Defending the Offensive Line

[stewart092284]

I'm going to go on a rant here in defense of the big fellas. Cause I've seen a ton - or seems like a ton of people ripping on them. So, I'm a film and stats guy. And as a former plug ugly and big body, they're who I tend to watch more then the sexy positions.

43rd nationally in rushing offense after yesterday, we were 37th going into the game ( Ohio State runs for a whopping 7 yards more a game)
29th nationally in fewest sacks allowed (yes, some of that is on Rocco avoiding sacks, etc. Some of it is also good offensive line play)
45th nationally in fewest tackles for loss allowed
14th nationally in red zone rushing touchdowns scored, which is to some degree, the hardest area of the field to run on
46th nationally in yards per carry, counting sacks. Here are some teams we are doing better than in yards per carry, or at least good teams.
(Indiana, Missouri, Cincinnati, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Ole Miss, Washington State, South Carolina)
All teams near or near in the Top 25. Several of them are in contention for the 12 team playoff or conference titles.
3 different RB's averaging over 4.6 yards per carry, so lets talk about that.

Of all the RB's in the nation
Carson Hansen is 62nd out of every RB nationally in yards per carry. Ahead of both backs at Michigan, Etienne at Georgia, Allen at Penn State, etc.

Sama would be around 70th nationally at 5.2 and ahead of most of them as well and also be ahead of CJ Donaldson, Blue, Etienne, etc.

Jackson at 4.6 ranks ahead of - Donaldson at West Virginia, Ollie Gordon, etc.


So basically, a lot of running backs who a lot of smart people see as NFL caliber draft picks. Some of them reasonably high.

but yes, despite all that, according to many comments, the offensive line just sucks.

Did they cover themselves in glory yesterday? No. Not their best game.
But as a big guy - granted, I've lost much of my big boy weight - but I'll stick up for the big boys.
In almost every ranked measurement they are in the top half to top 3rd of the nation.

For a bunch of guys, sorry, who aren't 4 or 5 star dudes, are development, whose starting LT missed most of the first three games, whose starting LG has missed what, the last 2? Last two and a half games?

Yeah. They're doing pretty darn well. All while helping be - outside of yesterday - one of the least penalized teams in college football.
So while I know OL is a favorite whipping boy - I'm going to stick up for the big fellas.
Are they perfect. Nope. But I'm not going to let them get slandered and say that they suck or are crappy cause frankly, they are playing about as well as an OL at Iowa State can play or pretty darn close most games based on the fact that we aren't getting too many Sewell's, KO's or NFL offensive linemen walking through those doors.




So while I get the frustration and disappointment.
And the offensive line 100% can play better.


But I just wanted to push back on this narrative that somehow, someway, the offensive line is trash and is bad and can't block.

Yesterday was not their greatest game.
And to anyone who says big runs skew the rush yards - no crap . What do you think a 70 yard pass play does? Skews yards per completion and yards after catch.

A wide receiver who has 5 catches for 31 yards till he catches a 60 yard bomb has a crappy day. Just like a back going 8 for 24 looks bad till he breaks off a 45 yard run or longer. That's how football works.

 

[HouClone]

I thought Rocco had enough time to throw. For any ISU fans at the game, were there receivers open? Granted, we usually focus our eyes on the QB, even at the game. But on tv, we can't see downfield, unless it is a replay of the receivers. One angle behind Rocco where he drifted right showed a guy wide open in the middle. He wasn't drifting enough that he couldn't see him. But he seemed laser focused on the receiver up top.

 

[clones_jer]

lol - comparing to Ollie Gordan is nasty work

 

[BCClone]

I'm going to go on a rant here in defense of the big fellas. Cause I've seen a ton - or seems like a ton of people ripping on them. So, I'm a film and stats guy. And as a former plug ugly and big body, they're who I tend to watch more then the sexy positions.

43rd nationally in rushing offense after yesterday, we were 37th going into the game ( Ohio State runs for a whopping 7 yards more a game)
29th nationally in fewest sacks allowed (yes, some of that is on Rocco avoiding sacks, etc. Some of it is also good offensive line play)
45th nationally in fewest tackles for loss allowed
14th nationally in red zone rushing touchdowns scored, which is to some degree, the hardest area of the field to run on
46th nationally in yards per carry, counting sacks. Here are some teams we are doing better than in yards per carry, or at least good teams.
(Indiana, Missouri, Cincinnati, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Ole Miss, Washington State, South Carolina)
All teams near or near in the Top 25. Several of them are in contention for the 12 team playoff or conference titles.
3 different RB's averaging over 4.6 yards per carry, so lets talk about that.

Of all the RB's in the nation
Carson Hansen is 62nd out of every RB nationally in yards per carry. Ahead of both backs at Michigan, Etienne at Georgia, Allen at Penn State, etc.

Sama would be around 70th nationally at 5.2 and ahead of most of them as well and also be ahead of CJ Donaldson, Blue, Etienne, etc.

Jackson at 4.6 ranks ahead of - Donaldson at West Virginia, Ollie Gordon, etc.


So basically, a lot of running backs who a lot of smart people see as NFL caliber draft picks. Some of them reasonably high.

but yes, despite all that, according to many comments, the offensive line just sucks.

Did they cover themselves in glory yesterday? No. Not their best game.
But as a big guy - granted, I've lost much of my big boy weight - but I'll stick up for the big boys.
In almost every ranked measurement they are in the top half to top 3rd of the nation.

For a bunch of guys, sorry, who aren't 4 or 5 star dudes, are development, whose starting LT missed most of the first three games, whose starting LG has missed what, the last 2? Last two and a half games?

Yeah. They're doing pretty darn well. All while helping be - outside of yesterday - one of the least penalized teams in college football.
So while I know OL is a favorite whipping boy - I'm going to stick up for the big fellas.
Are they perfect. Nope. But I'm not going to let them get slandered and say that they suck or are crappy cause frankly, they are playing about as well as an OL at Iowa State can play or pretty darn close most games based on the fact that we aren't getting too many Sewell's, KO's or NFL offensive linemen walking through those doors.




So while I get the frustration and disappointment.
And the offensive line 100% can play better.


But I just wanted to push back on this narrative that somehow, someway, the offensive line is trash and is bad and can't block.

Yesterday was not their greatest game.
And to anyone who says big runs skew the rush yards - no crap . What do you think a 70 yard pass play does? Skews yards per completion and yards after catch.

A wide receiver who has 5 catches for 31 yards till he catches a 60 yard bomb has a crappy day. Just like a back going 8 for 24 looks bad till he breaks off a 45 yard run or longer. That's how football works.

One thing that puzzled me was so many first down calls were runs right off tackle. (several consecutive ones were it seemed) the left side is our better run blocking side so I’m confused about that. Think about where our best runs were, they went left.

 

[flycy]

I thought Rocco had enough time to throw. For any ISU fans at the game, were there receivers open? Granted, we usually focus our eyes on the QB, even at the game. But on tv, we can't see downfield, unless it is a replay of the receivers. One angle behind Rocco where he drifted right showed a guy wide open in the middle. He wasn't drifting enough that he couldn't see him. But he seemed laser focused on the receiver up top.

Yeah that goes both ways, #8 for tech was 20 yards behind everyone jumping up and down trying to get the quarterback's attention on one play late, the quarterback had been flushed to his right. Just a little pressure makes seeing the field a lot harder.

 

[besserheimerphat]

I've only watched the game once - from the top half of Section 29, two sections north of the students. With that caveat, they didn't play great yesterday but I also don't think the OC has done them any favors the last two games.

UCF provided a blueprint for slowing us down: lots of d-line movement via stunts and slants. We need to get a counter to that. Like Williams said is his post game, it felt a lot like we were constantly setting Tech up for something but then never sprung the trap. I think we're as talented at OL as we've been in modern history. But the last couple games our strategy and/or tactics haven't put them in favorable positions so any lapses in execution are magnified.

Add in uncharacteristic penalties and it was just a really ugly game.

 

[besserheimerphat]

One thing that puzzled me was so many first down calls were runs right off tackle. (several consecutive ones were it seemed) the left side is our better run blocking side so I’m confused about that. Think about where our best runs were, they went left.

For a right handed QB, it's usually a little more natural to go to the right. And you normally but your best pass blocking tackle on the left, so the right tackle is more likely to be better at run blocking. That's the theory anyway. But it has to be balanced and unpredictable, or has to have a counter to keep them honest.

Maybe our "counter" is RPO? But when guys get called for ineligible downfield it makes that harder to run.

 

[flycy]

They had a bad day pass protecting for sure, I would have like to have seen some quick slants, screens or hot routes to slow the rush down. Seems like the game plan was to go deep since they had such a bad pass defense, but never adjusted to shorter routes. Mouser is still in his first year of play calling at any level, he's been better than I expected so far, but not his best the last two.

 

[flycy]

I thought Rocco had enough time to throw. For any ISU fans at the game, were there receivers open? Granted, we usually focus our eyes on the QB, even at the game. But on tv, we can't see downfield, unless it is a replay of the receivers. One angle behind Rocco where he drifted right showed a guy wide open in the middle. He wasn't drifting enough that he couldn't see him. But he seemed laser focused on the receiver up top.

Receivers weren't open very often. I suspect Higgins isn't running full speed and we miss a healthy Brahmer. Rocco needs to keep his eyes up more, but easier said than done when you're being pressured. I remember the play I think you're referring to, but that didn't happen that often. Were all the penalties legit? That's something you don't really know while at the game.

 

[stewart092284]

One thing that puzzled me was so many first down calls were runs right off tackle. (several consecutive ones were it seemed) the left side is our better run blocking side so I’m confused about that. Think about where our best runs were, they went left.

Keep in mind, a lot of that though was with Barrett in there. No knock on Neal, or even Buhr, who I think is a more natural fit at guard - but Barrett was hitting his stride at the same time our ground game got going.

His loss, while not as noticeable in some ways as like a Brahmer or Bacon, even -

was huge.

The other thing I noticed, in the first half at least, was Hansen disappearing. We've averaging 6 yards a carry with him. I know we want Sama to get rolling - but IDK, I think if we ran Hansen a few more times and we had success, we slow down the pass rush. We wear them down a little bit . But by sticking to the rotation, where Jackson and Sama both struggled, we got out of sync.

to some degree, the same thing happened against UCF. We were running all over them with Hansen, then he got hurt / stopped playing as much, and we kinda stalled a little.

Be it Hansen, Sama, Jackson, etc, if you have a back doing work, the best friend for an OL is to keep giving him the ball, at least enough to wear down those pass rushers.

----------------------------------------------------------

Also, unless he has bricks for hands, we need to throw to Ngoyi when he's in because right now, Stevie Wonder knows we're running the ball in that 3 TE set with him in the game.

 

[stewart092284]

Receivers weren't open very often. I suspect Higgins isn't running full speed and we miss a healthy Brahmer. Rocco needs to keep his eyes up more, but easier said than done when you're being pressured. I remember the play I think you're referring to, but that didn't happen that often. Were all the penalties legit? That's something you don't really know while at the game.

Rocco I think has fallen into the trap many QB's do, I think. He has great receivers so he looks to them and says, they'll get open. Makes sense. Its logical.

Problem is, it makes you slower to react to the blitz and pressure and throws everything off when they don't come open.


But Overall, we need Dylan Barrett to come back. He was really hitting his stride and the ground game was taking off along with the offense as he did so.

 

[BCClone]

Keep in mind, a lot of that though was with Barrett in there. No knock on Neal, or even Buhr, who I think is a more natural fit at guard - but Barrett was hitting his stride at the same time our ground game got going.

His loss, while not as noticeable in some ways as like a Brahmer or Bacon, even -

was huge.

The other thing I noticed, in the first half at least, was Hansen disappearing. We've averaging 6 yards a carry with him. I know we want Sama to get rolling - but IDK, I think if we ran Hansen a few more times and we had success, we slow down the pass rush. We wear them down a little bit . But by sticking to the rotation, where Jackson and Sama both struggled, we got out of sync.

to some degree, the same thing happened against UCF. We were running all over them with Hansen, then he got hurt / stopped playing as much, and we kinda stalled a little.

Be it Hansen, Sama, Jackson, etc, if you have a back doing work, the best friend for an OL is to keep giving him the ball, at least enough to wear down those pass rushers.

----------------------------------------------------------

Also, unless he has bricks for hands, we need to throw to Ngoyi when he's in because right now, Stevie Wonder knows we're running the ball in that 3 TE set with him in the game.

Did Barrett play yesterday? I didn’t think he did. Our best runs were to the left yesterday.

 

[stewart092284]

Did Barrett play yesterday? I didn’t think he did. Our best runs were to the left yesterday.

No, but in general, on the season, his uptick in play coincided with our offense and run game really exploding.

And IDK, it seemed like Hansen had more success running right on a few of his bigger runs. Sama had more success to the left. But I could be mis-remembering.

I hope Barrett comes back soon. I also am not so sure as to why Neal moved back to guard, since I hadn't noticed any real issues with Buhr but I'll default to the staff on that one and of all the linemen, I just don't know if I see the same thing in Neal that they seem to. But again, I'll trust the staff on that. He's a fine player, but I just see a little more pure nastiness in Buhr which is something that you need, especially at guard.

 

[Tre4ISU]

The OL had been blowing away the most optimistic of expectations until the last couple weeks. They will bounce back. This season was never going to be without bumps for them but we had gotten away with it until yesterday

 

[mgordon]

I'm going to go on a rant here in defense of the big fellas. Cause I've seen a ton - or seems like a ton of people ripping on them. So, I'm a film and stats guy. And as a former plug ugly and big body, they're who I tend to watch more then the sexy positions.

43rd nationally in rushing offense after yesterday, we were 37th going into the game ( Ohio State runs for a whopping 7 yards more a game)
29th nationally in fewest sacks allowed (yes, some of that is on Rocco avoiding sacks, etc. Some of it is also good offensive line play)
45th nationally in fewest tackles for loss allowed
14th nationally in red zone rushing touchdowns scored, which is to some degree, the hardest area of the field to run on
46th nationally in yards per carry, counting sacks. Here are some teams we are doing better than in yards per carry, or at least good teams.
(Indiana, Missouri, Cincinnati, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Ole Miss, Washington State, South Carolina)
All teams near or near in the Top 25. Several of them are in contention for the 12 team playoff or conference titles.
3 different RB's averaging over 4.6 yards per carry, so lets talk about that.

Of all the RB's in the nation
Carson Hansen is 62nd out of every RB nationally in yards per carry. Ahead of both backs at Michigan, Etienne at Georgia, Allen at Penn State, etc.

Sama would be around 70th nationally at 5.2 and ahead of most of them as well and also be ahead of CJ Donaldson, Blue, Etienne, etc.

Jackson at 4.6 ranks ahead of - Donaldson at West Virginia, Ollie Gordon, etc.


So basically, a lot of running backs who a lot of smart people see as NFL caliber draft picks. Some of them reasonably high.

but yes, despite all that, according to many comments, the offensive line just sucks.

Did they cover themselves in glory yesterday? No. Not their best game.
But as a big guy - granted, I've lost much of my big boy weight - but I'll stick up for the big boys.
In almost every ranked measurement they are in the top half to top 3rd of the nation.

For a bunch of guys, sorry, who aren't 4 or 5 star dudes, are development, whose starting LT missed most of the first three games, whose starting LG has missed what, the last 2? Last two and a half games?

Yeah. They're doing pretty darn well. All while helping be - outside of yesterday - one of the least penalized teams in college football.
So while I know OL is a favorite whipping boy - I'm going to stick up for the big fellas.
Are they perfect. Nope. But I'm not going to let them get slandered and say that they suck or are crappy cause frankly, they are playing about as well as an OL at Iowa State can play or pretty darn close most games based on the fact that we aren't getting too many Sewell's, KO's or NFL offensive linemen walking through those doors.




So while I get the frustration and disappointment.
And the offensive line 100% can play better.


But I just wanted to push back on this narrative that somehow, someway, the offensive line is trash and is bad and can't block.

Yesterday was not their greatest game.
And to anyone who says big runs skew the rush yards - no crap . What do you think a 70 yard pass play does? Skews yards per completion and yards after catch.

A wide receiver who has 5 catches for 31 yards till he catches a 60 yard bomb has a crappy day. Just like a back going 8 for 24 looks bad till he breaks off a 45 yard run or longer. That's how football works.

We are not doing our offensive line any favors with predictable play calls with down/distance and personnel groupings. Based on those two things, the defense has a high probability of knowing when we are running and passing. Makes it much harder to block facing 9 man boxes and 3 and long passing situations.