2009 tOSU Offensive Line Discussion (official thread)

[Taosman]

Better! And play calling helped. :tongue2:

 

[MaxBuck]

...how did the line look today overall?

I thought they looked pretty marginal in the first quarter, but thereafter seemed to gain cohesiveness. That, or the Goophers just got exhausted; could have been either one, I suppose.

 

[martinss01]

I have been very disappointed with the play of the offensive line this season, especially against the blitz. Pryor deserves some of the blame for the bad play, but it all starts up front. They aren't giving him much of a chance to succeed.

i would have agreed with you at the beginning of the year. i really didn't expect much let down from last year. but after really thinking about it i have a hard time being too demanding of the oline this year. really the only player who is starting in the same position he did last year is a true sophomore. they are very young at their respective positions. the only senior we have on the line is cordle and i think him at tackle is more of out need than desire. i think he's done a respectable job, but his build just doesn't scream tackle to me. like pryor i believe we have a lot of talent that needs time to develop.

It took me a while to get to this point, but I really think that Bollman has run his course as offensive line coach. I understand that he probably knows technique and X's and O's better than most people in his profession; he didn't get to be a coach at OSU by being an idiot. That being said, I see no fire from this unit. Compare them to the defensive line for example. Our D line plays with an attitude. It seems like the O line plays too passive, it's been that way for a while now. Something isn't clicking with them, so I think it could be time to bring in younger, more energetic guy and try to light a fire under their asses.

i think you can hold last year against bollman. but i don't think you can this year. as i said before the oline imo is just too young. next year will be a good judgment of bollmans ability to develop talent. if we're still having the same discussion at this point next season... thats going to be pretty tough to defend.

Better! And play calling helped. :tongue2:

might have just been me but i didn't see the play calling being that much different. i did however see an utter lack of look out blocks which pleased me :). i also suspect minny's dline isn't as good as purdue's. i recall we had problems with purdues dline last year as well. i have to think the flu was a much smaller factor this week than it was last week.

 

[RB07OSU]

I thought the line looked pretty darn good (from what I could tell in B-Deck), especially in their run blocking. Not taking anything away from Hall or Martin at all, but they had some huge lanes to run through. In the pass protection I thought the tackles kept the ends wide enough to allow Pryor to step into the pocket with confidence, or wash them inside as Pryor scrambled out. Overall I think this was a solid effort, though I was never particularly impressed with Minnesota's front 7.

 

[Colvinnl]

It is tough to say from the stands but I thought the difference between the line in the first half and the second half was night and day. There were missed assignments on key plays in the first half that forced Pryor to get rid of the ball too soon...those seemed to disappear.

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

Difference = Cordle

 

[CalvinistBuck]

I think we'll have to wait two weeks to see if there has been any significant improvement. I thought Minnie's defense wasn't as aggressive on attacking the edges as was Purdue. I thought the Gophers would attempt to copy the Boiler's gameplan on defense, but they did not. Perhaps they don't have the speed on the outside.

Don't get me wrong. The O-line took what the defense gave them and gave TP better protection as a whole. Honestly, I'd like to see better blocking from the FB position and the receivers.

 

[BuckNut65]

Difference = Cordle

No question about it.

 

[Buckrock]

Difference = Cordle

Boren, Brewster and Cordle are our best linemen. Cordle is the most athletic and has played every position on the O line. The Tackles are young and need to step it up several notches. The good news is that Miller, Hall, Adams and Shugarts are getting good experience and should improve. Our offense is very young this year and that is the issue IMO.

 

[RB07OSU]

I think we'll have to wait two weeks to see if there has been any significant improvement. I thought Minnie's defense wasn't as aggressive on attacking the edges as was Purdue. I thought the Gophers would attempt to copy the Boiler's gameplan on defense, but they did not. Perhaps they don't have the speed on the outside.

Don't get me wrong. The O-line took what the defense gave them and gave TP better protection as a whole. Honestly, I'd like to see better blocking from the FB position and the receivers.

Agreed 100%...Minnesota doesn't have Ryan Kerrigan at end either and he is a big talent for Purdue. We'll see where we are at against Iowa. We are already better than last year in my books...though we might not think much of Minnesota's DL, our line last year was getting blown up by the Ohio Bobcats, so the improvement is there; the question is how much?

 

[jazzman]

Boren, Brewster and Cordle are our best linemen. Cordle is the most athletic and has played every position on the O line. The Tackles are young and need to step it up several notches. The good news is that Miller, Hall, Adams and Shugarts are getting good experience and should improve. Our offense is very young this year and that is the issue IMO.

To me a big factor contributing to the inconsistency on the O-line this season has been injuries. As JT said in his presser today, Bryant Browning has been the only O-lineman that has been fit all year thus far. We have been changing our starting O-line every game....that is a really hard thing to work with. These guys have started getting healthy at the right time for our tough Nov schedule.....a big key is gonna be these guys staying fit.

 

[Buckskin86]

Line Working to Be Cohesive Unit after Disastrous Situation at Purdue
By Brandon Castel

Five linemen exploding off the ball in unison.

It?s a thing of beauty, especially for football purists, but it hasn?t been a thing of consistency at Ohio State in some time.

While this year?s offensive line appears to be playing at a higher level than the one from last season ?which isn?t saying a whole lot ? they certainly didn?t show it two weeks ago in the team?s 26-18 loss at Purdue.

After the game, center Michael Brewster made some interesting comments that may help pinpoint exactly why the Buckeyes had so much trouble moving the ball against a team that came into the game with a 1-5 record.

?They were running some blitzes and I was trying to make some calls but they were expecting the snap count when I popped my head back up.?

By ?they,? Brewster was actually not referring to the Purdue defensive line, but to his own teammates on the offensive line. Even with a bipartisan crowd at Ross-Ade Stadium ? one that had more Purdue fans in the second half than in the first ? it became exceedingly difficult for the other four or five guys up front to know when they were supposed to fire off the ball.

The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More

 

[BB73]

That Ozone article by Brandon Castel was a good read on what was happening with the O-Line struggling with protection calls and being unsure of the snap count against Purdue.

That stuff definitely needs to be worked out before the game at Penn St. On the road, if the defense is going to be shifting late a high percentage of the time, one wonders if they'd be better off just going with a quick snap count almost all the time. That should eliminate most of the false starts, and could catch the defense in a switch sometimes.

 

[Buckskin86]

Injuries, shuffling continue on O-line: Ohio State Football Insider
By Doug Lesmerises
October 30, 2009

Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer
Terrelle Pryor speaks with offensive line teammates Bryant Browning (70), Mike Brewster (50), Justin Boren (65), and Mike Adams (75), during their game against Toledo. The Buckeyes' offensive line has battled injuries the entire season.

Columbus -- Ohio State's offensive-line injuries are migrating. The Buckeyes have moved their tackles in and out of the lineup this season with ankle injuries, flu battles and knee problems, but guards Justin Boren and Bryant Browning and center Mike Brewster had started together through eight games on the line's interior.

No more. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said Thursday that junior left guard Boren will miss Saturday's game against New Mexico State with a foot injury. Could the injury keep Boren out against Penn State the following week?

"I don't think so. Well, I don't know that," Tressel said. "I was surprised that he was going to be out this week. I didn't know until after the end of yesterday's work."

Fifth-year senior Andrew Moses will get his first career start in Boren's place, Tressel said. Jim Cordle will start at left tackle for the second straight game, which means junior Andrew Miller could take snaps filling in for Cordle and for Moses.

As a 44-point favorite against the Aggies, Ohio State should be able to handle Boren's absence, but he'd be missed far more against the Nittany Lions, who feature one of the best defensive tackles in the Big Ten in Jared Odrick.

"I think he's been pretty solid," Tressel said of Boren. "I don't know that I'd say he's been out-of-this-world, but I think he's been pretty solid. Obviously, we've thought a lot of him because he's played a lot."

Injuries, shuffling continue on O-line: Ohio State Football Insider | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com

 

[Taosman]

Left tackle has been an adventure this year. Cordle appears better than even Miller at this point but Miller has been out for a while. Shug is starting to settle down at RT. Ballard has been a huge help in blocking.
Now Boren is having foot problems. :(