That same energy that he shows in those interviews is the exact same thing that he projects when he’s in front of the team or in front of the coaches. He’s bouncing around the hallways from five in the morning till 10 at night, and that carries to the rest of the program.”
When it comes to recruiting and the portal, Dillingham’s spark plays well. As Coleman explained, not every coach has the ability to connect with younger players and relate to them. Follow Dillingham on X, and posts and reposts will quickly fill up your timeline. If there’s anything being said about his team or his players that is positive, he is there to amplify it, comment on it or add to the noise. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say the 34-year-old is one of the most online coaches in FBS.
“How could you not want to go play for somebody who is publicly advocating for you?” Coleman said.
Dillingham’s approach has been to embrace the game’s evolution rather than fight it or even begrudgingly accept it. It’s why he has no problem asking for money publicly, wearing a T-shirt with ASU’s NIL collective postgame or promoting his players on podiums and through posts and connecting them with local businesses for NIL opportunities.
“We’re doing more with guys who just got it out of the mud, but eventually you should get what you deserve,” Dillingham said after the Sun Devils knocked off No. 14 BYU on Nov. 23, while wearing the collective’s shirt. “Our guys deserve more, and that’s why I wore this.”
“He’s more versed in NIL than anyone we have ever had here,” Aguano said. “He understands exactly what’s going on, the rules of everything, how to take advantage of it.”
It’s not just the players’ pockets he’s thinking about, either. When he has been asked about his own contract extension talks, Dillingham has shifted the focus toward assistants and players. And when the program reached nine wins this season, triggering a $200,000 bonus for Dillingham, he promptly redistributed it among 20 off-field staff members.
“This dude is thinking about football nonstop,” Ragle said. “And it’s not just the X’s and O’s, it’s about how the game is changing. You see guys that are in their early 60s, late 50s, I think growing weary of the game and the way that college football is changing in real time, and he’s over here manufacturing ideas that can help his program.”
But those inside the program know that Dillingham’s fervor and strategy, however impressive, has to be backed by substance, and that, ultimately, comes down to winning. After the Sun Devils earned 11 wins this season, coaches who have been out on the trail or recruiting the portal have noticed the difference in the way ASU is perceived.
“It’s a lot of people that are answering the phones that weren’t answering the phone three months ago,” Carrington said. “We’re the flavor of the month now.”
Graham knows well what the Valley can be when it is, in fact, activated. While he was in Tempe for six seasons, Graham saw the highs and lows, including back-to-back double-digit win seasons in 2012 and 2013 and the way that the city and the school were passionate for a winner. Graham believes that Dillingham’s hire came at what was likely the lowest point of the program after the “debilitating” mistakes that preceded it.
“He had a harder job than I had,” Graham said. “And let me tell you, a year ago, at 3-9, there weren’t many people believing in what he was doing. Now? He’s got a whole lot of people believing. It’s a magical place to be right now.”
While Dillingham may shy away from credit at any turn, there is a clear awareness within the program of how crucial he has been to the turnaround. Football is a team sport, but successful program-building always requires more than just a face.
“I’m like, ‘I know you don’t need credit, but we all know that you’re the driving force of this whole program,'” Coleman said. “Because when stuff goes wrong, he’s the first person that gets looked at, so when stuff goes right, I always like to say that he’s the reason why stuff goes right.”
A lot has gone right for Arizona State this season, and though it is not done yet, what Dillingham has been able to do in a flash has given the Sun Devils hope, momentum, but most importantly, a blueprint for success.
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Jeff Passan, Senior MLB Insider
Outfielder Teoscar Hernández and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a three-year, $66 million contract, sources told ESPN on Friday, reuniting the World Series standout with the team he helped capture a championship.
“I’m Back,” Hernández wrote on his Instagram story.
Almost immediately in the aftermath of the World Series victory, Hernández declared his desire to return to the Dodgers after a one-year engagement proved successful for both parties. Coming together on a new, mutually agreeable contract took almost two months, with the Dodgers signing outfielder Michael Conforto and engaging in trade discussions for outfielders while Hernández considered other offers.
Eventually, the sides struck a deal that includes a club option of $15 million for the 2028 season with a $6.5 million buyout, $23.5 million in deferred money and a $23 million signing bonus.
Hernández, 32, signed with the Dodgers for one year and $23.5 million — with $8.5 million of it deferred — after the free agent market valued him too low to sign long term. He made the risk count, hitting .272/.339/.501 with a career-high 33 home runs and 99 RBIs. His two-run double in the championship-winning Game 5 of the World Series capped the New York Yankees‘ nightmare inning, and a Game 2 home run off Carlos Rodon staked Los Angeles to a lead it wouldn’t yield.
Beyond the returns from injury expected among their pitchers, the Dodgers have spent the winter adding. First came Blake Snell, a two-time National League Cy Young winner, for five years and $182 million. They brought back Blake Treinen, another Game 5 hero, for two years and $22 million. And Conforto hopes to follow Hernández’s example by going to the most successful franchise in the game on a one-year deal and thriving the way so many do.
Before coming to Los Angeles, Hernández was one of the more consistent outfielders in baseball after not getting full-time at-bats until his age-25 season. Among the 125 hitters with at least 2,500 plate appearances since 2018, Hernández ranks 17th in home runs, 21st in RBIs and 40th in OPS+.
He adds another big bat to a lineup filled with them and another body to an outfield mix that includes Conforto, Andy Pages, Chris Taylor, James Outman and Tommy Edman, who can play center field and shortstop, where former outfielder and MVP Mookie Betts is expected to play every day next season.
Los Angeles continued its use of deferrals, in which portions of salaries are paid years down the road. Though the majority of Los Angeles’ $1 billion-plus of deferred money belongs to Shohei Ohtani — $680 million of his $700 million contract is deferred a decade down the road, leaving Los Angeles to pay around $46 million per year into an escrow account to cover it — others with deferrals in their deals include Betts, Snell, Edman, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.
Players often use deferred money, as well as signing bonuses, to lessen their tax burden, particularly in California, where one legislator introduced a bill to close what he called “an obscure tax loophole.” Hernández’s deferrals aren’t as delayed as Ohtani’s, starting in six years rather than a decade.
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