Isn’t the offensive line the biggest issue?

Don’t we need to win in the trenches?

  • Yes

    Votes: 51 83.6%

  • No

    Votes: 10 16.4%
  • Total voters
    61
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short ornery norwegian said:
on Gopher Gridiron Podcast, after the Iowa game, former Gopher OL Derek Burns (2nd cousin to Ryan Burns) was on to analyze the game. He said that several members of the OL (didn't name who) have issues with foot speed.

according to Derek, with the Gophers' blocking schemes, the O-Linemen need to be able to move side-to-side to maintain blocks. if the foot speed is lacking, they can't get into position to stay on the defender, and/or can't get out to the second level to block a LB.

Burns said that a different blocking scheme might be able to compensate for what he sees as the issues with the current O-Line group.
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I alluded to the same thing in my first post in this thread. We lack the foot speed to be running a zone blocking scheme where your blocking an area and have to be quicker to stay on a block, pull or get to a linebacker. Tight ends are not effective at chipping or setting up double teams. Really dislike splitting out wide, the TE in a double tight end set. Especially when there are no mismatches created and motion isn't even moving anyone out of the box effectively, D still crashing in and recovering with a safety who picks up our crossers. With the age and experience I was expecting better play out of the Gophers offensive line. Let's hope they step up and have a much better game this weekend. Taylor and Major can make plays if you give them a little time and the Oline can wall up the defenders. Have to stay on balance and move off the ball quicker. The line and QB should be able to make plays if they synch up. The motion has to mean and do something positive. The coaches know this, I'm not saying anything they don't already know.
 
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on the most recent Gopher Gridiron podcast, Ryan Burns was talking about this metric called "Line Yards."

apparently this is a metric that grades an offensive line for its success in running plays while attempting to take the RB out of the equation -focusing solely on what the OL contributed to the play. (like if the RB breaks several tackles for a big gain, that did not result from anything the OL did)

Burns said the Gophers rank 105th in FBS in Line Yards.

he also said the Gophers were 101st in another stat for running efficiency. in that stat, a run is effective if it gains 40% of the needed yards on first down, 60% of yards on second down, and 100% of yards on third down.

that's out of 134 teams.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
on the most recent Gopher Gridiron podcast, Ryan Burns was talking about this metric called "Line Yards."

apparently this is a metric that grades an offensive line for its success in running plays while attempting to take the RB out of the equation -focusing solely on what the OL contributed to the play. (like if the RB breaks several tackles for a big gain, that did not result from anything the OL did)

Burns said the Gophers rank 105th in FBS in Line Yards.

he also said the Gophers were 101st in another stat for running efficiency. in that stat, a run is effective if it gains 40% of the needed yards on first down, 60% of yards on second down, and 100% of yards on third down.

that's out of 134 teams.
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Well the Michigan DL especially 55 are crazy good so the above info certainly isn’t comforting.
 




Is there any question that the OL coach needs to be fired?

No running lanes
Terrible pass blocking
A center who has more false start penalties alone than we usually see in a season.

Coach Callahan has to go. It's not the only place that needs improvement, but if our OL can't execute it doesn't matter how good of an OC you have, or how good of a QB, or WRs or RBs.

If the offense is a house, the OL is the foundation. If the foundation is shoddy and crumbling, the house is going to collapse. Doesn't matter how "good" the house is (play calling) or how "good" the architect is (OC) or how good the materials used are (the QB, RBs, WRs, etc).
 

Our O-Line is not good...and our offensive coaches are not good...combined we are not good.
 

The center is a true Sophmore, been giving up a lot of middle preasure all season. Wish he were still playing guard. We really have to find a way to get quicker at the guard positions. This area of need, has to get a lot of attention by the coaches this week and going forward. Offensive line should not be a weakness of Minnesota.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
The center is a true Sophmore, been giving up a lot of middle preasure all season. Wish he were still playing guard. We really have to find a way to get quicker at the guard positions. This area of need, has to get a lot of attention by the coaches this week and going forward. Offensive line should not be a weakness of Minnesota.
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I played center for a lot of years. It’s a position where you kinda have to have a knack for it and I’m not sure Johnson does. If it were me, after that first half performance, I don’t know how we don’t have 69 out there with three or four new guys Next week we have a lot of third and fourth year guys who were pretty highly recruited. I say let’s give them a shot. Hell, if some of the younger kids who are really highly rated, even might be ready I’d throw them out there too. I just don’t know that I can get much worse.
 



Bumping this as it is an issue depending on who comes back. Lots of unknowns on the roster and it will be interesting to see what the starting line-up looks like after spring. I would think and minimum 1 starter isn't on the current roster.

Outside of Rutgers, the run game was strong in the last 1/3 of the year. Now we start over with a quite a few new faces.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Bumping this as it is an issue depending on who comes back. Lots of unknowns on the roster and it will be interesting to see what the starting line-up looks like after spring. I would think and minimum 1 starter isn't on the current roster.

Outside of Rutgers, the run game was strong in the last 1/3 of the year. Now we start over with a quite a few new faces.
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Yes, you are correct and thanks for noticing my contribution to Golden Gopher Football this season.

I received my fruit cake today from PJ today - a fruit cake for a nutball was the salutation.

PJ knew if someone with my low 🏈 IQ could see this as an issue, then it needed to be addressed and he was able to get the 🛳️ righted.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
The center is a true Sophmore, been giving up a lot of middle preasure all season. Wish he were still playing guard. We really have to find a way to get quicker at the guard positions. This area of need, has to get a lot of attention by the coaches this week and going forward. Offensive line should not be a weakness of Minnesota.
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This. That was a strength of ours in Peej's early years, right? I thought we would have great O Lines forever.
 
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