"It's the ref's responsibility. Not yours" - ASU fans feel for Kenny Dillingham afer Peach Bowl humiliation

The Arizona State Sun Devils under coach Kenny Dillingham fell just short of the college football playoffs when they lost 39-31 to the Texas Longhorns in double overtime of the Peach Bowl. The Sun Devils rallied in the fourth quarter from a 24-8 deficit to tie the game and send it to double overtime before Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers took over to send the Longhorns through.

During his postgame news conference, Dillingham took the blame for losing the Peach Bowl after the Sun Devils' unexpected fairytale season came to an end.

"Looking back at it I didn't put our guys in the best position to succeed too many times. Our guys deserve to win the football game. I didn't do a good enough job for them as their head coach, putting them in position to win, and I'm going to reflect on it. I've got to be better because our guys played good enough to win. Our guys battled good enough to win. This game's 100% on me."

College football fans on X had mixed reactions to Dillingham's postgame comments.

"They played great," a fan said.

Some fans were impressed with the coach taking responsibility for the defeat.

"That's called accountability. I swear no one else in the country exhibits that anymore," one fan said.

"Great leaders take responsibility. I like this guy even more now," another fan said.

"That’s what a good coach is supposed to sound like," one fan said.

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Kenny Dillingham questions calls but stays classy

Despite trailing 24-8 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Arizona State Sun Devils managed to rally to tie the game on the back of a Cam Scattebo explosion. The Sun Devils even had the opportunity to win the game when a no-targeting call by the officials was confirmed after Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe hit Arizona State's Melquan Stovall, forcing the Sun Devils to punt the ball back to the Longhorns.

Despite Kenny Dillingham passionately arguing his case, the call stood and during his postgame news conference, the charismatic ASU coach was still livid about the controversial call by the officials.

"In terms of the targeting, I'm going to be honest, I don't know what targeting is," Kenny Dillingham said. "We lost one of our best players in the first half for targeting. I just don't know what it is. I don't want to comment on something that I have to get a better grasp of what it is. I just don't understand it. You just want to protect the players, so whatever rules are put in place to protect the players I'm all about (them)."

Despite the controversy of the game, Dillingham still insisted that Arizona State players shook hands with Texas players at the end of the game and he revealed why he insisted on the classy gesture by his players.

"You lost the game. That doesn't mean you just get to leave," Dillingham said. "Like, you shake hands. That's what you do. That's sportsmanship. 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."

Kenny Dillingham has received plenty of praise for his handling of the game and leading the Arizona State Sun Devils to a sensational season that fell just short of the college football playoff semifinals.