O-line best fits the definition of "prove it." Each year, we're promised that a better line. Each year, meh. I absolutely will not believe any claims of o-line improvement until it is demonstrated on the field.
Which Position Group needs to "prove it" this season?
- Thread starter OscarBerkshire
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The offensive line has distinctly improved over how horrific it used to be.
Last year was even decent at pass protection, and run blocking was gelling when injuries riddled the guard spots.
Yeah the o line concerns are weird to me... I don't think the expectation should be to have a bunch of future round 1/2 NFL guys most years ala prime Iowa under Ferentz or prime Oklahoma with Stoutland... there is literally only a handful of programs in CFB history that have been able to do that. Simple good quality and consistent depth (which is hard enough as it is) should be the reasonable expectation. And honestly we had that last year. Can we replace Jalen Travis? let's see.
My impression is that OL recruiting has upgraded lately—but we’re never going to bring in oodles of four and five star OL every year, in and out.
Agreed. However, I think that recruiting rankings are usually pretty bad for specifically OL and QB. OL is especially developmental.
The best Youtube video on the topic i've ever seen:
Has line play been questionable, and often substandard, in years past: yes. Did we see some potentially meaningful signs of improvement last year: also yes. Put those two together, and you have the very definition of "prove it." And that was the question of this string.
Well, yes. Garrett Rutledge is a kid they’re thrilled about, and no recruiting service noticed him. The services were meh about Ikakoula. The list goes on and on.
That said, I would cheerfully have taken Claude Mpouma this year, before he blew up. Obvious athletic freaks are obvious.
I completely agree, I think it's honestly nuts that we were as good as we were last year being so bad against the run. It's hard to see us having similar success unless we shore that up. Run defense would probably be what I'd say needs to prove it, a lot of that is on the LB group being what we thought they could be before injuries.
I am at a total loss here.
One season, devastated by a ludicrous number of injuries at LB, we’re bad against the run.
One.
That’s the outlier, and by far.
Season after season after season, we’ve been good against the run. Barring something unforeseen (and equally ludicrous), we’ll return to that mean.
Respectfully disagree. Rose/Hummel were SR's in 2021. Since then we have had a below average LB core. Some people are in love with Bacon because he was a feel-good walkon story and had a few QB pressures in 2023. I agree he's probably our best right now (assuming full health) but that's not a real high bar.
I hope they are lights out this year, but that's why this is a 'prove it' thread.
Stars typically translate pretty well at the skills position but o-line and d-line development is huge.
ISU lost the two most important and difficult to replace starters on the O-line - LT and C. I don't find it weird to be concerned about the O-line.
Another reason to be concerned about the O-line is there really is no hiding it. If you are weak in the WR room you can compensate by throwing more to TEs and RBs as well as by running the ball more. Weak at RB, throw more to your WRs and TEs. Throw more screens in place of some runs. Run your QB. Run misdirection with your slot receiver.
You get the picture. You can keep more help in for the O-line in the form of a RB in to block or a TE, but that is just stop gap and really won't help a T or G getting beat on the other side or worse yet, two guys getting beat and a 195# RB trying to slow down two 280 lb DL.
There is no hiding a bad O-line.
I know you can make a similar case for most of the defense; I'm not arguing you can't. But I just think it is never weird to be concerned about the O-line.
You get the picture. You can keep more help in for the O-line in the form of a RB in to block or a TE, but that is just stop gap and really won't help a T or G getting beat on the other side or worse yet, two guys getting beat and a 195# RB trying to slow down two 280 lb DL.
There is no hiding a bad O-line.
I know you can make a similar case for most of the defense; I'm not arguing you can't. But I just think it is never weird to be concerned about the O-line.
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. The point of a pass rush is to stop a passing attack, right?
So…we led the conference in passing defense—by a decent margin—and were third in defensive pass efficiency.
OL needs like 3 prove it years in a row. We are 10 years into the best coach we have ever had, and year three of a pretty good OL coach. This needs to turn into a strength of the program time position group. Only way to take the next step in my minds.
Last year by the end of the year they were avg to above avg. need to be above avg all year this year.
Last year by the end of the year they were avg to above avg. need to be above avg all year this year.
