Offensive Line Thread

[irishff1014]

I thought they were dominant for most of the fourth quarter. I didn’t really think they were dominant run blocking for the first three quarters. I did not think they did well in pass protection today. That was my assessment.

They were ok in the run game. They struggled in the pass protection.

Whatever Freeman said at half sparked a fire though.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Well ... that's still wrong. Watch the tape again. Eight-in-the-box with very clever blitz overloads so that one side of our line often was faced with TOO FEW to block, while the delay came in on the other --- note how often Joe Alt found himself blocking an inner rusher (by rule) when the outside guy blitzed free. ... or blocking very wide while a late fill blitz came just outside Patterson's block.

Our Line = FIVE.
Eight-in-the-box = EIGHT.
(sorry ... but this constant eyeball commentary p!sses me off after a while.)
If there is blame on these plays check to see if we left enough blocking support in to handle this defensive cleverness
and quit blaming the big guys, who are working their butts off every play.

 

[calvegas04]

I agree with the statement that they weren't great for 80% of the game, glad they did what was needed when it counts.

 

[ulukinatme]

Next year should be interesting. Replacing a couple guys in the middle, but the Tackles are already exceptional. We relied a lot on the run game this year, I wonder if we don't go with more of a passing attack next year with a more experienced WR group and breaking in a new interior OL? Hopefully the QB situation will be better too, whoever ends up starting.

 

[Te'o4Heisman]

I agree with the statement that they weren't great for 80% of the game, glad they did what was needed when it counts.

Good lord, tough crowd. You dont put up almost 600 yds of offense and 45 points (should have been 50+) with your line not being good for 80% of the game.

 

[Dale]

Unless Correll and Patterson was responsible for adjusting pressures, most of the OL “issues” were poor blitz pickup which I assume falls under Tyler.

Again unless they assigned that to someone else because I feel like it was versus OSU? Or that was the plan Patterson? Idk.

 

[ulukinatme]

It's crazy to think there's other guys out there like ZMart.

 

[irishff1014]

 

[Old Man Mike]

Good to hear but perhaps a bit too optimistic by the Big Guy. (We COULD be the best, but we have a lot to prove at several spots.)

What is REALLY good to pick up from this is: This shows that Alt is emerging as a TEAM Leader, and vocal person.
THAT is BIG.

 

[IAIrish]

If the best players on the TTeam are leaders, it normally bodes well. Alt would definitely be in the group of captain candidates.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

 

[irishff1014]

Team over individual. Ah so nice to read.

 

[T-Boone]

This thread should be getting bumped more often. The Oline dudes don’t show up in the stats so they should get a thread.
I think Rocco is doing well. He looked bad on that blitz but apart from that solid. I assume he has another year of eligibility.
Good on him for sticking it out. Never heard him whinge once.

 

[Crazy Balki]

This thread should be getting bumped more often. The Oline dudes don’t show up in the stats so they should get a thread.
I think Rocco is doing well. He looked bad on that blitz but apart from that solid. I assume he has another year of eligibility.
Good on him for sticking it out. Never heard him whinge once.

Big Roc and Coogan were the odd men out.

And yet, both have done fairly well recently.

 

[NDpendent]

Big Roc and Coogan were the odd men out.

And yet, both have done fairly well recently.

Coogan and Roco should get the steady Eddy awards. They are never going to be the guys who make the highlight reel but you can always count on them and they aren't going to make a lot of mistakes.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I haven't been following and analyzing this so much this year. What I think that I've noticed is:
a.) All the comments about our OLine by outsiders say that all of our guys are VERY powerful and talented. And everyone expects slow and fairly steady improvement as they grow together;
b.) That synchronizes with what I'm seeing. NONE of our guys was "Great" to start, but all of our guys were formidable. Early on, what I saw were more communication or understanding breakdowns by the TEs and RBs than the actual 5 OLinemen. (I think, by the way, that this explained the number of snaps by Ford at RB rather than our obviously more threatening RB choices --- Love especially seems to be getting much better at this, and the young fellow Aeneas (Williams? Forgive my memory) seems aware of most of the blocking on pass plays too. The TEs were surprisingly poor at "getting there" early, but seem to be good-old-Notre Dame solid lately.) As to the Linemen, I think that the coordination is getting very good. I also believe that too many fans had "happy hope eyes" as concerns our very young LT. He's had lots of breakdowns but he's high potential talent and will get better ... as he has already. (Still I wouldn't be stunned to see Jagusah get his LT job back next year.)

I can easily be wrong about all of this. Our OLine is SO young, especially as to being together, so it's hard to pick the individuals apart. One thing that you CAN watch and make judgements on is whether any of the interior guys get bowed and pushed back (I mean OFTEN: everyone has this happen once in a while), or whether the tackles can't run with the speed rushers and still have good enough feet to deal with the consequent inside spin.) If you see any of this, worry. If you think our guys improve on it, then don't worry. BUT, again, EVERYBODY says that our guys are REALLY high potential and pretty much already performing well (our RBs aren't getting all those yards entirely on their own.)

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Big Roc and Coogan were the odd men out.

And yet, both have done fairly well recently.

Coogan and Roco should get the steady Eddy awards. They are never going to be the guys who make the highlight reel but you can always count on them and they aren't going to make a lot of mistakes.

It was telling to me that when Schrauth returned thsi week, the moved him to LG rather than back to RG, likely because the staff was impressed with how Rocco has been playing. Not that Pendleton has been bad, but it seems to me like Spindler has really taken advantage of his opportunities this season.

Either way, all of a sudden it seems like the young OL is building some depth that we can feel good about in the later stages of this season.

 

[Old Man Mike]

This, about Spindler vs. Pendleton, would be easy for me to believe after watching the last few games.

Again, could easily be wrong, but I felt Right side was more consistent than Left. And Spindler looks strong pushing people.

Either way, we're pretty good (especially for a bunch most wrote off as weakness.)

Nice to think that we could easily have TWO good OLines by next season (if we can retain them.)