ASU defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez has seen a lot of different scenarios across the duration of his football career, both as a player and a coach, but across all of them, just a few lessons stand out. Foremost among them is consistency. Rodriguez believes if you can be consistent, you can make adjustments and identify problems, and by making those adjustments and identifying the problems, you can fix them.

Entering the first week of November, Arizona State is dealing with some issues. The team sits at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play after a second-half meltdown against Utah and a first-half drubbing at the hands of Washington State. In both of those contests, Arizona State’s pass rush faltered and failed to pick up a sack, much to the dismay of its position coach. Nonetheless, Rodriguez isn’t going to kick and scream over their problems or change his approach. It’s about consistency.

“What we can’t do is change who we are and how we go to these guys because we are losing,” Rodriguez said on Wednesday. “I’m going to be (hard on the players) all the time, and that’s how we are in the defensive line room. So, what I’m going to do is continue to be hard on them and hold them to a high level, but I’m not going to sit here and finger point.”

“Their failure is my failure. Their success is my success… In the toughest of times, they need to know two things: I’m not going to change, and I’m not going to turn my back on them.”

Rodriguez isn’t going to ever blame his players for their mistakes on the field. He might give them a hard time for a miscue, but he isn’t going to go out there and throw the blame on them because the players often will end up blaming the coaches in return, creating a cycle of finger pointing that is flat out unhealthy.

“We’ve made adjustments to how we practice, how we are going to game plan,” Rodriguez explained. “X’s and O’s you can change, but you have to show consistency and who you are. We have to let them know that we’ve got their backs, that their success is our success, and their failure is our failure. Number two, I can’t over adjust and go back in the room too hard and rough, but I can’t also stroke their egos or stroke their heads and say losing is okay. Losing is not okay; failure is not okay.”

“I base how I coach off wins and losses. I have to coach on winning and losing mentality, winning and losing consistency play to play and day to day.”

While Rodriguez has learned many philosophical traits that stick with him through his coaching style, he also has tactical skills that elevate his abilities as a position coach. As the maestro of ASU’s defensive line, the penetrative front of every defensive snap, it’s Rodriguez’s job to study the opposition, the five offensive linemen who will line up across from his guys and do everything in their power to stop them.

Rodriguez, who was the assistant defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2015 to 2019, learned a thing or two about finding “chinks in the armor” of great offensive linemen, such as former USC Trojan and current Dallas Cowboys tackle Tyron Smith. Rodriguez used the example of Smith, as well as another former Trojan whom the team faced last year, Alijah Vera-Tucker, as a chance to not hero-worship the best offensive lineman.

“They’re all wearing USC uniforms, they’re great players or really good players, but they all have weaknesses,” Rodriguez told reporters on Wednesday ahead of ASU’s matchup with USC. “I have weaknesses, so do you, so does everybody. We all got them, so don’t look at them like Superman, look at them as Clark Kent. They might be wearing Superman’s uniform, but they bleed like we do, put their pants on one leg at a time, and they have weaknesses.”

“I give them a tape every week on every individual offensive lineman that has had significant playing time and show them the weaknesses of that said player, so when they line up against that guy, they have a rush plan and know how to beat him.”

As far as the play of his unit goes, Rodriguez has had to rely on a slew of players that have filled in due to injuries around the position group. Senior defensive tackle Jermanye Lole and LSU transfer defensive end Travez Moore have been out for weeks with season-ending injuries. Graduate defensive end Tyler Johnson missed time against Washington State, as did graduate student nose tackle DJ Davidson. The absences called for the “next man up” mentality, and the defensive line picked up the phone.

“I’ve been very, very pleased with Anthonie Cooper,” Rodriguez began. “Two guys who are warriors for me are DJ (Davidson) and (graduate defensive tackle) Shannon Forman. I’m going to appreciate them for the rest of time. The biggest jump has been (redshirt freshman defensive tackle) Omarr Norman-Lott, O think he’s gotten better, and (redshirt junior nose tackle) TJ Pesefea, who has given us really consistent work; inside and done good stuff.”

Other players mentioned were redshirt freshman defensive end Joe Moore, walk-on freshman defensive tackle BJ Green and redshirt junior defensive end Stanley Lambert, all of whom received praise for their work behind the scenes with some notes for improvement as well.

With a home matchup against USC looming and a tough two weeks in the rearview mirror, Arizona State’s energy and urgency have been up at practice, according to the coaching staff. A lot of players on the roster have ties to Southern California, so it adds an extra level of excitement, juice to the building. Rodriguez just wants to respond to the adversity of last week and have his guys show up show out on Saturday.

“The way we responded to adversity in the last two games - the last game and the second half of the Utah game – it ain’t good enough,” Rodriguez said defiantly. “It’s not good enough for anybody in this building. As the defensive line coach, I take that personal. I did not think my guys quit in that game. I looked at them, and they kept playing hard. Did we play well enough to overcome those things? No. But they gave me great energy and preparation.

“Those guys worked hard the week after Utah. They worked hard last week. The thing is, we’ve got to work smart and work hard. I think that’s what we’re putting together now, really streamlining some stuff, and I’m really proud of those guys that they’ve stayed with us, and they’re still plugging away.”

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