Offensive and Defensive Lines

[mustang1108]

Maybe I missed it but I haven't seen a thread on this topic yet, but in order for this team to have a successful season we absolutely have to improve on our offensive and defensive lines. The defensive line has to find a way to put pressure on the qb. Luckily there are not too many teams in the AAC that depend on a passing game like Tech, but still this area has to improve. And as far as the o-line I don't even know where to begin. They missed blocks all night and especially on the right side of the o-line as they made #91 look like unstoppable. I honestly think there is some hope for this year, but it really does start upfront on both sides of the ball and they somehow have to figure out a way to move on from this game and get better week after week.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

I was really concerned about both lines going into last night. Oddly, I'm less concerned after watching them in action against Tech. Don't get me wrong, there is work to be done. But I was worried about a fundamental talent deficiency. After last night, I think the talent is there. They just need more coaching and experience. I'm hopeful that they'll be pretty solid for AAC play.

[sbsmith]

Gonna get worse before it gets better, I just hope Gilbert makes it through TCU/A&M in one piece.

[Rebel10]

D Line played okay but there were not a lot of blitzes called to help them. O Line needs some work for sure.

[PhantomPhi]

TTEch left offensive line abused our right side. They found a weakness and exploited it. Fortunately SMU's in the AAC.

[JasonB]

For good potions of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, we were playing a RS frosh at right tackle, and a true frosh at right guard.

I don't know what happened with Ashcroft, other than he must be carrying an injury because most of the Fall we played Gotshaulk at LG and Ashcroft at LT, Rice at RG. Mccarthy played pretty well, better than Hughes the starter I think, but RT struggled all night. Of course it was his first college game against an all big 12 end.

A lot of the mistakes were mental, not physical, so the young guys should improve the next couple of games. Two games of tape and the bye will help before A&M hopefully .

DL played well. OL is not the strength of the Tech team, but physically we matched up with them and played a ton of depth. I think we are fine there. Definitely not blown off the ball in the running game. We did generate 4 sacks as a team, that isn't bad at all. Any 3-4 team is going to have a difficult time generating pressure when you just rush 3. You essentially need 3 players who can all beat their blocker at the same time because you are outnumbered 5-3.

[Ponymon]

Since their walkon, freshman QB generated over 400 yards passing, it is obvious that having 8 defenders cover their wideouts was NOT a winning strategy.

[JasonB]

Since their walkon, freshman QB generated over 400 yards passing, it is obvious that having 8 defenders cover their wideouts was NOT a winning strategy.

Especially when we only played nickel on third and long. If we are only going to rush 3 we need to be in nickel or dime probably to give us more speed in the secondary.