Great team win, but our left tackle situation needs to desperately improve if we're going to win big games in the future. That was alarming. It was almost like we needed two tackles over there and have Caleb start a yard or two back like a TE. Hopefully, this was more of a product of the quality of Penn State's defensive line than the quality of our OL.
LT
- Thread starter Chriselli
- Start date
I honestly think it was more PSU than an IU problem. Those two sacks Caleb gave up late were cringe inducing, but I think that was more of a stud DE being able to completely tee off on a pass rush. Because Caleb's body of work last year was solid enough for that to be more of an aberration than, I hope, the norm.
Overall, the OL needs to gel in a hurry though to get that inside run game working.
We can't be giving up back to back sacks during 4th quarter crunch time: that was brutal to watch.
The line was pretty brutal the entire game. I think Deboer used a very quick release passing game to hide our lines flaws last year. This year the plays seems to be taking longer to develop.
The other thing you need to be aware of is that if you set your Tackle to far back, you can be called for not having enough players on the line of Scrimmage. You don't see it called often, but when I saw where Jones was lined up several times, I thought he was really flirting with that penalty.
I think Stevie was supposed to stay in and help pick that guy up on those two sacks. He did on the next drive which I think was the scoring drive. Jones just needed help with that guy because he was so fast getting outside of him.
To be honest, tape is going to show that Penix had some plays where he should've stepped back into the pocket when the outside rushers were going wide but he stood still. When a QB steps up, it also places the LT more squarely in front of the defender and you can counter their over aggressiveness. I think film review will show opportunities to fix that problem because it was made to look a lot worse than it actually should've been.
With that said, Caleb was getting beat pretty bad. It will be interesting to see if that continues.
With that said, Caleb was getting beat pretty bad. It will be interesting to see if that continues.
Caleb could very well be struggling with moving from RT to LT. Caleb is a mountain of a man, he will struggle with smaller edge rushers.
On the drive where Penix got sacked twice Stevie was drifting out to the flat as a safety value receiver. On the last drive they scored on Stevie mostly stayed in and helped Jones with that guy. Good adjustment.
Keep in mind that with a leftie QB, it's the RT that's protecting the blind side, not the LT.
The good news is the only DL that will be better that we face is OSU. Thought Jones did okay against a kid that will be a very high draft pick. Actually thought our whole line did a pretty good job handling kids that will be high draft picks once their careers are done. Having never played together, our OL showed some toughness. Don't be too quick to write off Jones. He struggled some for sure, but he was solid enough and help contain a massive amount of pressure that PSU applied.
Will be interesting to see if Rutgers drops into the box rather than throw the kitchen sink of blitzes at Penix next week, because IU's OL was good enough to hold it.
I really don't know what to make of this. Are you saying Hiller is a poor replacement for Frey? If so , consider ... Frey left IU after the 2016 season, spent 2017 at Mich and was let go, spent 2018 at Florida St. and was let go, spent 2019 at Florida as a quality control analyst and is now at Duke. If you think Frey is an accomplished OL coach you may be in the minority.
That crossed my mind too... The one glaring difference between Hiller and Frey is that he hasn't lost the last two jobs that he clearly would have preferred to keep...
I have come to believe after noting his two firings that rather than being the genius he was made out to be here that it's more than likely that Wilson (a former OG) and Patton (a former OL coach at OK) carried him while he was here...
I've been pleased overall with Hillers coaching... That said, the whole OL will need to take things up three notches if this TEAM expects to keep winning...
I have always questioned Hiller. He's a lousy recruiter and they have struggled running the ball, but the pass protection was good under Deboer. The line coach is dependent so much on the coordinator that's it's hard to attribute blame. Allen called out the line in his press conference as a real disappointment. The line play was just terrible. At least he called a spade a spade.
Well..., he's doing something right..., he helped Martin, Knight, and Stepaniak get jobs as pros and he brought Katic and Bedford here so the recruiting glass is at least 2/5ths full (and I think winning will help things out in that respect)...
He'll certainly get the chance to make a case for himself this year... The OL must get better though if we're going to be able to run this offense...
This whole thread is kind of ridiculous. Not sure how many of played offensive line in a passing game. But the defensive line has a huge advantage in that situation they know we had to throw the football. They knew they could totally disregard the run game. The kid playing across from Jones is a big time kid held him check most of the game. That is why Sheridan did not have anyone chip him on first or second down I would assume. Next there we’d many on here who questioned Coach Deboard’ sablefish quick passing attack but were ok with DeBoer’s attack. Next Hiller and Frey are both very good offensive line coaches. Frey had success at IU, Michigan in previous stint and West aVirginia and as far as Florida State Jimbo left the o line a mess and it is still atrocious. Finally the offensive line has to work as unit. It is very tough to come out of the gate and be great right off the bat with no spring ball and not sure how much contact they had in preseason. I am feel their pain struggling with my guys with new system and no spring and limited contact and we play my school on Saturday who traditionally has athletes and this year is no different.
