It makes my head hurt to try to wrap around the concept of just how amazing the USC Trojan machine is. It clicks on all cylinders; recruiting, development, and execution. Personnel changes both on and off the field just don’t seem to have any effect; it always goes seamlessly, and it has resulted in conference and bowl dominance for the better part of a decade now; and there seems to be no end in sight.
Let’s try to put this into perspective. Last year, the Trojans averaged 206.8 rushing yards a game, good for 17th in the nation and second in the conference (behind Oregon). Their 453.1 total yards per game were also second in the conference only to Oregon, and were 14th best in the country. 37.5 points per game ranked second to Oregon and 15th best in the nation, and 1.39 sacks per game was the best clip in the conference.
Not bad for a team that was best known for its defense last season. The kicker? Last year was a REBUILDING year for the offensive line. The line helped the Trojans to an extremely productive season while breaking in FOUR new starters.
Everyone is back this season. Everyone. Every starter and every one of their primary backups from last season, too. Pete Carroll’s unit made a rebuilding season look like a cakewalk last year, and this unit enters the season among the absolute best in the country.
Jeff Byers keeps an eye on defenders
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USC Trojans
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Alex Parsons, Butch Lewis, Charles Brown, Football, Jeff Byers, Kristofer O'Dowd, Matt Kalil, Nick Howell, Offensive Line, Tyron Smith, Zack Heberer
Oregon’s spot alongside USC and Cal in preseason conference rankings is one of the biggest debates of this offseason. With an electric and innovative offense still led by Jeremiah Masoli, Legarrette Blount, and Ed Dickson, a fast and athletic defense, and three very important conference games all coming at home (USC, Cal, OSU), it’s easy to see why some are picking this Oregon team to do some serious damage this fall.
On the other hand, the Ducks have a lot of areas that need to be addressed personnel-wise, and none is much bigger than the offensive line. Oregon won’t be re-tooling the offensive line this season; they will be almost completely rebuilding it.
Losing three important depth linemen in Jacob Hucko (10 games), Jon Teague (7) and Jeff Kendall (12; 7 starts) is a serious blow, but it will be largely overshadowed by the loss of three key starters that are all currently on NFL rosters. C Max Unger (49th overall pick by Seattle), LT Fenuki Tupou (5th round pick by Philadelphia), and RG Mark Lewis (signed by Miami) were all excellent contributors last year, and leave huge shoes to fill for this year’s team.
For Oregon’s spread-option attack to succeed again in 2009, the Ducks will need a lot of new faces in the starting role to step up right away and pick up where their predecessors left off.
The offensive line sets for the snap
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After losing virtually the entire 2007 campaign to injury, Toby Gerhart showed just what he was capable of doing in a full healthy season in 2008. Gerhart racked up 1,136 yards over 210 carries with 15 touchdowns, solidifying himself as one of the top running backs in the conference.
Toby Gerhart hit the holes with authority in 2008, and there were plenty of them thanks to the outstanding play of the offensive line. Even when defenders cheated run, the Cardinal line kept opening up holes and Gerhart kept powering through them.
The passing attack was a disappointment last season, averaging only 152.2 yards a game (105th in the nation), but it was certainly no fault of the offensive line, which surrendered a respectable 21 sacks on the season. With redshirt freshman Andrew Luck being penciled in to take over the starting job, hopes are high in Stanford that the passing game can do more damage in 2008.
In order for the passing game to take a step forward and the running game to continue to be as strong as it was in 2008, the offensive line will have to find a way to lessen the blow of losing three seniors, including Second Team All-Pac-10 center Alex Fletcher and First All-Pac-10 left tackle Ben Muth.
It won’t be easy, but head coach Jim Harbaugh has amassed plenty of talent to work with.
Chris Marinelli and Andrew Phillips celebrate a win over Arizona
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After another impressive campaign in 2008, the Beavers head into the fall with high expectations. Once again being projected out of the top three in the conference (behind USC, Oregon, and Cal), the Beavers are going to have to fill a lot of holes on offense if they hope to play spoiler again this year.
While the most glaring name-brand loss to the offense is wide receiver Sammie Stroughter (drafted 233rd overall by Tampa Bay), the loss of four key seniors on the offensive line might hurt even more.
Included in the departed bunch is former powerhouse left tackle Andy Levitre, drafted 182 spots ahead of the dynamic wide receiver (51st overall by Buffalo). LG Adam Speer, another All-Pac-10 performer, will be sorely missed as well.
With plenty of talent at their disposal, Head Coach Mike Riley and Line Coach Mike Cavanaugh have a lot to work with. But how quickly some of the young starters and depth guys can learn on the job will determine whether 2009 will be a rebuilding year or another shot at the conference title.
Alex Linnenkohl holds off UCLA's Brigham Harwell
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Oregon State Beavers
| Alex Linnenkohl, Brent McNeil, Colin Kelly, Football, Geoff Garner, Gregg Peat, Michael Lamb, Michael Philipp, Mike Remmers, Offensive Line, Ryan Pohl, Wilder McAndrews
When a team averages 5.4 yards per carry over the course of the entire season (good for 10th best in the nation), it’s probably a safe guess that they’ve got a pretty special backfield. In the dynamic 1-2 punch of Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen, the Cal Bears certainly have that.
But while Jahvid Best receives all of the Heisman Trophy hype, and Shane Vereen is heralded as the next big thing in Berkeley (both fairly so), the offensive line will keep doing what offensive lines do best; opening up those holes and leaving the star power to the skill position players.
While the loss of center Alex Mack is a tremendous blow for the Cal Bears to withstand, Coach Jeff Tedford and Cal haven’t produced seven straight 1,000 yard rushers simply by recruiting talented tailbacks. The Bears have done a great job recruiting and developing offensive linemen over that stretch as well, and this year shouldn’t prove to be much different.
With Kevin Riley (sacked 19 times last season) likely to be asked to just run a safe offense this season and let his running backs do the work, the Bears are going to need those holes to keep opening up and Riley to have time when he is asked to throw if 2009 is going to be the year that they finally put everything together and take their spot atop the conference.
Chet Teofilo battles to hold off ASU's attack
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As a stand alone stat, having the third most sacked quarterback in the conference with 27 sacks might lead you to believe that the offensive line was a weakness for the Arizona Wildcats in 2008. When you look at their full body of work, though, that was pretty clearly not the case.
Willie Tuitama finished second among all Pac-10 starters in quarterback rating (144.9), completion percentage (64.9), passing yards (3,088) and touchdowns (23); all behind only USC’s Mark Sanchez. Nic Grigsby was fourth in the Pac-10 in total rushing yards, and was one of only 6 rushers in the conference with over 1000 yards (1153). The offense averaged 37.1 points per game, which was good for third in the conference and 17th in the nation.
Losing Tuitama was a huge hit to the offense, but with both running backs Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin returning, the running game should still be in great shape; and it may even be improved upon with the athletic Matt Scott under center. The key to all of this, of course, will be another strong season from the big men up front.
With two departing seniors and one NFL-bound junior (Right Tackle Eben Britton, drafted 39th overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars), there will be plenty of holes to fill; but with an experienced core of reserves, Coach Stoops is hoping his team can take their personnel losses in stride.
Colin Baxter paves the way
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One of Coach Steve Sarkisian’s biggest challenges this year is going to be re-tooling and getting the most out of his offensive line. No matter how healthy QB Jake Locker and RB Chris Polk are, it will all be for naught if the offensive line doesn’t do considerably better then they did in 2008, surrendering 31 sacks (20 to Ronnie Fouch, 10 to Jake Locker, and one to Taylor Bean) and not doing much to open up any holes for the running backs, either.
It was a disappointing season for the offensive line, which on paper actually looked to be fairly promising. Then again, on paper, no one could have really penciled in the Huskies for a winless season; so the offensive line wasn’t the only aspect of the team that underwhelmed last fall.
One of the biggest problems with the line last season was conditioning. With the 117th ranked defense in the country giving up points so quickly, the offensive line didn’t get many breaks, and they seemed to tire as the game went on. Losing three regulars on the line in guards Casey Bulyca and Jordan White-Frisbee and center Juan Garcia, the experienced depth on this line just took a big hit, too.
Coach Sarkisian is shifting some players around on the line to try to find their best fit. He comes from a program at USC that tries to make conditioning as fun as possible while still placing emphasis on how important it is. I’m sure Sarkisian will try to do something similar in Washington to whip his players into shape.
Left Tackle Cody Habben slows down the attack
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It just wasn’t easy being the Washington State Cougars in any facet of the game in the 2008-09 season; and the offensive line was no exception. Cougar quarterbacks absorbed a conference-worst 42 sacks last year, with Kevin Lopina taking the bulk of the damage (23) and Marshall Lobbestael (11), Gary Rogers (4), and J.T. Levenseller (4) each taking their licks as well.
What hurts more for Cougars fans than re-living last season’s offensive line woes might be looking forward to this season’s. Every starter returns with one glaring exception; the 6′5″ 329 pound Vaughn Lesuma, the biggest man on the line last year for the Cougs. Lesuma’s graduation leaves only one star on the line this season; Center Kenny Alfred.
With Kenny Alfred at center, one thing is for sure; the middle of the line will not be a weakness for the Washington Cougars. Alfred will do his best to lead by example and get the most out of his teammates on the field. On the strategic side of things, Coach Paul Wulff is determined to institute the no huddle offense next season; a project he had to abandon last season due to injury and personnel issues.
With an extra year of experience under his starter’s belts, Wulff hopes that the no huddle offense will be a success this time around; and perhaps if he can keep opposing defenses guessing, he can keep the quarterback on his feet a little more often.
Kenny Alfred holds his ground
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While Arizona State wore the shameful crown of having the conference’s most sacked quarterback of 2008 in Rudy Carpenter with 34, UCLA gave up just as many; they just spread the wealth a little. Kevin Craft took the bulk of the sacks with 32, and backup Chris Forcier took two as well.
Kevin Craft had a miserable season leading one of the nation’s most anemic offenses last year, and much of that had to do with some terrible decision making on his part. But when the offensive line is consistently letting the pocket around the quarterback collapse, it is difficult to fault the quarterback entirely for making a bad decision or two (or three, or four…)
Riddled with injuries last season, the UCLA linemen never had a chance to build any chemistry together or get comfortable in one spot, as they were constantly being shuffled around and subbed in and out. For the glass-half-full types out in Westwood, this shuffling did give a lot of these guys valuable playing time, as well as giving the coaching staff a good chance to evaluate each player’s strengths and weaknesses. Coach Rick Neuheisel will have plenty of options, depth, and healthy competition all the way up to and through the 2009 season.
Coach Rick Neuheisel doesn't look too confident
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There really isn’t any way to sugarcoat this; the Arizona State Sun Devils have had one of the most consistently poor offensive lines in Division I football over the last three years. In fact, I may have just sugar coated it after all; “one of” was being generous.
Last season Rudy Carpenter was sacked 34 times, third highest in the nation only behind New Mexico State’s Chase Holbrook (40) and Arkansas’ Casey Dick (38). What’s sadder than being sacked more than all but two quarterbacks in the nation? The fact that it was actually the lowest amount of sacks he’d had to absorb since his freshman season, taking 37 sacks in 2006 and a ridiculous 54 sacks in 2007.
Usually when a team returns all but one of its starters on the line, it is a good thing. But when you are dealing with the worst offensive line in the conference you have to temper your excitement. That said, the Sun Devils do appear to have some bright spots this season; they have shuffled some guys around on the line hoping to better cater to their strengths, and also have a few underclassmen that they believe can step in and make a big impact this year.
Shawn Lauvao shores up the left side
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