Arizona State left London with a 24-17 win over Kansas at Wembley Stadium, the first college football game in England between two FBS teams. It was not pretty, and coach Kenny Dillingham did not care. "Give me losing the stats and winning the game 100 times out of 100," he said, per Cronkite News reporting by Adam Kunin.
The Sun Devils finished a brutal stretch that sent them more than 5,000 miles from College Station to London in consecutive weeks. Dillingham admitted the obvious: "I'm tired. Our players are going to be tired when they get home." The immediate consequence is simple and welcome: a bye week without stewing over a loss.
If international showcases usually deliver clunky football, Wembley obliged. ASU managed just 95 passing yards. Both teams combined for 11 penalties for 105 yards and traded special teams touchdowns. Kansas turned it over three times. It mirrored the North Carolina 15-10 slog over TCU in Ireland earlier this season, as Cronkite News noted.
The winning formula was not style points but damage control. "We didn't turn the football over. We didn't make any catastrophics," Dillingham said. "Even though we couldn't move the ball, we were playing complementary bad football." It was enough to survive a long week and a longer flight.
Key sequences swung the day. With under 30 seconds left in the half, a 17-yard Kansas punt set up a 25-yard touchdown strike from Cutter Boley to Reed Harris. Later, Jayhawks kicker Martin Connington missed a 44-yard field goal. ASU's Jaren Hamilton housed a 100-yard kickoff return, while junior linebacker Owen Long authored a breakout defensive day with an interception, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble, per Cronkite News.
Dillingham praised a defense he said all camp could be "one of the better" units he has had at ASU. The offense labored, but the defense and special teams takeaways covered for it. After trailing most of the first half, ASU strung together 21 unanswered points and held on.
This game doubled as an institutional roadshow. University leadership made clear the football spectacle was secondary to launching ASU's new school in London, according to Cronkite News. The trip functioned like a midseason bowl week: travel, bonding, and a new backdrop to navigate.
In the lead-up, Dillingham largely holed up to prepare while giving players freedom to explore early in the week. Cronkite News, via an Arizona Daily Independent reprint, reported veterans hit landmarks, tried fish and chips, and operated on a three-person "buddy system" off the clock. The coach's line to players: "They're not hostages here."
For a state university selling its brand abroad, the upside is visibility and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for student-athletes. The tradeoff is real: jet lag, logistics, and a higher chance the product looks like the weather. Dillingham even conceded he regretted not seeing more of the city himself.
