SoldierGriz said:
I told you before...I am closer to the program, and those who know MUCH about the o-line in the last 7 years under CG's watchful eye. Guarantee - closer than you. I will just leave it at that.
But, PR is gonna PR. Keep fluffin.
Well I'm not closer to the program at all. All I know is what my eye sees. I went back and watched the game last night specifically focusing on the O-line. I watched Brown get absolutely owned on the first sack of Johnson. Then watching him get thrown to the ground like a ragdoll on a couple of other plays. Watching him get pushed backwards into the collapsing pocket like he's on roller skates on a number of plays.
Rushing: The majority of the running plays' success was because of the RB, not necessarily the O-line blocking. Ostmo had a 12 yard run in which a tackle was actually missed BEHIND the line of scrimmage, then he bounced off of two or three other tacklers on the way to the 12 yard gain. Harris's big gainer had first contact about 1 yard past the LOS. Lots of short gains due to O-lines inability to create holes or move the D-line (1, -7, 3, -6, 7, 6, -1, 1, 12, 4, 4, 3, 1, 16, 0, 1, 3, 4, 7, 3, 3, 8, 3, 3, 4, 3, 0, -21, -3, 3, 2, 1, 2). So in 33 rushing attempts, we had 5 TOTAL that went for more than 4 yards and rushed for a total of 70 yards and 2.5 ypc. And both of the long(er) ones were essentially all on the RB. Is that REALLY the production we want/need out of our rushing attack/O-line?
(Just for comparison's sake, to see how we stack up against the team we presumably think we're meeting in the chipper, here are NDSU's rushing plays against FBS University of Arizona: 5, 3, 5, 3, 6, 15, 7, 7, 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 5, -12, 10, -1, 12, 1, 9, 2, 0, 2, 1, 6, 10, 1, 34, 19, 6, 4, 2, 4, 7, 11, 38, 22, 4 ,7, 14, -1, 0, 1, 2, -2. That's TWENTY TWO (out of 45) rushing plays over 4 yards, and ELEVEN of those were over 9 yards on their way to 283 yards rushing, on 6.3 ypc.)
Passing: IMHO the primary reason the O-line looks relatively good in pass protection is because the majority of the pass plays take less than 1.5 seconds to get the ball out of Johnson's hands. He's in the shotgun, takes the snap, makes a quick read and fires a short pass in the flat or across the middle. That is about 73% of our pass plays.
Pass Plays (including 3 that were nullified by penalty):
LJ: Short right, short right, short right
deep left, short right, deep left, deep right
deep right, short right, short right, short left
short left, deep right, deep left, short left, deep left
short left, short left
short right, deep middle, deep left, short middle
short left, short right, short right, short left
short right, short right
short middle, short right, short right, short left, short left, short left, deep middle
KB: short left, short right
short right, short left, short left, short left
short right, short left
deep left, deep left, deep left, short left, deep middle
34 "short" passes. 13 "deep" passes. Rarely is there a look downfield on a slower developing play, and RARELY do the O-linemen have to block for more than 1.5-2 seconds. And still Johnson often has to scramble and leave the "pocket" while searching for an open receiver (which he's VERY good at, by the way). So when Bobby says "we've got the right man for this system", I think that's maybe coach speak for "he can avoid the rush that's inevitably coming and still get the ball away fairly accurately to the receivers while running for his life".
One other thing I noticed: Not a SINGLE substitution on the O-line until KB came into the game. So Walker/MayGinnes/Forbes/Brown/Casey played every single meaningful offensive snap, which truly tells you what Bobby thinks of the "2-deep" backups and how well-positioned we are should one of those 5 go down with any kind of serious injury. Are they all young? Sure (well, except for Walker). Are they improving? I guess one could say that. But they'd better improve leaps and bounds or I stand by my initial observation that this unit is the weakest link and we are still no better than a quarterfinal team.