ASU’s run defense has come a long way since the beginning of the season.
At the beginning of the year, the rush defense was a major cause for concern. In three games against Wisconsin, Stanford and USC, the Sun Devils allowed 239.3 rushing yards per game. Since then, things have gotten much better.
Across ASU’s last three games, the Sun Devils are allowing only 115.7 rushing yards per game and are ranked third in the Pac-12 in rushing defense, allowing an average of 123.4 rushing yards per game for the year.
“I thought we’d done well the early part of the year (stopping the run),” defensive coordinator Paul Randolph said. “It just took a little while to get everybody on the exact same page, and now I think everybody’s on the same page and executing at a high level.”
The Sun Devils will need to execute at a high level if they want to stop UA junior running back Ka’Deem Carey, the nation’s fourth-leading rusher (1,559 yards) and a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, which is awarded annually to the nation’s top running back.
“He is probably the best running back in the country,” Randolph said. “He’s a punisher, the most determined and aggressive running back I’ve seen in a long time. ... He has tremendous vision to bounce a ball or cut a ball back so for us it’s just making sure that everybody is in their gap and doing what they are supposed to be doing.”
But stopping UA’s rushing attack is not only about stopping Carey. Senior quarterback B.J. Denker is second to Carey in UA's rushing attack with 811 yards and 11 touchdowns on the year.
Facing a dangerous running quarterback like Denker makes gap responsibility along the defensive line paramount.
“You just gotta play your responsibilities,” sophomore defensive tackle Jaxon Hood said. “Everyone’s gotta play assignment football or else they could find a hole and take it to the house.”
Last year against ASU in Tucson, Carey ran for 172 yards and touchdown as the Wildcats piled up 292 rushing yards as a team.
Randolph aims to eliminate the big runs that hurt ASU in last year’s game.
“They’re going to find a way to run it,” Randolph said. “We have to find a way to knock it down every time they run it. That’s the deal is not to give up big play runs. We gave up a couple last year to (Carey) and to the quarterback, so for us, we just have to make sure that we don’t let any of those runs get out and be big long runs against us.”
Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EricSmith_SP
