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When it comes to playing in the trenches, nothing is more important than confidence. And nothing builds confidence quite like familiarity.

As the UA prepares to play its 12th game of the season, the Wildcats' offensive line is grasping its new scheme.

"Comfort breeds confidence," UA center Blake Kerley explained. "Football in general is about comfort, you know? You have to be comfortable enough with something to be confident doing it."

The UA football team's offensive line enters Saturday's "Duel in the Desert" with the kind of swagger normally reserved for a much better team. The Wildcats are pass-protecting and run-blocking better than in 2006, when injuries to key offensive linemen and quarterback Willie Tuitama led to a postseason housecleaning.

Arizona is averaging 391.5 yards per game this season, an increase of nearly 140 yards per game.

"The biggest thing as an offensive line is that you have to work together," first-year offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh said. "Our guys, they're all working on the same page, they understand every front and blitz they're going to see, and they execute."

The same can't be said for No. 13 Arizona State.

The Sun Devils' stellar record belies the fact that they have allowed a school-record 49 sacks on 341 pass attempts. Quarterback Rudy Carpenter has been sacked 48 times, the most of any quarterback in the Pac-10.

ASU (9-2 overall, 6-2 Pac-10) enters Saturday's game facing the very real possibility of starting a backup guard — senior Robert Gustavis — at left tackle, the position charged with protecting Carpenter's blind side.

Starter Brandon Rodd is questionable with two sprained ankles.

"We're beat up pretty good there right now," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. "(Gustavis) has been a left guard, hasn't played tackle, but that's kind of where we're at right now."

Arizona (5-6, 4-4) can sympathize. The Wildcats were besieged by injuries a year ago, both to the offensive line and to Tuitama. Things got so bad that UA coach Mike Stoops implemented a run-first offense midway through the season, in part to keep Tuitama off his back.

The new scheme couldn't keep the quarterback healthy. Already damaged by a concussion suffered at LSU in Week 2, Tuitama had to be pulled from the Wildcats' final two games after complaining of postconcussive symptoms. A hit from Arizona State's Kyle Caldwell ended Tuitama's 2006 season — and put his once-promising career in jeopardy.

Tuitama's injuries, and Arizona's general lack of offensive production, led Stoops to replace his entire offensive staff. New coordinator Sonny Dykes has since all but eliminated the Wildcats' protection problems. The "Air Zona" offense has allowed 27 sacks on 479 pass attempts while stressing quick, short passes.

The Wildcats will likely finish the season with 150 more pass attempts — and fewer sacks — than last season, when Arizona's signal-callers were drilled 31 times.

"We've just been doing what we're supposed to be doing all year," Kerley said. "Whether or not that's what we were doing at this point last year, it's kind of irrelevant."

Kerley and his linemates won't look to last season's struggles to get an edge in this year's rivalry game. Nor do they take any pleasure in the Sun Devils' offensive line struggles.

"No, no, no," Kerley said. "We have enough motivation."