The Next Level

U2 YD1

Growl nailed it on the head. The o line is getting better and will keep getting better. In turn we will see the entire offense improve. I don't put any blame on Fromm as he is learning and growing daily. He is going to keep getting better as well and sooner than later our O will be where it needs to be to make us contenders with the top 5-10 teams. It's very hard for me to say right now that we will progress to a top 5 team BUT I firmly believe the talent is there to make that happen. Lots of improvements on the O must happen first though...

GO DAWGS

I'm tired of talk and promises. I've heard all this before about our O-lines and what our
O-line coaches were going to do. We've played App State and an underwhelming D line wearing the golden domes. I hope y'all are right about the line getting better, but I am sitting neutral on any claims it will happen. What I've seen so far doesn't
offer any substantial evidence of it yet. Claims that it's going to happen are purely hopeful speculation.

Seriously... pardon me if I wait until I see this line "get better" when they play against SEC D-lines.

I'm not saying it wont happen, but I'm not claiming anything about our O-line until I witness it actually happen.

As far as bad play calling vs knowing the O-line can't support what the program wants; When your O-line is a weak spot it makes play calling even more important. You have to keep the D off-balance to make up for your line deficiencies. You don't go out there running the same 3 running plays that require your line to plow people in order to work. You also for damn sure don't keep running the Wilddawg and doing the exact same thing off of it that hasn't worked in 2 years. Any insinuation that the abhorrent play calling is a result of a bad O-line is a dog that isn't going to hunt as far as I'm concerned.

Wart makes some good points, but coaching has little to do with push during a play. That's on the players. Regardless of the call, if you get your ass kicked in the trenches...well, maybe you're not worthy of all those stars. Then agsin, good coaches make 2 stars 4 stars. They don't turn Heismen worthy running backs into gimpy pack mules by drawing up great plays. They don't squander TE talent by making them play as extra blockers only. OC has a garage full of Ferraris, but seems hell bent on using the trusty Schwinn each week because fast is dangerous. So is losing, but only in top tier programs

This started as a talk about nuts and bolts, so let us get back to that and ask; "What would you do?"

Specifically, what would you do with our line issues.

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken something else, so deal with the line as it is.

When you have a bad O-line, you've got to do some things to hide it.

Screen passes, quick slants, stick routes to our TE's. All of these things are designed to help when you have a struggling line.

Swing it out to the RB's as well. We're going to have to find ways to get Chubb and Michel the ball where they are not trying to plow through 4-5 300lb bodies collapsing holes that never existed in the first place.

In the passing game, we've got to get the ball out on rhythm and shy away from slower developing deep crosses. We also need to roll out a little more.. move the pocket.

Honestly though.. pass protection has at least been decent. It's the run game where we struggle. We call plays as if we have road pavers up front, trying to push and maul the D-lines out of the way. We can't keep doing that. So in addition to screens and swings to Michel, Swift, and Chubb. Can we trap a bit more? Can we spread the line a bit more when we set and try and draw their lines out horizontally in order to make gaps? Could we do a zone read instead of the flippin' Useless wilddawg?

What about this... what if we went out there with an unbalanced line? Teams struggle to adjust to that and it allows you to just out body the D on one of the flanks.

We can't just keep doing what we've been doing. We can't get away with it over 60 minutes against an SEC defensive line.

What say you?

Fire the OC. At this point we may as well run from the shotgun to give our QB a smidge more time