ADVERTISEMENT

Offensive Line Breakdown....PSU/IU

bjf1984

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2014
4,494
2,818
1
1 - Overall, best performance of the season
2 - 1st half was quite good, 2nd half (especially the 3rd quarter) relatively lousy..at times, AWFUL
3 - #56 for IU is a player (I mentioned him in my pre-game thoughts....said he would wreck havoc) He was nearly unblockable in the 2nd half. He's kind of a poor man's Anthony Zettle....good player.


Couple of "Interesting Tidbits":

Dowrey replaced Mahon at LG for 3 series' in the game, all in the first half
PSU scored 3 TDs in the first half
All three were the 3 series' that Dowrey played

Now, Mahon wasn't so bad that a reasonable observation would be that the #53 for #70 switch was the difference....but it was certainly an odd coincidence if nothing else.

PSU passed a lot more than they had the last few weeks, and it is a lot easier to get a passing grade in pass pro (no pun intended)...basically, if you keep your assignment from getting into the pocket, you've done your job....so that helped the overall grades.
I also thought the play calling / use of various formations helped......kept IU (which probably doesn't like to blitz a whole lot anyway) from being able to unleash a lot of line pressures/stunts.

PSU came out in an unbalanced for one snap (this staff used a lot of unbalanced at Vandy....not sure why that has disappeared here). On that play IU jumped offsides so there was nothing to grade there, but what they did was place Mahon outside of Palmer on the left side....and left only Nelson to the right of the OC (with a TE next to him). Maybe something to look for moving forward.....or maybe not :)


Spot-by-spot:

I grade each guy, each play with a "0" (did his job), a "+" (made an outstanding block in a difficult and critical assignment), a "-" (got beat soundly), and a "whiff" (got beat soundly, and his miss blew up the play)

A lot of "0"'s (good/acceptable), a handful of "+"s (I don't usually give many of those out), and far fewer "-"s and "whiffs" than what we had been seeing.


First TEs:

Mentioned last week, that after playing a TON of 2 and 3 TE sets against Army....it was a waste of personnel. The TE blocking as a whole was awful.
Not so many 2 and 3 TE sets this week (and a handful of "no TE" sets with 4 or 5 wide). #11, as per usual, had a handful of snaps from a FB/HB spot. He is clearly the best guy for that task.
This week, for the first time, one of the TEs would grade out as "quite good"....that was #11. #88 was also a bit better than he had been. #87 was not used as blocker as much as usual (which is a good thing)...but played a significant role in the pass game as a receiver

Overall: (all ratings by + / 0 / - / whiffs)

#11.......1 / 14 / 0 / 0
#88.......0 / 6 / 0 / 0
#87.......0 / 6 / 4 / 0


The O Line:

LT # 73.....
1st Half 0 / 36 / 4 / 0
2nd Half 0 / 19 / 5 / 4
It was like a different guy was out there in the 2nd half. #56 for IU just ate his lunch. I don't know whether he was tiring (see also #59) or what....but it was close to being TempleX2 in the second half (after a really pretty good 1st half)

LG #70....
1st Half 0 / 21 / 2 / 1
2nd Half 0 / 27 / 1 / 0
Sat out significant part of 1st half. Better game than some this year, but still some work to do
#53.....
1st Half 0 / 16 / 0 / 0
Did not play in second half (except for one snap in a jumbo set, but IU jumped offsides so there was no grade).....no idea why he didn't get any 2nd half snaps

C #55....
1st Half 2 / 37 / 1 / 0
2nd Half 0 / 28 / 0 / 0
OUTSTANDING game by Laurent.

RG: #72.....
1st Half 1 / 36 / 2 / 1
2nd Half 0 / 27 / 1 / 0
Rarely was dominant...would like to see a few more "ass-kickings"...but one of the better games for at least making sure he was engaged with "someone" and keeping them from blowing up the play.

RT #59......
1st Half 0 / 37 / 3 / 0
2nd Half, part A 0 / 7 / 6 / 1 first 14 plays of second half....was just getting eaten up
2nd Half, part B 0 / 14 / 0 / 0

I don't know if he tired in the 2nd Half (hadn't played in a month....so maybe?) Good first half, struggled a lot in the 2nd


For the entire OL/TE unit:

Not a lot of dominant, outstanding, "ass-kicking"....but by and large, on most plays guys were catching their assignments and giving the play call a chance. (which is really all you "need" to have a chance to run an effective offense, especially with the skill guys PSU has)

25 "-" plays (basically, got whooped badly, but that particular fail didn't blow up the play entirely.....could be the QB made an early release, RB made a free man "miss"....play was run to the other side.....etc)
7 "whiffs" (plays where a guy was badly beaten and his assignment blew up the play)


Better than what we had been seeing....but still a lot of work to do to get to "good" overall.

The OT play in the second half was very disconcerting.....especially with the OSU defense looming (Bosa, Hubbard, Washington, etc)
If the line can put together 60 minutes equal to the play in the first half against IU......that would help.

If the play is ANYTHING like what we saw in the 2nd half, especially on the edges, Hackenberg (and the entire offense) are going to be under siege.
 
They can't possibly throw Palmer to the wolves and let him get matched up against Bosa can they? I think Bosa usually plays the left side, but good coaches at OSU will slide him over to Palmer if PSU let's them. CJF will have to think long and hard about sliding Nelson back to LT and moving Mahon back to RT. I guess it comes down to which is the lessor of two evils....Bosa vs Palmer or Bosa vs Mahon.
 
1 - Overall, best performance of the season
2 - 1st half was quite good, 2nd half (especially the 3rd quarter) relatively lousy..at times, AWFUL
3 - #56 for IU is a player (I mentioned him in my pre-game thoughts....said he would wreck havoc) He was nearly unblockable in the 2nd half. He's kind of a poor man's Anthony Zettle....good player.


Couple of "Interesting Tidbits":

Dowrey replaced Mahon at LG for 3 series' in the game, all in the first half
PSU scored 3 TDs in the first half
All three were the 3 series' that Dowrey played

Now, Mahon wasn't so bad that a reasonable observation would be that the #53 for #70 switch was the difference....but it was certainly an odd coincidence if nothing else.

PSU passed a lot more than they had the last few weeks, and it is a lot easier to get a passing grade in pass pro (no pun intended)...basically, if you keep your assignment from getting into the pocket, you've done your job....so that helped the overall grades.
I also thought the play calling / use of various formations helped......kept IU (which probably doesn't like to blitz a whole lot anyway) from being able to unleash a lot of line pressures/stunts.

PSU came out in an unbalanced for one snap (this staff used a lot of unbalanced at Vandy....not sure why that has disappeared here). On that play IU jumped offsides so there was nothing to grade there, but what they did was place Mahon outside of Palmer on the left side....and left only Nelson to the right of the OC (with a TE next to him). Maybe something to look for moving forward.....or maybe not :)


Spot-by-spot:

I grade each guy, each play with a "0" (did his job), a "+" (made an outstanding block in a difficult and critical assignment), a "-" (got beat soundly), and a "whiff" (got beat soundly, and his miss blew up the play)

A lot of "0"'s (good/acceptable), a handful of "+"s (I don't usually give many of those out), and far fewer "-"s and "whiffs" than what we had been seeing.


First TEs:

Mentioned last week, that after playing a TON of 2 and 3 TE sets against Army....it was a waste of personnel. The TE blocking as a whole was awful.
Not so many 2 and 3 TE sets this week (and a handful of "no TE" sets with 4 or 5 wide). #11, as per usual, had a handful of snaps from a FB/HB spot. He is clearly the best guy for that task.
This week, for the first time, one of the TEs would grade out as "quite good"....that was #11. #88 was also a bit better than he had been. #87 was not used as blocker as much as usual (which is a good thing)...but played a significant role in the pass game as a receiver

Overall: (all ratings by + / 0 / - / whiffs)

#11.......1 / 14 / 0 / 0
#88.......0 / 6 / 0 / 0
#87.......0 / 6 / 4 / 0


The O Line:

LT # 73.....
1st Half 0 / 36 / 4 / 0
2nd Half 0 / 19 / 5 / 4
It was like a different guy was out there in the 2nd half. #56 for IU just ate his lunch. I don't know whether he was tiring (see also #59) or what....but it was close to being TempleX2 in the second half (after a really pretty good 1st half)

LG #70....
1st Half 0 / 21 / 2 / 1
2nd Half 0 / 27 / 1 / 0
Sat out significant part of 1st half. Better game than some this year, but still some work to do
#53.....
1st Half 0 / 16 / 0 / 0
Did not play in second half (except for one snap in a jumbo set, but IU jumped offsides so there was no grade).....no idea why he didn't get any 2nd half snaps

C #55....
1st Half 2 / 37 / 1 / 0
2nd Half 0 / 28 / 0 / 0
OUTSTANDING game by Laurent.

RG: #72.....
1st Half 1 / 36 / 2 / 1
2nd Half 0 / 27 / 1 / 0
Rarely was dominant...would like to see a few more "ass-kickings"...but one of the better games for at least making sure he was engaged with "someone" and keeping them from blowing up the play.

RT #59......
1st Half 0 / 37 / 3 / 0
2nd Half, part A 0 / 7 / 6 / 1 first 14 plays of second half....was just getting eaten up
2nd Half, part B 0 / 14 / 0 / 0

I don't know if he tired in the 2nd Half (hadn't played in a month....so maybe?) Good first half, struggled a lot in the 2nd


For the entire OL/TE unit:

Not a lot of dominant, outstanding, "ass-kicking"....but by and large, on most plays guys were catching their assignments and giving the play call a chance. (which is really all you "need" to have a chance to run an effective offense, especially with the skill guys PSU has)

25 "-" plays (basically, got whooped badly, but that particular fail didn't blow up the play entirely.....could be the QB made an early release, RB made a free man "miss"....play was run to the other side.....etc)
7 "whiffs" (plays where a guy was badly beaten and his assignment blew up the play)


Better than what we had been seeing....but still a lot of work to do to get to "good" overall.

The OT play in the second half was very disconcerting.....especially with the OSU defense looming (Bosa, Hubbard, Washington, etc)
If the line can put together 60 minutes equal to the play in the first half against IU......that would help.

If the play is ANYTHING like what we saw in the 2nd half, especially on the edges, Hackenberg (and the entire offense) are going to be under siege.

Nice write up.
IU had a DT that was coming off a suspension and is probably their best defensive player.

Paris had a pretty bad game. He needed all kinds of help in the second half.
I thought Laurent played really well and I wouldn't mind seeing him in the lineup either at C or Guard.
I was surprised that Nelson played at all.
 
1 - Overall, best performance of the season
2 - 1st half was quite good, 2nd half (especially the 3rd quarter) relatively lousy..at times, AWFUL
3 - #56 for IU is a player (I mentioned him in my pre-game thoughts....said he would wreck havoc) He was nearly unblockable in the 2nd half. He's kind of a poor man's Anthony Zettle....good player.


Couple of "Interesting Tidbits":

Dowrey replaced Mahon at LG for 3 series' in the game, all in the first half
PSU scored 3 TDs in the first half
All three were the 3 series' that Dowrey played

Now, Mahon wasn't so bad that a reasonable observation would be that the #53 for #70 switch was the difference....but it was certainly an odd coincidence if nothing else.

PSU passed a lot more than they had the last few weeks, and it is a lot easier to get a passing grade in pass pro (no pun intended)...basically, if you keep your assignment from getting into the pocket, you've done your job....so that helped the overall grades.
I also thought the play calling / use of various formations helped......kept IU (which probably doesn't like to blitz a whole lot anyway) from being able to unleash a lot of line pressures/stunts.

PSU came out in an unbalanced for one snap (this staff used a lot of unbalanced at Vandy....not sure why that has disappeared here). On that play IU jumped offsides so there was nothing to grade there, but what they did was place Mahon outside of Palmer on the left side....and left only Nelson to the right of the OC (with a TE next to him). Maybe something to look for moving forward.....or maybe not :)


Spot-by-spot:

I grade each guy, each play with a "0" (did his job), a "+" (made an outstanding block in a difficult and critical assignment), a "-" (got beat soundly), and a "whiff" (got beat soundly, and his miss blew up the play)

A lot of "0"'s (good/acceptable), a handful of "+"s (I don't usually give many of those out), and far fewer "-"s and "whiffs" than what we had been seeing.


First TEs:

Mentioned last week, that after playing a TON of 2 and 3 TE sets against Army....it was a waste of personnel. The TE blocking as a whole was awful.
Not so many 2 and 3 TE sets this week (and a handful of "no TE" sets with 4 or 5 wide). #11, as per usual, had a handful of snaps from a FB/HB spot. He is clearly the best guy for that task.
This week, for the first time, one of the TEs would grade out as "quite good"....that was #11. #88 was also a bit better than he had been. #87 was not used as blocker as much as usual (which is a good thing)...but played a significant role in the pass game as a receiver

Overall: (all ratings by + / 0 / - / whiffs)

#11.......1 / 14 / 0 / 0
#88.......0 / 6 / 0 / 0
#87.......0 / 6 / 4 / 0


The O Line:

LT # 73.....
1st Half 0 / 36 / 4 / 0
2nd Half 0 / 19 / 5 / 4
It was like a different guy was out there in the 2nd half. #56 for IU just ate his lunch. I don't know whether he was tiring (see also #59) or what....but it was close to being TempleX2 in the second half (after a really pretty good 1st half)

LG #70....
1st Half 0 / 21 / 2 / 1
2nd Half 0 / 27 / 1 / 0
Sat out significant part of 1st half. Better game than some this year, but still some work to do
#53.....
1st Half 0 / 16 / 0 / 0
Did not play in second half (except for one snap in a jumbo set, but IU jumped offsides so there was no grade).....no idea why he didn't get any 2nd half snaps

C #55....
1st Half 2 / 37 / 1 / 0
2nd Half 0 / 28 / 0 / 0
OUTSTANDING game by Laurent.

RG: #72.....
1st Half 1 / 36 / 2 / 1
2nd Half 0 / 27 / 1 / 0
Rarely was dominant...would like to see a few more "ass-kickings"...but one of the better games for at least making sure he was engaged with "someone" and keeping them from blowing up the play.

RT #59......
1st Half 0 / 37 / 3 / 0
2nd Half, part A 0 / 7 / 6 / 1 first 14 plays of second half....was just getting eaten up
2nd Half, part B 0 / 14 / 0 / 0

I don't know if he tired in the 2nd Half (hadn't played in a month....so maybe?) Good first half, struggled a lot in the 2nd


For the entire OL/TE unit:

Not a lot of dominant, outstanding, "ass-kicking"....but by and large, on most plays guys were catching their assignments and giving the play call a chance. (which is really all you "need" to have a chance to run an effective offense, especially with the skill guys PSU has)

25 "-" plays (basically, got whooped badly, but that particular fail didn't blow up the play entirely.....could be the QB made an early release, RB made a free man "miss"....play was run to the other side.....etc)
7 "whiffs" (plays where a guy was badly beaten and his assignment blew up the play)


Better than what we had been seeing....but still a lot of work to do to get to "good" overall.

The OT play in the second half was very disconcerting.....especially with the OSU defense looming (Bosa, Hubbard, Washington, etc)
If the line can put together 60 minutes equal to the play in the first half against IU......that would help.

If the play is ANYTHING like what we saw in the 2nd half, especially on the edges, Hackenberg (and the entire offense) are going to be under siege.
Good work. What would also be interesting is how many times a blocker let his man make the tackle. It seems to me there is one guy it happens to more than others.
 
Nice write up.
IU had a DT that was coming off a suspension and is probably their best defensive player.

Paris had a pretty bad game. He needed all kinds of help in the second half.
I thought Laurent played really well and I wouldn't mind seeing him in the lineup either at C or Guard.
I was surprised that Nelson played at all.
I know who you mean (I actually like #56 better....but the DT also helped them.....although he was the guy who got "hands to the face" against Laurent on the penalty that saved our bacon in the 1st half)

I also would like to see Laurent stay in the line up. Situation kinda' reminds me of BO'B's second year.....where he kept playing Gress over Gilliam at RT......even though every time Gilliam was in there he graded out WAY better. Now Gilliam is in the NFL. Never could figure that one out.

They didn't start to help Palmer out much until the 4th Quarter.....I don't know why it took so long.
 
ADVERTISEMENT