Some people ripped on Rodriguez's performance, so I wanted to see for myself. I re-watched the game (some plays several times). Keep in mind that I haven't played OLine since 9th grade (too small), and while I have coached two other sports extensively, neither was football. Here's the drive by drive observations of Rod (I included plays negated by penalty): 1st half 1st drive (7 plays): good run blocking, no whiffs on protection. On the final play, it looks like he was going to lose the battle to a speed rush, but Warren was assigned to help, so it may have been by design; there was no pressure on Boo -- WR FUMBLE 2nd drive (3 plays): solid protection -- TD 3rd drive (4 plays): solid protection, decent run blocking 4th drive (3 plays): 2nd down, his man held ground and made tackle after 2yd gain, otherwise solid -- FG 5th drive (3 plays): solid protection on 1st down. On 2nd down, UTEP sent 5 and both Vahe and Rod partially whiffed, Warren took the inside guy (Vahe's man). Rod had no help and forced the blitzing DB to go 9 yards deep. The DB (and Warren) flushed Boo into a "stumble-sack". 3rd down, whiff, no equivocation, egregious, b-a-a-a-a-d, his worst play of the game. 6th drive (13 plays): Flagged for holding on 4th play, but it wasn't from laziness or being out of position. On the roughing the passer penalty, it's worth noting that Vahe and Rod faced the same alignment (DL/DB) as during the 1st sack, but both passed with flying colors (with no help from a Back). Nice pass protection and decent run blocking on the drive. -- FG 7th drive (10 plays): Solid protection, decent run blocking. Only things noteworthy were 1) one play when Rod blocked down, Warren carried it straight into that DL, and 2) on the last play, the DE went speed-rush and got close, but Rod took him past, Boo never got touched and completed the pass -- TD 2nd half 1st drive (3 plays): Nice run block and pass protect 2nd drive (12 plays): Decent run blocking and solid protection. Final play included a nice seal block by Rod -- TD 3rd drive (2 plays): Nothing extraordinary. Had help on the final play, but didn't need it. -- TD 4th drive (7 plays): Good run blocking and solid protection. The final play was a coverage sack. Boo had time and his options were left, so he drifted left in the pocket... into Rod's man. Rod gets credit for a sack in a situation where he'd helped set the pocket for more than 3 seconds. 5th drive (7 plays): Good block on Porter run. Nothing else noteworthy. He watched the final 2 drives from the sidelines. TL;DR Rod had 3 negative plays (only one egregious) plus a tolerable holding penalty. In run blocking, he occasionally (~40%) got some displacement and almost never lost ground, but he never went full "road grader" on anyone. In pass protect, he rarely got help, and got tagged with 3 sacks (somewhat unfairly). He seems vulnerable to a speed-rush, but adapted later. As a 3rd year player getting his first start, I'd give him a B- (or even an A- if that performance was against an elite DLine). If he was a 5th year senior playing against UTEP, I'd give him a C+. IMHO, some people are overreacting to 4 plays.
Great post. I really appreciate insightful analysis from posters, rather than bald conclusions and hyperbole. As the season goes on, I will try to contribute my own film analysis from time to time (when I get opportunities to rewatch games the way I like to). From your post, it sounds like Rod got some bad breaks but improved during the game (only one whiff early). Maybe with some more reps he can be a rotational player and give Conner some rest.
