Was the OL horrendous tonight or merely not as good as the DL?

The fact is we have a marginal at best OL. On the other hand we have about 6 backup d lineman that could start at most top 50 schools.

Double post

Again this year. We just replaced a top 10 pick at LT with a true freshman. We continue to shift player between positions. Nussmeier is our only hope at this point.

There's no need to panic yet.  Our defense is supposed to be very good if not great.  If the offense keeps it simple, the O-line should continue to get better, and as has been said ad nauseum, it's not like Nuss was calling anything but the basest of base plays.  Some people need to take a chill pill.  If the defense is dominant and the offense progresses week to week Michigan will have as good of a shot as anyone.  If the offense regresses like last year, to me it's Hoke's ass on the line.  But to draw any major conclusions from a scrimmage is ridiculous.

defensive line. Everyone here said they thought the OL was going to be the weakest link. I don't think anyone should be surprised.

The defensive line is pretty set. They aren't swapping players like the OL is.

The defensive line knows the play calls which gives them an advantage.

That being said I agree with reshp 1. I didn't think the first unit played that bad. I didn't see the tackles for loss on a very consistent basis like last year.  I saw adequate protection for the quick passes which are going to be the major part of the offense most likely. We will be a passing team and run to mix it up at leastt while the line is developing.

I think when the line is set next week they will begin to get better but I also think they will be much better at the end of the year than at the beginning. They can be adequate early on which hopefully is all we will need with the defense.

The OL will be much better next year. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

It's fine, the Oline is young and you have to be Sr to be good at Oline at Michigan.

General thoughts with the preface that I am in the camp we will have a lot of close games this year and and not a great record and I don't think the OL will be very good but Devin needs to improve on decision making, accuracy, and pre-read snaps.... all things we have no idea if he has.

1) "The DL is great, so don't worry about the OL" thinking is not realistic.  We probably have a good DL... I doubt it is great.  Especially this early, with so many young players.  I am a lot more bullish on the DTs than most here.  I think Clark will be incrementally better.  Beyer I am a bit worried about due to size.  But they are going up against a bad line, plain and simple.  Clark making Braden look silly is probably natural at this point but Braden will be playing Clark like players soon enough which is a bad thing.  I do think the 2nd unit of our DL is going to be far better than the 2nd unit of our OL but UM will not be facing 2nd units of other teams - so it's not an excuse out there.

2) "MSU defense helped the offense stick around last year, so no worries - we're MSU."  Bullshit.  MSU's OL was its BEST offensive unit last year.  It was MSU's best OL in years.  Their issues were finding a QB and a RB.  They were trying 3 different QBs in those games they struggled to settle on Cook eventually vs ND.  That is not our issue.  Finding a QB is 1 player, finding an OL is 5 players - we have a completely different issue.  MSU's OL sucked in 2012 due to injuries and they had a bad year.  It is not so simple as "hey we will be MSU of 2013".  Further MSU's defense wasn't just top 20ish, it was elite elite elite.  Another difference.

3) Comments like we don't need a good OL because we have great RBs is just silly.  First we have no idea what kind of RBs we have - we have high ranked RBs... but Dymonte Thomas is high ranked and can't find the field.  We have no way to judge the RBs behind this line - throw them behind a competent line and we'll see.  And even a great RB behind this line is going to be severely hampered; they are not magicians - any RB needs holes and lanes.

4) Devin will be the horse this year yet again - live and die with hero ball QB for the 4th year in a row it appears simply due to the OL issues.  Which is a damn shame since having a balanced offense would be nice.

5) I fear many so high on Nuss today are going to be down on him in 7 weeks due to this one really bad unit.  He is not a miracle worker - I am sure he is a good OC but he will be hampered by the OL and people are going get on his case. 

6) If the OL does not improve THROUGH the year I dont know how Funk remains. There is a lot of talent and not all those Scout/Rivals/ESPN reports can be wrong on every damn linemen.  You throw 10 guys out there, and 6 should hit.  Especially the ones in their 3rd year - that is Magnuson, Kalis, and Braden.  Bars seems like he won't be hitting.  If nothing has changed in late October it means 2 years of regression/stagnation on the OL.  MSU has a guy in Kalis/Magnuson/Braden class named Jack Conklin who was a WALK ON and he didnt give up a sack last year as a TACKLE.  So it's complete BS we cannot develop any of our guys to be competent NCAA players - not great, not "Jack Conklin awesome" but competent.

Overall it is a shame because if the 2010 and 2011 classes gave us 2-3 starting OL who we could count on this is a 10+ win team in my estimation and competing for the East.  Instead we are going to be in a lot of close games with some just ok teams, and Devin is going to simply have to carry the offense single handidly and I worry about him facing the same issues of 2013 where we was lucky to avoid injury until late in the year.  I am extremely positive about 2015 but it requires an OL that improves throughout 2014 and ready to be very good in 2015 - so if I don't see the progression in the OL this year it means we might piss away the easiest schedule we are going to have in the next decade in 2015 due to one unit not being competent.

Damn, all these takes from one scrimmage are SCORCHING.

Fire Funk! Technique still sucks!

Has picked up where it ended last season. Hopefully Hoke will name starters and we will stick with them through the season. The lack of development was due in part to too much substitution!

pretty heavily a few weeks back when I mentioned that our Oline is going to SUUUUUCCCCKKKKK.

 

Yep!

There was not one run over 10 yards, by a RB, the whole night...... not good.

I've said it before, recruiting O line is very difficult. Just so much growing to do yet, really is the most unpredictable position to recruit. I know we have a very good back 7, but are people forgetting that our D line hasn't been all that good? Like our talent there, but I have been very disappointed with their production. There is still no reason to think we have a dominant D Line, because we haven't had one in years. I'm afraid the O Line is just that bad. We have two weeks to get it sorted out. The team is built to run the ball, if we don't have an O line to make that possible it's a house of cards, might as well run the spread.

but football is not hard. It's not. When you can recruit highly ranked 6-4+ 290+ HS kids (players most schools would call the gem of their recruiting class) at OL there is no reason to ever be below average. Maybe as True Freshman but even one injury free RS year and they should be adequate. If not, the coaching or system is the problem. Football is made to be so over complicated when it doesn't have to be. People think guys like Harbaugh and Saban and Bill B are geniuses but they just don't complicate things in an easy game. Truly, run blocking is finding the guy you have to drive off the line (with a head start, mind you) and engaging him to move him back or to seal him off. Pass protection bring harder but essentially the same. Was it last year or two years ago when msu had to play two 3rd stringers, a backup and a DT they converted THAT WEEK against us and looked beyond adequate? A converted DT that week looked solid, ffs. OL Held their own. How? Simple play calling and ENGAGE THE GUY IN FRONT OF YOU. Not hard. Either change the coach or system because I don't care about age with this OL. Most schools would kill for these OL and if we're as bad as last year there is no excuse. Not age, etc. It's CFB, not the NFL. Get better players, call plays that put them in position to succeed & win. It truly is that easy. We are Michigan so the player thing should not be an issue. It isn't. What is because scrimmage or not you're lying if you think our DL is do amazing that it caused our OL to look that bad with a year prep. Not mad but incredulous, BTW.