You should've seen the Bill Mallory lines in the mid to late 80's and early 90's. They were every bit the equal of the last few years. Big (for their time), technically sound, and very physical. And they didn't benefit from a spread offense with wide splits and quick passes that kept the D line on its heels. Everyone knew they were going to pound the ball, yet they were still very effective.I think the real point is Freys worst line this year was...average, which I agree with. Many reasons went into those results but...
Weve gone decades with lines far worse than average. Seems we may be a bit spoiled, even after so short of a success record.
What Frey and Wilson did here with the oline was historic...yes, historic. Weve become used to line excellence very quickly. Its the key to everything else. No RB can excell without a good one...but a good line can make an average back look great.
What those 2 coaches brought to our program has no modern parallel in IU history. Seeing both gone and expecting things to just continue as if they were here is very short sighted. Not saying it cant happen, but if there was a better oline coach than Frey available, Harbaug would have hired him instead of Frey dont you think?
Seems logical anyone we hire will be less desirerable than the one we had. Thats just football, I wish him luck, but his departure will be felt, like it or not. We will recover, but how much is TBD.
Frey is a good coach, but he's hardly irreplaceable.