Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kenny Dillingham confronted by Mississippi State fan over Starkville comments

Originally posted on CFB-HQ on SI | By Alex Weber | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 10:32 AM ET

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham dropped into a hornet's nest on Thursday morning when he joined Wake Up Barstool on FS1.

Before the clock even reached 7:00 AM on the west coast, Dillingham had to face Brandon Walker, an agitated Mississippi State fan and Barstool Sports personality who joined the program just to square off with the Arizona State coach over his comments about Starkville that week.

Of course, Arizona State travels to Starkville this weekend to face the Bulldogs on Saturday. But as they arrived to the famous Stark-Vegas, Dillingham expressed some issues his team encountered when trying to find a hotel close to the MSU stadium.

"So, we stay about an hour and 20, hour and 15 minutes away from the stadium this week because that's the nearest hotel that's not a casino to stay at," Dillingham said earlier in the week. "No, that's the truth. Some teams stay at the casino. That wasn't even a joke. It's just the nearest hotel."

Kenny Dillingham on the differences between traveling to small towns and big cities in preparation for Mississippi State:

"We stay about an hour and 15 minutes away from the stadium this week, because that's the nearest hotel that's not a casino." @CronkiteSports pic.twitter.com/O4LEPU5zzq
— Max Zepeda (@MaxZepedaSports) September 1, 2025

Those comments sat on the top of Brandon Walker's mind when Dillingham joined the show, and he waited nary a minute to attack the Sun Devils' coach.

"Well, first of all, nobody respects Kenny Dillingham like I do," Walker began, then launching into his critiques. "Listen, I saw your comments about Starkville and not being able to find a hotel and not being able to stay within an hour. That's not true, coach! You got a bad booker over there. What's going on?"

Faced with his own spiteful words about the wonderful city of Starkville, Dillingham back-pedaled into an answer that definitely ought to win back over some Mississippi State fans.

"I agree with you," Dillingham told Walker. "There's tons of hotels in Starkville. Not all the hotels we could stay at were available; they're booked out because your fanbase is really good."

That's a nice way to compliment the Bulldog fanbase, and even Walker cackled and admitted "this guy's pretty good" after the comment.

"I've been in Starkville quite a bit," Dillingham added later on in the discussion, then sharing a story about a recruit he went after hard who was from the city. The ASU coach lathered it on thick trying to win back over Walker and the MSU fanbase by assuring everyone that he has nothing personal against Starkville, MS.

Perhaps Kenny Dillingham just did himself a real solid winning back over some haters, and maybe those cowbells won't clank with quite as much vitriol on Saturday evening.

This article first appeared on CFB-HQ on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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