Utah's O-line

[Wilson’s Mustache]

Much has been made about Utah’s O-line’s inability to create space for Booker to do his thing.

One thing seems to have been overlooked however. Utah has only allowed 1 sack this season. Best in the pac-12 & tied for 6th in the nation.

[oc_ute]

i do think they’ve played better this season. i was a poutassi basher for the last 2-3 years but…. he’s making it in the big time. pass blocking – much better (albeit 3 games). run blocking – maybe a little regression from last year.

[Anonymous]

Pass protection has been drastically improved but only one passing TD to show for it. When defenses key on Booker, Wilson has been able to run in some holes.

[Hockeybeard]

I’m of the opinion that the OLine has regressed in runblocking, but has improved in passblocking. Overall, it makes it very well for a more balanced offense, but I also think it is an adjustment to zone-blocking concepts that are still being cemented.

If you watch replays of the games this year, you can see OLine very rarely fire out and block hat on a hat. They usually are either 1) pulling, 2) sealing/blocking down, or 3) stepping playside for a zone block (i.e. first guy to your playside shoulder. The OLine has been hit and miss with all 3. I’m actually working on a couple examples to post and show what I mean with this stuff, but basically, we have been SOOOO close to breaking big gains in the run game, and it is just 1 block missed that causes the play to fall apart.

[Anonymous]

Whitt has said they need to find a little more aggression. They need to own the LOS. Fresno they dominated pretty much.

[Hockeybeard]

But even against Fresno, there were times laid back a bit and their guys shot through gaps to disrupt the plays.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I grade them out as a B or so. Best we have seen all year.

Olines take awhile to gel. Also in the passing game Thompson had the time and wide open guys. So I am optimistic against Oregon to see more improvement.

[jrj84105]

Are we having issues with defenses anticipating where we’re going with the ball based on some presnap cues? It seems to me like defenses are correctly anticipating where the play is going with pretty good frequency resulting in defenders beating our linemen to the point of attack, often leaving one guy on the backside with no one to block. I think TW’s runs on the inverted veer have occasionally punished defenses for over pursuit, but in general, we seem to be a little too predictable or lack some element of misdirection to keep defenses more honest.

[Umanami]

It has been a complete reversal from last year where run blocking was great but pass blocking left much to be desired. To be balanced on O they need to have both aspects working well in the trenches.

[Ute Bc]

I wonder how much this reversal is our opponents basically saying: “these guys don’t throw so lets just stop the run”….

[Jumpmasterute]

That’s what I’m thinking.

[FormerUteSax]

I think that’s what happened JW4’s senior year and its happening again. I’m also curious if KW promoted Booker so much to take some pressure of a struggling passing unit.

[Umanami]

Iv thought about that too. But if run blocking was a strength last year, I would suspect it would continue with basically the same personnel with 1 more year experience. Hard to tell what kind of scheming the defense is doing to disrupt. In season adjustments may be necessary to combat this.

[UteStuckInSeattle]

It seems like we have to choose what type of 0-line we want each season. One that run blocks or one that pass blocks.

Why can’t we have our cake and eat it too????

[Tony (admin)]

Didn’t realize how good we are at not allowing sacks. Could be because we run so much…

[Wilson’s Mustache]

That & because most of our passing plays are quick, short passes

[rbmw263]

Yup. Pass pro looked good against Fresno, but its Fresno…..otherwise its been below average. Cant wait till the Paulo/Capra/Carman Oline class matures.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by rbmw263.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by rbmw263.

[GadValleyUte]

^^^^^This^^^^^
Its hard to sack the QB when the RB always has the ball.
O-line is a really tough gig as far as I can tell and Run-blocking and pass protection are very different and it takes a really special group of guys to do both well at the same time. I remember the 2003 season and noticing how a bunch of guys recruited by Mac had a tough time blocking for Urban’s spread. There was a moment in the TAMU game that Urban must have said. This ain’t working let’s have these guys do what they do. We started handing the ball to Brandon Warfield and our O-line starting blowing guys off the line and Brandon went crazy for a few weeks. It took all that year to get that O-line to where they could block for whatever play we ran.
Bottom line. I’ve been disappointed with the lack of holes we’ve opened for Booker. I know everyone is “stacking the box” which is kinda debatable but we all knew what our primary offensive weapon was going to be so I expected that our O-line would be ready for the challenge. Glad they have been giving the QB a little time though.