As ASU enters its final regular-season game, the stakes are high.

The Sun Devils (5-6), having lost five in a row, are staring down the possible end of the season, but it’s in their hands if they want to play in a bowl game.

But there is more on the line for ASU than a bowl game, there’s also pride at stake when the Sun Devils head to Tucson to face Arizona Friday.

“I hate (U of A),” redshirt senior tight end Kody Kohl said. “I grew up bleeding maroon and gold so we’ve always hated that place and I don’t even like going down there.

“I already feel the pressure. As soon as that game was over at Washington I knew it was time to turn it around, that’s all I was talking about. It’s a different motivation this week for sure.”

ASU needs a win in Tucson to attain bowl eligibility, adding to the pressure the players already feel to beat their bitter rival.

Even players that aren’t as familiar with the rivalry and feel the energy that comes in preparing for it.

“You feel the energy in the locker room with all your teammates and everything, especially guys that have been here four or five years,” redshirt senior Tim White said. “You know what this game means to them and I’m just excited to get out there on the field and face them.”

But the Wildcats’ defense, in particular, will present some interesting challenges under the first-year coordinator Marcel Yates.

Arizona brings a lot of pressure but redshirt senior Stephon McCray doesn’t see that being an issue.

“I like to think it’s not going to be too much of a change, especially year-round going against our defense and they’re always blitzing and doing different stuff,” he said. “Week in and week out they’re giving different blitz looks so I like to think we’ll be prepared.”

Below we’ll take a look at some of the different way the Wildcats bring pressure and the best way to attack their defensive unit.

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The first thing that UA’s defense does that can pose problems for opposing offenses is their heavy use of pre-snap movement.

The Wildcats almost always line up with three defensive linemen with their hands on the ground, however, there are usually one, two, or sometimes even three other defenders that will creep up to the line of scrimmage pre-snap.

In this first clip, we see an example of this pre-snap creep.

The middle linebacker is going to creep up between two of the defensive linemen and, with no receiver on his side, the cornerback on the bottom of the screen will approach the line as well.

Now, with the late movement, it could cause the quarterback to check plays or change the offensive protection scheme, however, with a run called, there is no need for the offense to change the play or protection.

At the snap, the edge defender at the top of the clip is going to get through, but, he doesn’t have the closing speed to make a play from the back side and the offense manages to get the rest of the defense blocked and actually pick up a solid gain.

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UA’s biggest weakness defensively, and likely one the Sun Devils will aim to exploit is the Wildcats’ inability to prevent the run out of their base defense effectively.

In this clip, we’ll see the offense simply blow the defense off the ball.

It’s mostly man blocking across the board with the offensive line picking up the man in front of him. This is man-on-man, power football and the Wildcats get blown off the ball at the snap.

At the snap, there is some penetration from the back-side linebacker but, being on the backside of the play, he doesn’t have the speed to make the tackle and the running back has a wide-open path to the end zone to score.

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Right before the snap, the wildcats actually have an extra man on the end of the line of scrimmage (red circle) on the play side.

Now, as a pattern we’ve seen before, the offense is going to allow the back-side penetration, figuring that player won’t have the speed to make the play.

The backside defensive end tracking on the red arrow is being blocked and also unable to close the gap and make the play, everyone else on the play side has been blocked and the offense is poised for a big run.

Finally, every player on the play side has an offensive player blocking them and the running back is sprung for a big play.