The two missed field-goal attempts by Arizona State kicker Ian Hershey in Saturday’s Big 12 game against Cincinnati were not the driving reason behind the Sun Devils’ loss (24-14) to the Bearcats. But they did not help, and after the loss, special teams was the focus of coach Kenny Dillingham’s ire, and he laid into the team’s kicking game.
But later, he thought better of the whole thing, perhaps realizing that he had hung Hershey out to dry in his fiery postgame press conference when, in fact, the entire offense had struggled throughout the game and the defense had been pummeled in the first half.
Dillingham issued a remorseful apology on Twitter/X after his presser had gone viral.
He wrote on Saturday: “I would like to apologize in my post game press conference I talked about our kicking game like I do offense / defense. However the kicking game is always directed at one player. I should not have done that and I apologize. This team’s losses will always 100% fall on myself.”
Hershey had entered the game 7-for-10 on field-goal attempts, and missed kicks of 41 and 48 yards in the Week 7 loss. Both kicks came in the fourth quarter. After that, Dillingham threatened to replace Hershey with a walk-on.