Wednesday, February 19, 2014

It’s all about the O-Line.. Again



How many times over the last 9 years have I written a comment or a full post on just how important the offensive line is in football?

How many times have I pointed out that the Lions won’t be able to succeed at all unless the offensive line is at least doing a somewhat decent job?

And how many times have we all been disappointed in the same old failures up front?

While the wheels came off of just about every wagon for CU football in 2013, the offensive line remained the worst and most dangerously ineffective unit on the team.

Some take issue with my belief that one of the big reasons for that failure was the intentional slimming down of the players, and I respect that opinion.

But we all agree that the offensive line, despite all too many “experts” telling us that it HAD to improve compared to 2012, was an unmitigated disaster last year.

And now, once again without any actual proof other than “experience will make them better, etc.”, we’re told by some that the offensive line will surely be better in 2014.

Sorry, but that’s based on what exactly?

We’re now about six weeks away from the start of spring practice and I intend to keep the focus on the offensive line. I want to see evidence of improvement and strength. I at least want to hear the coaches pointing out specific players and areas where we can expect to see progress.

Not much of any of the other positives Columbia may or may not have coming its way this season will matter much if the offensive line doesn’t improve.

QB Brett Nottingham might be 100% recovered, but what’s he going to get done without decent pass protection?

Maybe one of the younger running backs will develop into a real threat, but we’ll never know unless we see some decent blocking.

The best Columbia team we’ve seen over the past 10 years was the 2009 team, and it’s no coincidence that it had the best O-line of the last 10 years as well.

If we include the incoming freshmen, I see we have 19 total offensive linemen on our roster right now. That’s enough actual players to craft a decent front five and maybe 3-4 good backups if the coaches have recruited well and know what they’re doing.


Let’s see what they can do. 

16 comments:

oldlion said...

Who is running the lifting program now that Cidzik is gone?

Jake said...

I'm sure we will be informed as soon as humanly possible by our incredibly open, hardworking, and helpful communications staff.

Big Dawg said...

You've more or less nailed it. Without collapsing into cliche', it is all based on building blocks, and the first one is O-line, the close second is D-line, and everything else follows from there. Best backs in the world don't survive a season's worth of non-existent O line. Best secondary doesn't survive a bad D line.

2014 = make or break. What is the get out of jail free card for him? What's the magic number that tells us he has things working? 3-7, 4-6? Is 5-5 too ridiculous to think about?
How would you equate some kind of success next year to what the BB team has done this year? Should we expect similar improvement? What is reasonable?

Anonymous said...

What exactly caused the problem last season with the OL? There were adequate bodies to coach. Slimmed down or not, you just replace fat with muscle. It's not unheard of for a ripped 240lb O lineman to put a fat 300lb defensive tackle on his butt. Where was the coaching? Was this on Argast or Pete? No fullback, no credible BIG RBs to attempt to punch holes. All too noticeable and easy to game plan against. As pointed out here before, the offense as a whole was too predictable and left our QBs exposed. That is on Pete and Elizondo for thinking they can run plays taking that long to develop.

How will the OL be coached this season? More of the same?

RLB said...

Thanks, Jake. Very few of us understood the OL was a problem. Stop being so self-absorbed! Kay?

Chick said...

Why is he sell-absorbed? The whole team except parts of the defense was a problem. And though we had a
few D stalwarts, the D was on the field too long every game.

The O line is key. Our QB was overrun the first game and lost for the season! Ask Peyton Manning about the O line.
We have an HC who was an O line specialist as an NFL asst. Yes,, we have to do better there.

WOF said...

Talent makes coaches look brilliant

#1 Lion said...

If Nottingham survives past game #3 it will be a miracle. The EXCUSE by this coach (and bravo for him selling it to the alums and the NHDC) were that the cupboard was bare and that the had to start from scratch. This is all a bunch of dung! Does anybody see a correlation between taking away the JV program (which all other Ivy teams still maintain for development), and our steep decline? Does anybody see the fact that our O-Line was eligible to play Sprint Football based on their size? And as far as recruiting, on several occasions we "beat out" Johns Hopkins and NESCAC schools for player (who were not on the radar by the other Ivies). Honestly, based on this information, what do you expect? Again, we've all seen this movie before, we'll win 1-2 games at most (with realistic expectations to go 0-10... and go scoreless for a 3rd year in a row against Harvard) and then we'll get rid of him. But at what cost? Who would have thought that this program would have sunk to a mediocre Div.-III level school in three years. I'm just glad Williams or Amherst are not on our schedule!

oldlion said...

Are there any reports of transfers yet?

Jake said...

RLB: the point of this post was not an "I told you so," but an "EVERYONE told you so." I didn't mean that I was some kind of prophet who foresaw anything. That's the point, ANYONE could see we were in big trouble with our OL and it's as simple as that.

Big Dawg said...

I believe the official position re JV ball was that we didn't have enough bodies for it, and so folded everyone into the varsity.

RLB said...

if anyone could see the OL problems, no need for your comment.
And, capitalizing words is like shouting. Tone it down, please.

Jake said...

I'll THINK about it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a fan of JV squads unless the program is REALLY deep and your frosh would best be served getting PT. The way college football is these days at all levels you want your freshmen as part of the main unit, ideally being immediate contributors if not pushing starters for PT. Also from a psychological POV what player wants to play JV? It's insulting.

Same old story with the OL. Until someone makes a convincing argument the coaching isn't the problem, it is. They have players, coach them and design game plans that maximizes your personnel. They have FAILED to do so.

ALL of the offensive coaches are terrible excuses and need to go.

alawicius said...

According to last month's publication on this site of Pete's "help wanted" ad, new assistant coaches are supposed to start their jobs in just a few days on Feb. 24. Anybody hear anything?

Rarely Wrong Sean said...

I think it was against Monmouth or Lehigh: IN the 4th quarter the left tackle was visible hurt. He was limping to and from the huddle and getting blown off so bad it looked liked Pop Warner versus the NFL. Each play in two series towards the end of the game the tackle or end lined up in front of him either blew by him or thrown him to the ground either sacking or hitting the QB or tackling the Rb behind the LOS. I was screaming my head off to the coach that he was hurt but they kept him in. No wonder our players get hurt.