OL's experience in BIG
ESPN has a nice article on the ranking OL in the BIG based on their experience. Here is a short list
3. Indiana: 130 career starts
4. Minnesota: 129
19. Northwestern: 100
22. Rutgers: 99
23. Illinois: 96
46. Wisconsin: 74
66. Iowa: 62
T-68. Maryland: 61
T-68: Michigan State: 61
107. Michigan: 37
116. Nebraska: 32
117. Purdue: 31
126. Ohio State: 21
127. Penn State: 20
Similar to us, our three main competitors do not have a lot of experience on the OL either.
$LINK
Edit: link is not behind paywall
That's possible, but they're at or near the top in recruiting hype, and that needs to count for something. It's not like we're trotting out no-name second and third year guys. We're trotting out highly touted (for the most part) second and third year guys. That at least makes up for what you're claiming.
Recruiting is less predictable at offensive line than any other position, partly because of the relative importance of college-level practice and physical training compared to other positions (e.g. running back or cornerback).
The other thing about our number that is a little misleading is that it includes 5 starts from Miller and Burzynski who are unlikely to start a game this fall. So really we're at 32.
Last year we had plenty of starts and had the worst O-Line in the history of college football.
be a slight over-statement.
One of the Dakota State schools rushed for 250+ yards against a team we went for negative against. Miserable miserable teams without 2 5th year senior NFL tackles would rush for 2 yards per carry against the likes of Alabama.
Our O-line would have redefined bad had some of those performances been against give time programs. The fact that some of these games were against complete sieve defenses makes my statement less of a hyperbole.