Oline love deserves their own thread.

Submitted by Monkey House on January 1st, 2024 at 11:18 PM

The oline was fantastic tonight! I have been hard on Barnhart this year, but he was great tonight. I really thought we would notice a big drop off with Zinter out, nope they were still really good. This line my not be as good as the last 2, but damnit they play hard and together. Go Blue!

Bo Harbaugh

January 1st, 2024 at 11:23 PM ^

Love Zinter, but the O-line as a whole may actually be better with Barnhart forced to play guard.

I think the difference between Jones and Barnhart at tackle is greater than Zinter and Barnhart at guard.

Zinter is all world, and hurts to lose him, but not sure what the staff was seeing with Barnhart over Jones at tackle all year.

Just my 2 cents.

1VaBlue1

January 1st, 2024 at 11:27 PM ^

Barnhart has a lot of experience and is very smart on the field.  But you won't get enough upvotes for your post.  He's a natural OG, so I wasn't too worried about the interior - even if Zinter is the better OG player.  There was never going to be much of a dropoff from Zinter to Barnhart at guard.  But the improvement from Barnhart to Jones at tackle is noticeable.

mitchewr

January 1st, 2024 at 11:26 PM ^

True that! That was some of if not the best pass protection we’ve seen all season for sure! Zinter going down really had me worried but whatever adjustments they made were fantastic!

Zopak

January 1st, 2024 at 11:27 PM ^

I have NO IDEA what the hell the staff saw in Barnhart over Jones. My goodness he did splendid. What a great job Barnhart had at guard! Holy crap

KSmooth

January 1st, 2024 at 11:35 PM ^

Seriously -- I'll admit I'm an amateur here but I'd be surprised if the entire O-line doesn't grade out well.  I just can't remember any glaring blowups against a very good defense.  They've had their struggles this season, especially at tackle, but they really showed up for this game.

enlightenedbum

January 1st, 2024 at 11:44 PM ^

Barnhart pulling and leading the way on the winner was great.  Also shout out to Bredesen who was murdering guys, including Alabama's incredible freshman safety on the game winner.  Annoyed by the penalty he got.

CJ also did a nice job blocking Arnold on the winner.

Perkis-Size Me

January 2nd, 2024 at 12:15 AM ^

It was tough sledding in the second half, especially in the third quarter, but they stepped up. When all the world was declaring Alabama the inevitable winner, they stepped up. Without their captain, and unanimous all American, they stepped up.

it wasn’t pretty, but they did what they needed to do. And they delivered when they needed to deliver.  Again, it was an ugly second-half for the most part, but those final minutes in the fourth quarter and overtime? They nutted the fuck up.