after the Rice game, I was very concerned about the performance of the OLine. They have come a long, long way and deserve kudos for their improvement. The young skill players are sexy, but to me, our turnaround in performance is due to the OLine's effort as much as anyone's. The past 2 weeks they've been downright nasty. Okay, Kansas and Tech suck against the run, but they wouldn't have against our other recent offensive lines. We had 3-5 backs on the roster that could have rushed for 150+ yards yesterday if they got the carries Bergeron did (Berg, Fozzy, Brown and maybe Johnson and Hills). And some of those are players that weren't exactly superstars during previous seasons. I mean, there was a reason everyone was salivating over Malcolm Brown's arrival. Anyway, here's to the line, you guys rock!
I agree and I think a big part of it is swapping Cochran for Allen. I wonder if we abandoned the run too early in OU to do something we aren't very good at (passing and pass blocking). It's hard to say when you have to play catch up. So we aren't very good at playing catch up and will need to avoid getting into that position against K State, Mizzou, atm, Baylor, and whoever we face in a bowl game. But kudos to Searels for turning around the McWhorter slump.
You see, I think pass blocking is easier than run blocking. Dont you still try to form a pocket and give the QB 3 seconds?
And kudos to Harsin and Applewhite for good run blocking schemes like lead blocks, pulling linemen, etc. Stuff we never saw the past number of years but were prevalent in the Ricky Williams years and under Mackovic.
The entire offense is coming together better now. Much less stupid penalties like false starts or illegal shifts which would put offense in a hole. 2 keys were inserting Cochran and moving Poehllman to TE. Just a physical rush attack that wears teams down. Kansas was Kansas and Texas just ran them over. Tech is just a worn out team after playing 8 straight and having some tough opponents leading up to the Texas game.
Agree that the O-line looked great, but let's tap the brakes a little guys. These were two of the worst rushing defenses in all of college football. Color me cautiously optimistic.
They've looked good, but I'm gonna wait until they look good against some other than K-State and Tech's D.
That is what worries me. All this rushing has been done against two of the very worst rush defenses in the nation. If you look at Bergeron's stats prior to these two games, they are not very impressive. Even Jeremy Hills was looking impressive against these last two defenses. If the running game continues to excel against the next three opponents (and no, I don't need 400 yards rusing, 250 will do) I will be truly excited. But, if not, and the Horns struggle, I expect to see the usual posts about how bad the O-Line sucks.
2 freshman and two sophomores starting. This line is coming together and in the next few years will be incredible. there is a reason the top RB in the state has chosen Texas each of last two years.
