OLine Analysis

[NebChicago]

Any thoughts on our OLine performance. My overly simplistic take: we thought this would be a team strength. Not so much thus far.

-cam’s snap yips continue. Also has been hurt
-pocket collapsing too fast
-positive: I think we only had one false start against piper yesterday

 

[BleedRed78]

I don't think it's great by any means, bit still a strength. Especially if they get the penalty thing figured out. Surprisingly they looked best in game one against OSU. Hopefully they gel more now that they've got a win against a pretty talented d line.

 

[TheBeav815]

I thought the OL looked overmatched against PSU

 

[K_Y_E]

Shouldn’t it be a good thing that we were overmatched at almost every position and still found a way to win.

 

[TruHusker]

Go back and watch OSU film. There was a lot of chatter about the line play being better. Was it really or just talk and because of a couple of early drives it became gospel. Was it good against NW? Watch the day film, run each play 5 times to see what each player does.

Two basic things have to happen on any given play. The player has to make the right read/assignment and then execute the block. Either of those areas can break down.

I didn't get to watch all of the PSU game but it appears our tackles don't initiate contact quick enough and thus allow the DE to get upfield pretty quickly. Count how often our QB has a "clean pocket" from which to throw.

 

[oldjar07]

Go back and watch OSU film. There was a lot of chatter about the line play being better. Was it really or just talk and because of a couple of early drives it became gospel. Was it good against NW? Watch the day film, run each play 5 times to see what each player does.

Two basic things have to happen on any given play. The player has to make the right read/assignment and then execute the block. Either of those areas can break down.

I didn't get to watch all of the PSU game but it appears our tackles don't initiate contact quick enough and thus allow the DE to get upfield pretty quickly. Count how often our QB has a "clean pocket" from which to throw.

Our offensive line did look better against OSU, but that's before Jurgens got hurt. OSU also puts a higher priority on pass rushing rather than run stopping, so we've actually done a better job running against OSU rather than passing in recent years.

 

[oldjar07]

Any thoughts on our OLine performance. My overly simplistic take: we thought this would be a team strength. Not so much thus far.

-cam’s snap yips continue. Also has been hurt
-pocket collapsing too fast
-positive: I think we only had one false start against piper yesterday

Piper is a weakness so far. The game looks too fast for him. I think Wilson is the better option right now.

 

[trooper141]

Piper is a weakness so far. The game looks too fast for him. I think Wilson is the better option right now.

Give him some time. He’s very young and I believe I read he started as a DL? He will get there, hopefully sooner than later

 

[BleedRed78]

Piper is a weakness so far. The game looks too fast for him. I think Wilson is the better option right now.

I agree. I'm all for getting him in their as perhaps co starter with Wilson. But not full time starter yet...

 

[CatColumbia]

Our O-line would probably look better if we started the 4 seniors with Jurgens but I agree with Frost that this year is about developing for the future. So it’s crucial that Benhart, Piper and Corcoran get their share of playing time.

 

[Husker Hambone]

The whole team is young so any progress is promising. Hope they learn from mistakes and praise successes and wins. Penn St’s D line is seasoned and a strength on their team so it wasn’t surprising to see our line over matched. Will be interesting to see how they matchup with Iowa’s line.

 

[TheBeav815]

Go back and watch OSU film. There was a lot of chatter about the line play being better. Was it really or just talk and because of a couple of early drives it became gospel. Was it good against NW? Watch the day film, run each play 5 times to see what each player does.

Two basic things have to happen on any given play. The player has to make the right read/assignment and then execute the block. Either of those areas can break down.

I didn't get to watch all of the PSU game but it appears our tackles don't initiate contact quick enough and thus allow the DE to get upfield pretty quickly. Count how often our QB has a "clean pocket" from which to throw.

I watched the first half against PSU again and saw a lot of OL reaching and getting their hands slapped away. Also saw a lot of them coming at guys with their head down and just getting side-stepped.

One blown block is all it takes on a given play and you can find plenty of them where maybe 2 guys do a good job, another 2 do a good enough job, and the last guy just whiffs and the play goes nowhere.

I'm still waiting to be impressed with the OL. They have highly-rated guys in that room and they have older guys in that room as well. They clearly don't think much of several of their older guys because they're throwing redshirt freshmen like Jurgens and Benhart into starting jobs.

We made Northwestern look like they swapped uniforms with the Bears front 7 the way they stuffed the run on us. Northwestern is a sound team, but they're not a talented team. We ought to be able to run against them.

 

[tro80]

I have said since last year that if no one can beat out last year's O-line regulars (outside of Cam), then we will not be very good. I think the results to date bear out. They may be third year starters, some of them. But, they are still not near good enough for our offense to run effectively. Until someone better supplants them, we will continue to struggle. I'd play the younger guys and take our lumps as they learn. They can't be worse than what we have. This year means nothing anyway. My fear is the older guys come back for yet another year, Scott continues to play them and we are still mired in mediocrity in the line next year. If none of these youngers guys can push those guys out of the lineup, we will continue to have losing seasons, IMO.

 

[Anegada1]

Our O-line would probably look better if we started the 4 seniors with Jurgens but I agree with Frost that this year is about developing for the future. So it’s crucial that Benhart, Piper and Corcoran get their share of playing time.

On the money !

 

[steinek11]

Any thoughts on our OLine performance. My overly simplistic take: we thought this would be a team strength. Not so much thus far.

-cam’s snap yips continue. Also has been hurt
-pocket collapsing too fast
-positive: I think we only had one false start against piper yesterday

What's the consensus on Austin being able to coach?

 

[BleedRed78]

What's the consensus on Austin being able to coach?

I think better than we've had in a long time. Best ever? Likely a no, but still need time to really judge ie when we graduate the older guys and their all Frost's guys next season.

 

[oldjar07]

What's the consensus on Austin being able to coach?

Our tackles still get beat on any sort of downfield pass, so I wouldn't be sad to see him go. He's had two very poor years and this year is setting up to be nothing better than mediocre. The Oline coaching has been subpar.

 

[oldjar07]

Our O-line would probably look better if we started the 4 seniors with Jurgens but I agree with Frost that this year is about developing for the future. So it’s crucial that Benhart, Piper and Corcoran get their share of playing time.

Screw that. All it takes is one guy to miss their assignment on Oline to blow up a play that otherwise could have went for a chunk of yards. Piper was consistently that one guy. It does us no good to start him if he's not ready yet. Benhart is more developed and one of our better run blockers, but he still struggles in pass protection.

 

[73 Red I]

Give him some time. He’s very young and I believe I read he started as a DL? He will get there, hopefully sooner than later

Yes Piper was recruited as a DL, but moved to offense once he arrived in Lincoln. Piper was being recruited by Iowa for offense. Say what you want, but the Hawkeyes have a pretty good idea about OL.

 

[CatColumbia]

Screw that. All it takes is one guy to miss their assignment on Oline to blow up a play that otherwise could have went for a chunk of yards. Piper was consistently that one guy. It does us no good to start him if he's not ready yet. Benhart is more developed and one of our better run blockers, but he still struggles in pass protection.

So we should have kept Jurgens on the bench last year because he struggled?

 

[trooper141]

What I’ve learned from this thread and other OL threads

1 - we need to get our younger guys reps and be patient
2 - we need to play our older guys
3 - we should pull anyone who makes a mistake
4 - we should rotate OL to build more depth and be prepared in case of an injury
5 - no team in the history of football has ever rotated OL and its impossible to do so successfully
6 - our OL is a strength
7 - our OL is a weakness

That’s about all I have on this topic

 

[trooper141]

Yes Piper was recruited as a DL, but moved to offense once he arrived in Lincoln. Piper was being recruited by Iowa for offense. Say what you want, but the Hawkeyes have a pretty good idea about OL.

Should it be concerning that Iowa did not offer the Mt Pleasant kid then? I really don’t know that backstory.

 

[TruHusker]

I have said since last year that if no one can beat out last year's O-line regulars (outside of Cam), then we will not be very good. I think the results to date bear out. They may be third year starters, some of them. But, they are still not near good enough for our offense to run effectively. Until someone better supplants them, we will continue to struggle. I'd play the younger guys and take our lumps as they learn. They can't be worse than what we have. This year means nothing anyway. My fear is the older guys come back for yet another year, Scott continues to play them and we are still mired in mediocrity in the line next year. If none of these youngers guys can push those guys out of the lineup, we will continue to have losing seasons, IMO.
[/QUOTE]

You possibly have come to the right conclusion but the incorrect reason. Are you saying all of the three year starters aren't good enough to win and the young guys can't best them out? Then ask the question why they aren't getting better in three years. Why should be expect the young guys to automatically get better? There is no evidence they have or will. Think about it.

 

[Headcard]

Should it be concerning that Iowa did not offer the Mt Pleasant kid then? I really don’t know that backstory.

Nope he’s a stud.

 

[cHUCK001]

Not sure about this Cam Jurgens hype. He is young, but the only thing that he has proved so far, is that he can't snap the ball and is inconsistent with his blocking. He has cost us dearly at times with the timing. He needs to improve on the field, and he can start by snapping the ball to the QB properly.

 

[bshirt73]

Not sure about this Cam Jurgens hype. He is young, but the only thing that he has proved so far, is that he can't snap the ball and is inconsistent with his blocking. He has cost us dearly at times with the timing. He needs to improve on the field, and he can start by snapping the ball to the QB properly.

Yes, that is a major league problem. Jurgens was a truly horrible center hike for us last year but I'll still hope he'll start turning it around fairly soon.

 

[oldjar07]

Not sure about this Cam Jurgens hype. He is young, but the only thing that he has proved so far, is that he can't snap the ball and is inconsistent with his blocking. He has cost us dearly at times with the timing. He needs to improve on the field, and he can start by snapping the ball to the QB properly.

Yeah he's inconsistent, but he's the best we have by a wide margin. He's about the only guy we have that's capable of imposing his will on the defensive line.

 

[Laner2]

Not sure about this Cam Jurgens hype. He is young, but the only thing that he has proved so far, is that he can't snap the ball and is inconsistent with his blocking. He has cost us dearly at times with the timing. He needs to improve on the field, and he can start by snapping the ball to the QB properly.

Jurgens will be fine. He's a damned RS who was recruited as a tight end. He was asked to put on a metric ton and play center. Yes his snaps are annoying but to say that the only thing he has proved so far is that he can't snap the ball and is inconsistent with his blocking is just......silly. Watch the clips of him pulling and driving into the second level. Never stops. Not at all sure about the timing comment. His blocking is mostly consistent......help me out with how many times a defensive player beat him and got into our backfield. Our tackles, yes, but past Jurgens......it probably happened but I can't recall it.

Bottom lining this, I'm not getting worried about Jurgens at this point. And as for the Oline, we played the best two defenses we'll see all year (piss off, Peebirds). I'm going do evaluate the team, including the Oline, at the end of the season, not three games in after playing Tosu and PSU.

 

[CatColumbia]

My fear is that the Oline will play down to our competition. We can use the “we played OSU, NW, PSU” excuse but let’s see if we dominate Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue. Then we will really see if we’ve made progress.

 

[BleedRed78]

My fear is that the Oline will play down to our competition. We can use the “we played OSU, NW, PSU” excuse but let’s see if we dominate Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue. Then we will really see if we’ve made progress.

Good call. You're exactly right, and I hope they prove us all wrong tomorrow! Looks like rain is less likely, so let's freaking dominate. Bomb it deep and work on that dormant passing game.

 

[cHUCK001]

Jurgens will be fine. He's a damned RS who was recruited as a tight end. He was asked to put on a metric ton and play center. Yes his snaps are annoying but to say that the only thing he has proved so far is that he can't snap the ball and is inconsistent with his blocking is just......silly. Watch the clips of him pulling and driving into the second level. Never stops. Not at all sure about the timing comment. His blocking is mostly consistent......help me out with how many times a defensive player beat him and got into our backfield. Our tackles, yes, but past Jurgens......it probably happened but I can't recall it.

Bottom lining this, I'm not getting worried about Jurgens at this point. And as for the Oline, we played the best two defenses we'll see all year (piss off, Peebirds). I'm going do evaluate the team, including the Oline, at the end of the season, not three games in after playing Tosu and PSU.

My bottom line about Cam. I am getting worried. When the CENTER on a team is getting called out by the announcers left and right, you have a problem.

 

[BleedRed78]

My bottom line about Cam. I am getting worried. When the CENTER on a team is getting called out by the announcers left and right, you have a problem.

I really think he'd be much better suited at guard. Why Frost made the jump to put him at center just baffles me

 

[CatColumbia]

I really think he'd be much better suited at guard. Why Frost made the jump to put him at center just baffles me

He’s explosive. So explosive that he forgets the most fundamental aspect to a play is snapping the ball correctly.