Remember is the 'old days' when Iowa basically worked on the running game in the pre-season games , and everyone bitched about no passing, not trying hard to win, boring football, etc? Remember how others would say 'be patient, the OL needs these running plays etc to gel'?
Well. we stopped that approach, it seems ,and this OL never really gelled. the top 5 keep changing due to injuries, performance, etc, and they just never seemed to find 'it' this yr. they didn't come into November with an established lineup of 5-7 guys in the same positions.
Not sure where the blame goes for all of that, but there's plenty to go around.
The one thing I know is that younger lines ALWAYS HAVE been at a disadvantage and developmental programs' success depends on having a good mix of experience and youth in their OL's to be any good.
Th last couple yrs, we've lost STAR OL's to the pro's early and didn't have experienced guys ready to step in. Not sure the staff had it figured out, or what.