New O-line Biggest Overreaction for 2012?

[RE Tycoon]

It's already started. The offseason previews for 2012 are predicting football Armageddon because we graduate five seniors on the o-line!

I get it, the unknown is scary. I would be lying if I told you O-line wasn't a worry of mine, albeit slight. The fact is, for an exclusively senior line in 2011, they were just not that good (or as good as they should have been with 5 seniors and all that entails).

I scoured the Internet for data to back up my observations and discovered no one really cares about evaluating offensive line units, so I gathered the only three stats on the NCAA website that could be effected by the O-line: sacks allowed, tackles for loss allowed and fewest penalties. Here's where we rank for each:

Sacks Allowed: #87

Tackles for Loss Allowed: #45

Fewest Penalties per Game: #70

- Having the tin man in the pocket didn't help sacks allowed, but we do play in CUSA, so come on. It shouldn't have been that bad.

- Tackles for loss allowed looks decent until you realize we are a pass first team and don't run a lot of plays where the ball starts with the playmaker behind the line of scrimmage.

- The last one is the hardest to put entirely on the line, but I will anyway. Again, for 4th and 5th year guys to get so many false starts (cough, Beachum), personal fouls (cough, Brooks) and other nonsense was a joke. I couldn't find a breakdown by position group, but I feel pretty comfortable stating the o-line lead the team.

I would have expected last years unit to rank as a top 30-40 O-line in the country and they were probably more like in the 60-70 range.

So, when you look at how disappointing the O-line played last year, you start to feel a little better about the possibility for 2012. I'm expecting a 60-70 range unit again in 2012 or better and that is with a tougher schedule. So ignore the previewers blinded by the wonders of an all senior line and shift your worries to places on this team that need your worries such as WR's not named DJ, QB, D-line, special teams and recruiting.

[GRGB]

The new starters have more Rivals ***'s and BCS offers

[JasonB]

A couple of points....

1) Even though the o-line was not as dominant as we had expected last year (until the bowl game and decent coaching), they were still the starters. Which means they were better than the backups. Yes, with experience and growth the young players will get better. And yes, McJunkin was the starter to start the season, so no drop off at center. But for the other positions, the other players are young and not as good as the seniors yet.

2) The last time we graduated siginificant players from the o-line and d-line, everyone expected a bowl season with J Willis and skill position players coming back. But that was the disasterous final year of Bennett, when the young line fell apart and we couldn't stop the run defensively.

3) Don't overrate the linemen that came in. Not counting true frosh, the only linemen with multiple BCS offers are Gottschalk and Collins. The only OL recruit from the post-Bennett staff that has had a major impact this point is McJunkin.

O-line and d-line are definitely a concern until we see players with our own eyes in the Spring.

[smubrooks]

with spring and two-a-days being couched by Saun I believe the new line will be just as good, if not vastly better than last years. As we saw in the bowl game, Saun took over for only one month and their play was vastly improved. Several of the o-line, when asked, noted the difference in coaching style b/w Klemm and Saun and how he focused on technique and patience. As long as the new guys have been working [deleted] strength and agility the last year or two, then combining that with better position coaching and we will be fine.

All that being said, I can realistically see it taking 4-5 games before they really start to jell.

[Stallion]

Those stats can be a tad deceptive-let me see I bet Army, Navy, Georgia Tech and Air Force allowed the least sacks. Any offense with 5 OLM and no TE is going to surrender a lot of sacks

[leopold]

I did not pay attention during the season: How were we in terms of rotating O-lineman? In games that were blowouts, like both Memphis and A&M, did we put the youngsters in to get some experience?
If so, I am not that worried about number of starters if they have some legitimate playing time.

[RE Tycoon]

Those stats can be a tad deceptive-let me see I bet Army, Navy, Georgia Tech and Air Force allowed the least sacks. Any offense with 5 OLM and no TE is going to surrender a lot of sacks

As I pointed out, there is no readily available statistic to measure O-line performance, so I was working with what I had.

And no, you'd be wrong on your triple option assumption. The top ten in sacks allowed has a bunch of pass heavy teams:

1. Boise State
2. USC
3. Middle Tenn.
4. A&M
5. Air force
6. Toledo
7. Stanford
8. Oklahoma
9. SDSU
10. N. Illinois
-----
12. Army
15. Georgia Tech
21. Navy

[Pony Fan]

Those stats can be a tad deceptive-let me see I bet Army, Navy, Georgia Tech and Air Force allowed the least sacks. Any offense with 5 OLM and no TE is going to surrender a lot of sacks

And a quarterback who looked like he was in cement.

[JasonB]

I did not pay attention during the season: How were we in terms of rotating O-lineman? In games that were blowouts, like both Memphis and A&M, did we put the youngsters in to get some experience?
If so, I am not that worried about number of starters if they have some legitimate playing time.

the coaches have always talked about wanting to rotate in o-line players. However, the only ones that saw PR were Gottshaulk and Collins, I believe. Which is another reason I think some of the other players may be a bit behind...

[jpe747]

There is speculation that one of the new OL recruits might be moved to DL. If that is true, then I would assume the OL is at least adequate.

[PoconoPony]

I think the staff did a good job last season rotating the D linemen; however, there was not a lot of rotation in the O line. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that it was a senior group and you let them play and even hope they get better. Problem will be lack of experience but for Gottschalk and Collins. Situation also not helped if Levengston transferrs as announced even though he missed most of the practice and coaching with an injury.

[ojaipony]

We're really talking about 2 new guys and the most important position when it comes to experience is center and we have the best one from the last 4 years coming back in McJunkin. So Collins played a lot and Gottshalk some. So we're really just talking about 2 guys plus depth. It will take some time to gel but with Suan's coaching I think (hope) we'll see better line play this coming year (that group of seniors were great guys - great chemistry - but skill level was very overrated IMHO with the exception of Beachum).

[PonyPower]

We know Bryan Collins can play, and everything we hear and read suggests that Ben Gottschalk has a really bright future, too. Junk will be fine at center, of course, and several seem to think Jordan Free can step in and start at guard. If so, aren't really looking at just one truly new face on the offensive line?

[ponyte]

In 1980, the O line from split end to Tight end was nothing but seniors. So what happened in 1981 when the entire senior line was gone (including 4 five year players)? They just went out and won the conference championship. We will be fine at O line next year.

[Stallion]

yeah but those backups had all played the first series of the 2nd and 4th Quarters the year before right? Can't pinpoint exactly the year they started doing that but SMU literally substituted the entire line for seveal years to develop depth. That could have been a Bobby Collins thing but I think there is no comparison between the talent level on those backups who started. We are going to have to rely on about 5 guys in the rotation that didn't even letter-I don't remember that to be the case in 1981.