Heading into a matchup against No. 13 Utah, Arizona State center Cohl Cabral has a simple message for the team’s pair of freshmen starters on the offensive line.
“Buckle up your chin strap.”
The Utes are known for their physical defense and this year is no outlier as the team ranks No. 9 in the country in points allowed (13.2) and No. 10 in total yards allowed (271.5).
ASU will also face a unit yielding a paltry 52.8 yards rushing average, second-best in the nation.
Despite going up against one of the top defenses in the country, the Sun Devil offensive line focus isn’t on who lines up across from them.
“Go out and trust in yourself,” Cabral said of his advice to the team’s freshmen. “Trust in the guy next to you to get on the double teams, get on the right guys, get the right call. Go out and just play your game, don’t let them dictate it. That’s one thing we’re trying to instill in these young guys ─ play your own game, not let outside factors, or what defensive guys are doing dictate what you’re going to do.”
The Utes’ defensive line is the main is the key to the overall scheme of the defense as they look for their linemen to take up blockers in order to free up other players to make plays.
This scheme can make it difficult on opposing offensive lines to account for every defensive player, leading to limited running lanes for opposing running backs.
“They’re a good group of guys,” Cabral said of Utah’s defense. “You see it every year. They’re stout, they’re big, they’re physical. They love to plug holes and shut the run game down, they want you to pass the ball. Their two guys inside are going to make two guys block them all the time to free a linebacker up to make all the plays.”
The Sun Devils enter the matchup after dominating a similar Utah team on the ground a season ago in tune to 251 rushing yards at an average of five yards per carry.
Eno Benjamin led the attack with 27 carries for 175 yards and two touchdowns with a long run of 44 yards in the matchup.
The key to running the ball effectively against the defense a season ago came down to the small details and simple yet effective techniques by ASU’s linemen.
“Just being physical on our double teams,” Cabral admitted of what worked so well a season ago. “Coming off the linebackers clean, playing within the scheme. Having ways, we can manipulate where they’re going to be, structures of the defense. Really simple things you wouldn’t think about. Finding ways to get things done.”
Ever since Utah joined the conference in 2011, the game against Arizona State has been one that has been growing in importance each year.
Arizona State has won the last two matchups against the Utes including a 38-20 victory last season when the Utes were ranked No. 15 at the time of the defeat.
“I think it’s just the fact that they’re very consistent and we’re coming up on the rise,” Cabral stated. “It’s kind of one of the things where you have to put that one on the schedule, that’s going to be a good game. It’s two teams that are built to stop the run and want to run the ball. Two teams lining up going at it.”
The run game that the Sun Devils and head coach Herm Edwards hang their hat on is one that has begun to pick up steam and momentum in the team’s recent games.
After picking up 338 rushing yards in the first three games (171 of which came against Kent State), the Sun Devils have gained 468 yards on the ground in their last three games.
“It’s all just trust at that point,” Cabral said of the team’s ground attack picking up week by week. “Being able to trust the guys up front, trust the young guys coming every week ─ watching them grow, it’s exciting to see them. You start to see the backs trust us a little more, press the hole, press the blocks.”
This trust is one that wasn’t seen early in the year given the uncertainty of the team’s offensive line early in the year.
Washing away this sense of the unknown came when Cabral was moved back to center, his natural position. A move that gave both himself and Benjamin a sense of familiarity.
“When he sees something, he’s not sure if he’s making sure he asks me about it,” Cabral stated. “You see it in protection if he doesn’t see something that he likes he’s going to come up and ask about it or ask what I want to do. We’re on the sideline making sure we’re getting the checks picked up or looking at things, different pressures that we saw, just being able to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Getting back to the running the football not only provides a sense of relief for the offense, it also gives Cabral a chance to put his head down and get to his favorite aspect of blocking.
Run blocking.
“I know for me I hate pass protection,” Cabral admitted. “Because there’s so much that goes on that you have to look at and dissect. When you’re running the ball, it’s put your head down and go to work. Three yards and a cloud of dust is my favorite way to play. I think the whole group takes that mentality ─I know Eno does.”
While the team’s running attack seems back on track, there’s no question that the team will have a tough test against Utah.
A ogame that not only matters as far as rankings g, as both the Utes and Sun Devils enter ranked at No. 13 and No. 17 respectively, but in the conference standings as well.
With a victory, ASU would put themselves in the driver seat of the Pac-12 South and give them control of their destiny in their quest to capture the division championship.
For Cabral, the key for a potential victory comes to not thinking about the extra implications of the game, but to simply focus on the task at hand.
“Go out and treat it like we have to go 1-0 again,” Cabral stated. “When you start looking at all the extra factors of what could come from and this and that, you start worrying about the wrong thing. We’ve got to worry about going out, playing our game on Saturday and not playing under their scheme and what they want to do ─ play in our own.”
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