**Official Offensive Line Controversy Thread**

Vote for the real issue.

  • Offensive Line

    Votes: 41 93.2%

  • Quarterback

    Votes: 3 6.8%
  • Total voters
    44
Toe said:
Too many people don't grasp just how young and inexperienced this offensive line is. O-lines take longer to develop than any other position on a football team. But right now our O-line depth chart is just 40% upperclassmen, and not one single senior. For comparison, the OL depth chart during Bo's last season was 83% upperclassmen.
Click to expand...


100% agree. It's apparent that Frost is building that position group for the future. They'll keep working with Jurgens to get his snaps down, and I have confidence that will happen eventually. OL is also a group that needs to work together, and I think they're still developing their chemistry. It's a work in progress for sure, and hopefully the second half of this year we continue to see improvement from game to game. It would be great to see the offense come alive down the stretch. If they do, I think this is still a 9 win team even with all the struggles.

Regarding AM, I thought he actually played pretty well. I've said this in multiple threads now, but it's worth reiterating. He had 4 or 5 crucial drops that would have either kept drives alive (JD on 1st drive, Allen dropped one, Noa dropped one) or scored (Wandale on the screen). Receivers catch those balls, and we probably win vs NW by 2 scores.

The biggest area this team needs to work on is just being locked in mentally all the time. There are lapses on both sides of the ball, but especially offense. They really need to develop a killer mentality. Offense - expect to score every possession. Defense - expect to allow 0 points and/or get a turnover every possession.

 
Posted this on Sunday in another forum, but thought it'd fit here better. Based on Football Outsiders stats through week 5 (Northwestern not factored in, but it'll get worse), our OL ranks 111th in the country in sack rate (filters out garbage time). On standard downs we're 55th and on passing downs the sack rate is 123rd.

Beyond that our run game struggles are feeding directly into our passing struggles in my opinion. We're 105th in overall rushing, 88th on standard downs and 120th on passing downs. 

The only offensive line stat where we aren't ranked in the bottom half of the country is power success rate which is gaining first downs with less than 2 yards to go on 3rd or 4th down. That's helped significantly by AM's running ability.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaaol/2019
 
Toe said:
Too many people don't grasp just how young and inexperienced this offensive line is. O-lines take longer to develop than any other position on a football team. But right now our O-line depth chart is just 40% upperclassmen, and not one single senior. For comparison, the OL depth chart during Bo's last season was 83% upperclassmen.
Click to expand...
Very true, Toe. Our OL needs more game experience. I know you already realize this, but some of it is also a talent deficiency. We are having mountains of trouble getting movement at the LOS on inside runs vs decent DLs. And, many of our OL just don't move their feet very well, especially in pass pro. We have Farniok at tackle, and he admits publicly that blocking the edge is "not his strength", and we are so depleted at center we had to throw Jurgens in as a starter  for game 1 when he hadn't even practiced much due to injury, and he is still having 11 high snaps in game 6. I think Benhart, Banks, etc have more raw talent than most Offensive lineman who are playing now, but Frost is playing the long game by sitting them and letting them develop a year before hitting the field. As a result, when they start next year, they will also be in the "young" category and will need time to gel with the other O linemen. However, I think these young O linemen will be a noticeable upgrade over our current O line, after a few games in 2020, even though they are young.....sometimes there is no substitute for length and good feet.  :)

 
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