LONDON (AP) — Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham doesn't love that Kansas got some extra rest ahead of 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 scheduled 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.
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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