Is poor offensive line play...

**ljhlax** · 09-04-2011, 10:01 PM

So is our poor offensive line play a product of our poor defensive line, or is the poor defensive line play a product of our poor offensive line.

Kind of like the Chicken or the Egg, but seriously. Our highly touted depth at O-Line didn't seem so highly touted last night, and our play makers on the D-Line didn't seem to have much going for them either last night.

So the real question I guess is "is 'the depth' a symptom of them playing, practicing and battling each other and the coaches blinded by a 'false' perspective or was it just a bad game for both groups because of suspensions, injuries, and it being the first game of the year?"

**Wesley** · 09-04-2011, 10:08 PM

UNI seemed more physical in the lines. Is that what others saw?

**CycloneErik** · 09-04-2011, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley

UNI seemed more physical in the lines. Is that what others saw?

I'm no expert, but that's definitely what I saw.

**ljhlax** · 09-04-2011, 10:19 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley

UNI seemed more physical in the lines. Is that what others saw?

I think we lost both line battles. I'm asking if we lost them because bad O-Lines practicing against bad D-Lines might look good to the coaches and we are blinded by a false perspective coming out of fall camps or because the injuries and suspensions depleted us that much last night. Either way, we were supposed to have the deepest lines we've had in years and it didn't look like it at all. Sadly, I'm also confident that UNI's O-Line AND D-Line aren't close to the best lines we will face this year.

**shagcarpetjesus** · 09-04-2011, 10:33 PM

No Hicks, injured KO who didn't play about half of the game, hardly any Rump, no Laing, and no Maggitt most of the second half. Should we really be surprised that our line play sucked?

**ljhlax** · 09-04-2011, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by shagcarpetjesus

No Hicks, injured KO who didn't play about half of the game, hardly any Rump, no Laing, and no Maggitt most of the second half. Should we really be surprised that our line play sucked?

So is KO and Rump going to be that much healthier next week? Maggitt is done for the year. Laing will definitely help as will Hicks (both suspended), but where was the quality depth the coaches have been talking about all off-season? I would think the way they were talking about the depth, that they could beat a good FCS school and compete on a FBS level. A UNI 3 man rush late in the game should have NEVER sacked Jantz if we had quality depth. It wasn't even a coverage sack either. The D-Line at times didn't even understand their job. How many times did you see our Ends open up a lane for Rennie to waltz through because of overpursuit? It clearly wasn't designed that way either because he had 120 yds on the ground.

**shagcarpetjesus** · 09-04-2011, 11:09 PM

Believe me, I'm concerned about our line play. I'm just trying to say that it's hard to make any blanket statements about the overall quality of our guys with so many guys out/dinged up & playing out of position like Neal.

**Wesley** · 09-04-2011, 11:15 PM

I thought the last 250 pound tackles were John Wayne or that Hawk that played the strongest man in the world show.

**cyclone1975** · 09-04-2011, 11:40 PM

Hopefully just adding a healthy potential 1st rounder and a senior starter back into the mix will have a huge impact on our entire offense.

**Tre4ISU** · 09-05-2011, 12:48 AM

IMO, neither. I honestly don't think the correlation between the lines you practice against is that big. I think it has more to do with the guys missing more than anything. Starters are starters for a reason. We just have to hope it gets better.

**cyguytillidie** · 09-05-2011, 12:55 AM

yes....... ?

**Hawkeye11en1** · 09-05-2011, 02:46 AM

These guys starting next week? How is KO doing?

**mikem** · 09-05-2011, 03:13 AM

Originally Posted by yaman3

IMO, neither. I honestly don't think the correlation between the lines you practice against is that big. I think it has more to do with the guys missing more than anything. Starters are starters for a reason. We just have to hope it gets better.

I agree the missing players had an impact. The young guys wilted, though, and that is the biggest cause for concern that I came away with.

The lack of explosion off the line was discouraging to say the least. It wasn't just the line, our WR's are STILL too damn weak to get off against physical corners.

UNI has about the 9th best fronts that we will see, and they whipped us. The lack of physicality we showed was scary.

The other problem, and this was with the d-line, was how technically unsound we were at holding our rush lanes. Rennie was able to look great because the new guys didn't maintain their lanes and let him get outside to make plays with his legs. We had to make him throw the ball to beat us, and he had 120 yards rushing. Scary bad.

The biggest disappointment was once again the fact that when we gave up a 22 play drive to UNI, UNI, our O went out and went three and out again. Yes Jantz threw another pick, but that was on a 3rd and long. If this offense can't at least go out and pick up a couple of first downs against UNI, to give the d a breather, then what the hell is going to happen against iowa? let alone OU? OSU? A&M? Mizzu?

I shudder to think about what may be on the horizon.

I am all for staff continuity, and I agree that this group should get another couple of years together, but I have to be honest....I am about over the Tom Herman experiment. I am not ready to call for his head, yet. But at this point it needs to get significantly significantly better, just to be mediocre. That is not acceptable three years into it...

Let's hope the old addage that teams improve the most from week one to week two applies 100 fold to us.

Go State!!!

**Rural** · 09-05-2011, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by mikem

I agree the missing players had an impact. The young guys wilted, though, and that is the biggest cause for concern that I came away with.

The lack of explosion off the line was discouraging to say the least. It wasn't just the line, our WR's are STILL too damn weak to get off against physical corners.

UNI has about the 9th best fronts that we will see, and they whipped us. The lack of physicality we showed was scary.

The other problem, and this was with the d-line, was how technically unsound we were at holding our rush lanes. Rennie was able to look great because the new guys didn't maintain their lanes and let him get outside to make plays with his legs. We had to make him throw the ball to beat us, and he had 120 yards rushing. Scary bad.

The biggest disappointment was once again the fact that when we gave up a 22 play drive to UNI, UNI, our O went out and went three and out again. Yes Jantz threw another pick, but that was on a 3rd and long. If this offense can't at least go out and pick up a couple of first downs against UNI, to give the d a breather, then what the hell is going to happen against iowa? let alone OU? OSU? A&M? Mizzu?

I shudder to think about what may be on the horizon.

I am all for staff continuity, and I agree that this group should get another couple of years together, but I have to be honest....I am about over the Tom Herman experiment. I am not ready to call for his head, yet. But at this point it needs to get significantly significantly better, just to be mediocre. That is not acceptable three years into it...

Let's hope the old addage that teams improve the most from week one to week two applies 100 fold to us.

Go State!!!

I would have said this virtually from day 1.
This is/has been the most sickly looking offense on the face of the planet.
Unless of course, we're willing to let him use that old baseball manager quote, "I coached great but boy, did they play bad".

**Stormin** · 09-05-2011, 08:39 AM

First game. UNI had 18 starters returning from last year. That is huge. And UNI is a pretty good FCS team.

I thought UNI outplayed us most of the game. Turnovers were a big factor. I believe we turned over the ball 3 times inside the 25 yard line.

The BIG positive that I took away from this game is that when our backs were absolutely against the wall. Steele Jantz, Josh Lenz, and Horne made some big plays. And we pulled out a win. Psychologically this team could have folded. Taking a 14-13 lead and then having UNI take the lead back on a long TD on the first play after we scored. ISU could have folded their tent. Scoring 3 times and having the officials refuse to give you the TD could have destroyed us in the past. We have a history of that happening. It didn't this time.

Steele Jantz has "IT". IMO, we would not have won that game without Jantz at QB.