Breaking down Wildcats' defensive scheme ahead of showdown with No. 16 Arizona State

Last week, Arizona State managed to pull off a big win over the BYU Cougars that has put them on the path to a College Football Playoff berth, and it was largely thanks to offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo's brilliant game plan against a really stout defense. He should have an easier time this week against bitter rival Arizona.

A major factor in the Wildcats' 10-win breakthrough season last year was how great the defense played for second-year coordinaror Johnny Nansen. About a week before head coach Jedd Fisch left for the same job at Washington, Nansen left for the co-defensive coordinator role at Texas. Fisch then left before naming a new coordinator, which left it up to new head Brent Brennan. While Brennan's defensive coordinator at San Jose State, Derrick Odum, had consistently produced top-tier defenses, Brennan sought continuity from last year's Wildcats defense.

That led to him promoting Duane Akina to the role. Akina is a longtime college coaching veteran, working since 1979. Akina is most known for his work as the defensive backs coach for the Longhorns during the Mack Brown era, but before that he held several coaching roles in Tucson under Dick Tomey. Fisch brought Akina back as an analyst in 2023, working as a de facto defensive backs coach. Ironically, Akina was originally slated to follow Nansen to Texas, but he abandoned that plan when Brennan offered him the coordinator role.

At 68 years old, Akina is one of the oldest coaches in any capacity in the FBS. He comes with loads of experience, but had also never called defensive plays. In fact, his only experience calling plays came right with the Wildcats, but as the offensive coordinator under Tomey. Still, Akina has seen it all and also provided continuity for the defensive scheme after a stellar year.

It hasn't helped much.

Last year under Nansen, the Wildcats ranked 30th in scoring defense, 49th in yards allowed, and 49th in takeaways. It wasn't elite stuff by any means, but with an offense that was playing at such a high rate, it was more than enough to win plenty of games.

So far this year, Arizona sits at 104th in scoring defense, 94th in yards allowed, and 52nd in takeaways. They lost a couple players to the draft and transfer portal, notably star cornerback Ephesians Prysock, but Arizona retained several of their best players. Linebackers Jacob Manu and Justin Flowe, safety Gunner Maldonado, and cornerback Tacario Davis, the latter of whom entered the year as a projected late-first round draft pick.

It hasn't kept the defense from getting picked apart by nearly every offense they face.

The level of play hasn't stayed the same, but Akina did keep the scheme intact. Arizona runs a 4-2-5 defense that's heavy on man coverage, mostly because they have the talent for it. Akina has been known as a stickler for press man techniques throughout his career, and he's sent plenty of defensive backs to the NFL as a result.

The one change Akina introduced this year was a higher blitz rate, largely to mask the deficiencies of the defensive line. That's caused some problems against the pass, as quarterbacks have been getting the ball out quicker and running more route combinations designed to beat press coverage quickly. That's bad news this week, as Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt has actually been better against the blitz than without it. He has a slightly higher completion rate - 62.1% vs 60.8% - and nearly half his passing touchdowns this year have been against the blitz.

The bigger issue for the Wildcats this week is a run defense that's giving up the third-most yards per carry in the Big 12. That's especially bad when Cam Skattebo is coming to town. Skattebo, who is currently mixing it up in the Heisman race, has 1,222 rushing yards for an average of 5.4 yards per carry and 14 touchdowns. Only four running backs have broken more tackles than Skattebo, who has been the driving force of this offense.

Last week, Arroyo expertly used Skattebo to build a deadly play action passing attack off his running threat. Jordyn Tyson has been the biggest beneficiary, too, currently ranking 11th among Power 4 receivers in yards and fifth in touchdowns. Arizona has had trouble stopping the run all season long, and there's no reason to believe they'll suddenly figure it out against the human bowling ball that is Skattebo.

Arizona State enters this game as a heavy favorite despite being on the road, but looking at the Wildcats defense offers up plenty of reason to be confident in that favoritism. Arroyo's offense has been well-developed throughout the year, and its strengths figure to perfectly exploit the weaknesses of this Wildcats defense.