Arizona State coach notes Kansas got extra time ahead of London game despite 'unwritten rule'

LONDON (AP) — Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham doesn't love that Kansas got some extra time to rest and prepare for their historic game at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.

The Jayhawks played a home game last Friday night — a 38-21 loss to Missouri — while the Sun Devils faced Texas A&M — also a loss, 48-20 — the next day at College Station.

“You don't expect the scheduling to be different when you schedule a game like this, but at the end of the day it is what it is,” Dillingham said Tuesday after practice in suburban London. “There are no excuses, you either get it done or you don't get it done.”

This is the first time Wembley is hosting bigtime college football and organizers of the Union Jack Classic plan to make it an annual event. Looking ahead, Dillingham said the schedules should be better aligned — with the teams playing on the same day in the week before the trip.

“That's kind of an unwritten rule, to be honest,” he said. “It's one of those things that's just kind of understood. ... That's kind of common sense that they should try to play — when you play unique games — on the most similar schedule from that perspective.”

The Sun Devils traveled from Texas to London rather than return home after Saturday night's game. The Jayhawks were scheduled to depart on Tuesday afternoon, putting them on course for an early Wednesday arrival in the British capital.

Playing a day earlier, Dillingham said, allows a team to push up its practice schedule and have a less-disruptive week.

“Us playing that game Saturday, it was either fly out immediately or lose a practice by flying out in the middle of the week,” he said. “I don’t think you can afford to lose a practice when you’re playing a good opponent. So we just had to ... make our schedule the best we could make it. I think the players have done a good job with it.”

From a football perspective, Dillingham said there's “zero advantage” playing a Week 3 game internationally.

“But this is an experience," he said. "They’re still college athletes and I wasn’t going to rob them from an experience to fly them across the county, go see London, go be able to experience things.”

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