M
Moostache
Guest
Just for kicks (and based off of some numbers someone else posted on another forum):
Theorum - Offensive production is predicated on Offensive Line play.
Corollary - Offensive Line Play is partly proportional to experience.
Corollary - Offensive Line experience is gained through games started in D1 football.
Caveat - Offensive Line Play is also influenced by many other factors, but at D-1 level in college football; however, experience is a highly revealing number when taken comparatively to one's opponents:
For these figures, 1 start by a FR. = 1 pt., SO. = 2 points, up to a 5yrSR = 5 points.
Fact - (Cummulative POINTS of O-Line experience per team)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ND -----------120
GT ------------------ 172
UM --------------141
PSU ----------------151
USC --------------142
MSU ------------------ 174
BC --------------133
Fact - (Cummulative POINTS of upperclass -Sr. / 5yr - O-Line experience per team)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ND ------------------ 40
GT ------------------ 160
UM ------------------ 100
PSU ------------------126
USC ------------------129
MSU ------------------159
BC --------------------111
Fact - Percentage of TOTAL POINTS made by upperclass linemen :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ND 33%
GT 93%
UM 71%
PSU 83%
USC 91%
MSU 91%
BC 83%
Conclusion - Teams USUALLY start Offensive Lines with a high % of upperclassmen.
Conclusion - Teams WITHOUT a high percentage of play from upperclassmen, by definition, lack line experience and should not be viewed as "normal" or "typical" situations.
Conclusion - Teams without offensive line experience will fail to move the ball consistently.
Conclusion - Teams with low experience at the offensive line AND QB position will REALLY struggle to move the ball, possibly experiencing periods of complete ineptitude in the passing game.
Final Conclusion - Teams with low experience at the offensive line AND QB AND RB AND WR positions will require a special papal dispensation to move the ball - experiencing complete breakdowns in all phases of offensive football from run blocking to pass blocking to making throws on time to hitting open holes to out running blockers and on and on....
YES, I know that Auburn at one point had 3 FR linemen playing against Florida...they also did not have the other experience problems of Notre Dame's offense this year - and for the record, Auburn ran 44 times for 99 yards in that game ( a stellar 2.25 yards per carry average - also followed up by a 97 yards on 37 carry performance against LSU for 2.77 yards per carry); which while better than ND's horrifying averages this year, is still hardly 'proof' that inexperienced O-lines CAN play well.
For the record, in the two games against LSU and UF, Auburn ended up running the ball 81 times for 196 yards - a 2.41 yds/carry average and a 1-1 record. The fact that they also had similar struggles against USF (125 yards on 35 carries, 3.6 yds/carry) and LOST that one too might, just MIGHT have something to do with the fact that they have those 3 freshmen O-linemen....playing and beating the likes of New Mexico State and Vanderbilt and Kansas State, while also finding a way to lose to Mississippi State and its "Dead Man Coaching" staff...none of this is meant to hate on Auburn, just to point out something many fans seem to lose sight on here - Auburn has been a National Champion and a BCS team in the last 4 years, they are having an inconsistent season with young O-line and EXPERIENCED QB - 5yr Cox - AND EXPERIENCED RB and WRs!!!]
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For all the teeth nashing and wearing of sack-cloth and ashes in the fan base these days; and for all of the hand-wringing and itching to fire the coach rhetoric out there; and for all of the collective wisdom of the media hacks and coach analysts - its really VERY simple why ND is getting the bejesus beat out of them on the field this year. Not ONE of the teams we have played to date (sorry I did not have easy access to the Purdue data - it was not omitted on purpose) has as little as TWICE the experience points on their O-Line coming from their upperclassmen.
To me, this does not excuse the lack of apparent progress from UM to USC games (an area that only a complete fool could leave unattended - and obviously, no matter what people think they know about Weis' football coaching, no one considers him a complete fool) but when you stop to consider that the closest ND has come to playing a team with similar disparity in the experience level of the offensive line was MICHIGAN (anchored by All-American Jake Long and lead by Sr. RB Mike Hart) it should not really be too surprising that the team looks NOTHING like the unit from Weis' first two campaigns at ND...
If a team like Auburn - just 4 years removed from a share of a national title - can have an inconsistent season in part because of o-line inexperience and poor offense, then why is it so hard for people to believe that Notre Dame, just 4 years removed from the previous worst season in school history (Ty's free-fall from grace to reality in 2003) could be far, far worse off with a near TOTAL lack of o-line or ANY offensive experience?
Is there progress that needs to be made on the O-line? Of course there is....loads of it too. But when you look deeper than the usual - the "Charlie Weis can't win with his recruits" rhetoric, or past the gleeful piling on of ND haters saying that Weis is a product of circumstance and really is a clueless mook who couldn't lead wolves to meat - what you find is a very big problem at a fundemental position on the field, in fact at THE fundemental position on the field. This problem can't be solved in a week-to-week in season mode, with 20-hour limits and a full class load...it can only be endured on the field and corrected in the off-season through strength and conditioning work, film study and then in hard-nosed spring and fall practices. The good news? These next four games really qualify as fall practice!
Theorum - Offensive production is predicated on Offensive Line play.
Corollary - Offensive Line Play is partly proportional to experience.
Corollary - Offensive Line experience is gained through games started in D1 football.
Caveat - Offensive Line Play is also influenced by many other factors, but at D-1 level in college football; however, experience is a highly revealing number when taken comparatively to one's opponents:
For these figures, 1 start by a FR. = 1 pt., SO. = 2 points, up to a 5yrSR = 5 points.
Fact - (Cummulative POINTS of O-Line experience per team)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ND -----------120
GT ------------------ 172
UM --------------141
PSU ----------------151
USC --------------142
MSU ------------------ 174
BC --------------133
Fact - (Cummulative POINTS of upperclass -Sr. / 5yr - O-Line experience per team)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ND ------------------ 40
GT ------------------ 160
UM ------------------ 100
PSU ------------------126
USC ------------------129
MSU ------------------159
BC --------------------111
Fact - Percentage of TOTAL POINTS made by upperclass linemen :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ND 33%
GT 93%
UM 71%
PSU 83%
USC 91%
MSU 91%
BC 83%
Conclusion - Teams USUALLY start Offensive Lines with a high % of upperclassmen.
Conclusion - Teams WITHOUT a high percentage of play from upperclassmen, by definition, lack line experience and should not be viewed as "normal" or "typical" situations.
Conclusion - Teams without offensive line experience will fail to move the ball consistently.
Conclusion - Teams with low experience at the offensive line AND QB position will REALLY struggle to move the ball, possibly experiencing periods of complete ineptitude in the passing game.
Final Conclusion - Teams with low experience at the offensive line AND QB AND RB AND WR positions will require a special papal dispensation to move the ball - experiencing complete breakdowns in all phases of offensive football from run blocking to pass blocking to making throws on time to hitting open holes to out running blockers and on and on....
YES, I know that Auburn at one point had 3 FR linemen playing against Florida...they also did not have the other experience problems of Notre Dame's offense this year - and for the record, Auburn ran 44 times for 99 yards in that game ( a stellar 2.25 yards per carry average - also followed up by a 97 yards on 37 carry performance against LSU for 2.77 yards per carry); which while better than ND's horrifying averages this year, is still hardly 'proof' that inexperienced O-lines CAN play well.
For the record, in the two games against LSU and UF, Auburn ended up running the ball 81 times for 196 yards - a 2.41 yds/carry average and a 1-1 record. The fact that they also had similar struggles against USF (125 yards on 35 carries, 3.6 yds/carry) and LOST that one too might, just MIGHT have something to do with the fact that they have those 3 freshmen O-linemen....playing and beating the likes of New Mexico State and Vanderbilt and Kansas State, while also finding a way to lose to Mississippi State and its "Dead Man Coaching" staff...none of this is meant to hate on Auburn, just to point out something many fans seem to lose sight on here - Auburn has been a National Champion and a BCS team in the last 4 years, they are having an inconsistent season with young O-line and EXPERIENCED QB - 5yr Cox - AND EXPERIENCED RB and WRs!!!]
=========================================================
For all the teeth nashing and wearing of sack-cloth and ashes in the fan base these days; and for all of the hand-wringing and itching to fire the coach rhetoric out there; and for all of the collective wisdom of the media hacks and coach analysts - its really VERY simple why ND is getting the bejesus beat out of them on the field this year. Not ONE of the teams we have played to date (sorry I did not have easy access to the Purdue data - it was not omitted on purpose) has as little as TWICE the experience points on their O-Line coming from their upperclassmen.
To me, this does not excuse the lack of apparent progress from UM to USC games (an area that only a complete fool could leave unattended - and obviously, no matter what people think they know about Weis' football coaching, no one considers him a complete fool) but when you stop to consider that the closest ND has come to playing a team with similar disparity in the experience level of the offensive line was MICHIGAN (anchored by All-American Jake Long and lead by Sr. RB Mike Hart) it should not really be too surprising that the team looks NOTHING like the unit from Weis' first two campaigns at ND...
If a team like Auburn - just 4 years removed from a share of a national title - can have an inconsistent season in part because of o-line inexperience and poor offense, then why is it so hard for people to believe that Notre Dame, just 4 years removed from the previous worst season in school history (Ty's free-fall from grace to reality in 2003) could be far, far worse off with a near TOTAL lack of o-line or ANY offensive experience?
Is there progress that needs to be made on the O-line? Of course there is....loads of it too. But when you look deeper than the usual - the "Charlie Weis can't win with his recruits" rhetoric, or past the gleeful piling on of ND haters saying that Weis is a product of circumstance and really is a clueless mook who couldn't lead wolves to meat - what you find is a very big problem at a fundemental position on the field, in fact at THE fundemental position on the field. This problem can't be solved in a week-to-week in season mode, with 20-hour limits and a full class load...it can only be endured on the field and corrected in the off-season through strength and conditioning work, film study and then in hard-nosed spring and fall practices. The good news? These next four games really qualify as fall practice!
