The OFFENSIVE and DEFENSIVE LINES

Deleted member 2897

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If this stat is still standing after the Clemson game I will be surprised, but also very pleased.

yep, I’m guessing especially given the fact that Sims is going to try and be careful about not getting interceptions, there will be quite a few times where he tucks the ball in at risk of a sack. I could easily see 3-4 sacks.
 

Jacketman99

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The oline has definitely improved over last year. This comes as a result of getting bigger and stronger, more experience, and additional talent added. They had some protection issues against Syracuse but they were facing a lot of blitzing as well. Sims has been pretty good at avoiding sacks as well.
 

CuseJacket

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There have been plenty of times in the first few games that a sack would have been a better outcome for a play than a turnover.

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Yea, the two INTs vs 'Cuse where the ball popped straight up into the air were worse than sacks. Those don't show up in this discussion even though they were protection breakdowns. You can add a third where Sims was being taken down by Cuse in the backfield and he launched a low percentage throw, only to be picked again.

Still, even if we were to concede 5 total sacks on the year (2 in the record-book, plus 3 others), that puts us at #18 in the country in sacks allowed per game (1.33).

If this stat is still standing after the Clemson game I will be surprised, but also very pleased.
+1.... unfortunately, just like our ACC Rookie of the Week rates thus far, you have to expect a drop-off simply due to normalization of the schedule. I'm going to start a separate thread on this.
 

InsideLB

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OL is definitely improved this year. Credit goes to S&C, Key's coaching, our guys for working hard. Another big piece has been a great job by the staff recruiting Jordan Williams and Ryan Johnson. Both are mainstays. Makes you wonder what it would have been like had Devin Cochran come as well.

Nice to know we have good OL recruits developing as well, and a couple of good OL prospects committed for this year's class.

All this said, there is still a lot of work to do, and as folks have mentioned that will be evident as our competition steps up the highest level. Great to see the progress!
 

takethepoints

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I think the OL play has improved, but, given the competition so far, I'm not willing to say how much. The only team of any note we've played is UCF and they looked ok against them. The next 5 games will tell the tale here. If we can keep protection at decent levels and run block for decent yardage, then I'm all on board. That's even if we lose 4 - 5, as is likely.

The DL is another story. So far I can't say I've been all that impressed. The TFLs and sacks are up, but, again, we haven't gotten to the meat of the schedule yet. And, sacks and TFLs to the contrary notwithstanding, we are giving up too much yardage. We are averaging giving up 444 YPG (372 with UCF out). Since the rest of our opponents are going to look more like UCF then FSU, I'm not as encouraged as some are. Clayton surely did show up last game and that may be indicative of better things to come. If he's occupying a couple of blockers on most plays going forward, I expect the DL will look better too. Again, we'll see soon enough.
 

Jacketman99

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On the dline we are extremely young. Most of the playing time is going to freshmen and sophomores. I am interested to see how this group develops over the next year.
 

Deleted member 2897

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I think the OL play has improved, but, given the competition so far, I'm not willing to say how much. The only team of any note we've played is UCF and they looked ok against them. The next 5 games will tell the tale here. If we can keep protection at decent levels and run block for decent yardage, then I'm all on board. That's even if we lose 4 - 5, as is likely.

The DL is another story. So far I can't say I've been all that impressed. The TFLs and sacks are up, but, again, we haven't gotten to the meat of the schedule yet. And, sacks and TFLs to the contrary notwithstanding, we are giving up too much yardage. We are averaging giving up 444 YPG (372 with UCF out). Since the rest of our opponents are going to look more like UCF then FSU, I'm not as encouraged as some are. Clayton surely did show up last game and that may be indicative of better things to come. If he's occupying a couple of blockers on most plays going forward, I expect the DL will look better too. Again, we'll see soon enough.

Yea I agree. And it’s tough to know what to think about our defensive line since we’re now up to what - 6 guys who have missed at least 1 game (Sylvain/TK out for season, Lee, Owens, Ryans, Clayton missed games).
 
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