Did The OLine Improve?

One thing that made them look much worse than they are is the fact that, in losses, they went up against the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 6th ranked defenses (going into Saturday).

One thing that made them look much better is that they played against the 84th ranked defense.

They play against the 4th, 62nd 81st, 97th ranked defenses.

For perspective, they scored 27 against the 42nd, 27 against the 84th, and 7 against the 4th ranked FCS defense. Obviously that doesn't account for defensive TD's, safeties, or short fields.

Not sure where I'm going with this. I just woke up from my nap and I'm sitting on my davenport trying to figure out what to have for supper.
 
Northwestern is the worst B1G team that we will face this year. But for some perspective, they lost to Penn State 17-7 Oct 1st and were leading Maryland at the half last week. We never let them in the game.

So I'll take the progress and hope that it continues. Our O-Line has not looked that good all year. As many have pointed out, the changes to the lineup seemed to have made a big difference. IMO, if we can get anywhere close to decent line play we have a chance in every game on our remaining schedule.
 
ssckelley said:
My only optimism is with the offensive line. This was only the 2nd game I attended in person, the other being SDSU, and from my seats (north endzone) you get a real good view of the line when they are driving towards the south end zone. After the SDSU game I left wondering how in the hell they were going to be able to block a Big Ten dline when they couldn’t block a FCS school. I’m open to the idea Northwestern is worse than SDSU, heck Northwestern lost to Southern Illinois, but the line went from looking like absolute shit to dominating.

Looks like to me KF gave some personal attention to that line in practice last week.
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You really think that KF isn’t giving personal attention to that line up until now?? That’s his bread n butter trust me that line isn’t getting ignored by KF!
 
trj said:
They can get Minnesota and Nebraska.
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Iowa isn’t beating the Gophers on the road. Minnesota Gopher’s D is not far behind the Hawks in Total Defense in the country and this Offense will struggle mightily. I like your optimism but I’m just not seeing that at all..

Iowa can get Nebraska its D is worse than Northwesterns!
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
You really think that KF isn’t giving personal attention to that line up until now?? That’s his bread n butter trust me that line isn’t getting ignored by KF!
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I’m not privy to what KF does during practices, I would think he oversees everything at a high level. Perhaps you have a deeper knowledge on the subject.
 
ssckelley said:
I’m not privy to what KF does during practices, I would think he oversees everything at a high level. Perhaps you have a deeper knowledge on the subject.
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I mentioned it last week, but in my morning commute by the practice field on Tuesday, KF was clearly leading the OL drills. That seemed a bit unusual, that is typically the responsibility of the OL coach.
 
CP87 said:
I mentioned it last week, but in my morning commute by the practice field on Tuesday, KF was clearly leading the OL drills. That seemed a bit unusual, that is typically the responsibility of the OL coach.
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Yep, I remember you saying that. It looks like it worked.
 
Fryowa said:
Cooking is my therapy. I don’t have the time or money for the hobbies I used to love, so that’s what I do to relax.
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I hear ya. Found a big pile of crappies in a beaver lodge one night after school last week. Wondered why the heck I don't fish as much as I used to. Of course, no time to clean them. Relaxing as hell with the sunset, ducks, etc.
 
99topdawg said:
I hear ya. Found a big pile of crappies in a beaver lodge one night after school last week. Wondered why the heck I don't fish as much as I used to. Of course, no time to clean them. Relaxing as hell with the sunset, ducks, etc.
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Awesome. Two of my hobbies got wiped out by coaching. Spring panfishing and gardening. Late May/early June I used to get up on weekends before sunrise and hit my favorite bluegill spots. Better than any meds you could find. Now I get up before sunrise and spend an hour looking for my hose nozzle and find it at the bottom of the ball cart with 157 baseballs on top of it. And never mind that the last players who were in the shed just dumped all the catchers gear and bats in front of the cart so I can't get at it anyway.
 
Fryowa said:
Awesome. Two of my hobbies got wiped out by coaching. Spring panfishing and gardening. Late May/early June I used to get up on weekends before sunrise and hit my favorite bluegill spots. Better than any meds you could find. Now I get up before sunrise and spend an hour looking for my hose nozzle and find it at the bottom of the ball cart with 157 baseballs on top of it. And never mind that the last players who were in the shed just dumped all the catchers gear and bats in front of the cart so I can't get at it anyway.
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Why does this sound familiar? Cheer up a it only gets worse as the kids get older. Tools get moved around and you need to organize a search party to find stuff.
 
dagdaj said:
Of course they've improved.
I can't imagine they haven't gotten better.

The question is if they've improved enough to beat someone other than Northwestern.
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Picks and Sacks for Purdue.. Players do NOT quit. Hawk Tough. Social media been waay hot. Picks please? Throw ball 20 yards downfield ok? Pick ASAP.
 
BigD said:
Why does this sound familiar? Cheer up a it only gets worse as the kids get older. Tools get moved around and you need to organize a search party to find stuff.
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I only have one and he's 16. I hardly see the kid it seems like. He trains cross country every day after school, works for a few hours, and then there's generally something going on with friends like basketball/volleyball games to go and watch, stuff like that. On the weekends he's doing the same but adding in hunting pheasants with his buddies.
 
In his post game presser he talked about moving Colby back into guard. It was so frustrating hearing him talk about it so matter of fact like. He said they watched the tape of the OSU game and noticed that Colby struggled at RT. No shit Sherlock. KF made himself sound so smart for noodling this out 3 games too late. Great coach, but it takes him half a season to see what the fans see from the get go. While moving Colby back in was absolutely the right move, Plumb is not much of an upgrade. RT has been a trainwreck since Wirfs left.

Anywho, even taking into account the opponent, this was the best the OL has looked in two seasons, IMHO.
 
FYI, Proctor was at the game Saturday along with a bunch of other recruits. He walked right by us outside the stadium before the gates were opened.

Fingers are crossed he doesn't have a change of heart as he would be a much needed shot in the arm for that line next year.
 
ssckelley said:
FYI, Proctor was at the game Saturday along with a bunch of other recruits. He walked right by us outside the stadium before the gates were opened.

Fingers are crossed he doesn't have a change of heart as he would be a much needed shot in the arm for that line next year.
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The kid could pick his spot on the line and start day 1 next yr... I hope he stays I really do I just don't think it's over till he's either enrolled early in Jan or signed and in camp next summer.
 
CP87 said:
I mentioned it last week, but in my morning commute by the practice field on Tuesday, KF was clearly leading the OL drills. That seemed a bit unusual, that is typically the responsibility of the OL coach.
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So he doesn't trust the OL coach. Time to replace him.
 
ssckelley said:
FYI, Proctor was at the game Saturday along with a bunch of other recruits. He walked right by us outside the stadium before the gates were opened.

Fingers are crossed he doesn't have a change of heart as he would be a much needed shot in the arm for that line next year.
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Hawkfnntn said:
The kid could pick his spot on the line and start day 1 next yr... I hope he stays I really do I just don't think it's over till he's either enrolled early in Jan or signed and in camp next summer.
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I'm betting Ryan Day sent him a text 15 minutes after the OSU game got over.
 
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