I have always thought your biggest guys were the tackles, allowing them to force the defensive ends to the outside and keeping the pocket intact. Their height can also keep the DEs from getting their hands up to knock down passes. Guards need to move and create blocking mismatches, especially on run (sweeps and traps). Putting Herm at guard goes against that.

Granted, I am not an O-line coach, but I am surprised when I see him at guard.

GEAUX TIGERS

first of all, i dont watch the oline when watching games live and i dont have the time to go back and watch taped games but from casual viewing i havent seen an abnormal amount of stretch and zone runs but im pretty sure that we havent made a change. if we were running a zone/stretch scheme liek broncos, we would see/need a lot more of JR out of the pocket. the beauty of the broncos' scheme is that it forces the DEs to pinch and then when they do the QB pops right outside on a bootleg, i havent seen that. the other thing is that i have seen a lot of tentative running from our RBs, in the broncos system, you have to be one cut and go. it does take a while if you havent run behind the system, that is when you see running backs trying to ride Olinemen's backs, in the broncos system, that will just take you to the sidelines. i doubt that we are trying to run our whole run offense like the broncos because as previously mentioned, it is predicated on Oline speed, not strength, basically them just getting a body on their man and pushing them wherever they want to go so that they overpursue leading to cutback lanes which the running back has to hit with a lot of speed and power to get to the next level.

what i think we should do with our offense is run more draws and screens, our Oline is pretty good at PPro so we should keep the D honest with PPro looks masking extended handoffs in the open field. but i dont get paid what jimbo and les do so there is likely a flaw in my logic.

The only thing wrong with the O-Line is lack of playing time together. We took for granted the chemistry the line has had the last two/three years and now see what type of impact it has on their performance. The more these guys play, the better they'll be. There will be very little drop off from this year to the next two years in terms of players.

I thought that Ryan Miller was the better Center, but is still not 100% from surgery? IIRC, many felt that he would be better than Wilkerson.

Why is this?
As the year goes on shouldn't we see improvements in this area as they begin to gel more?
Shouldn't we expect to see them get better since this is Miles' position? We expect the defense to be good when we hired Saban and Pelini, right?

I will say the pass blocking is good. The run blocking is ridiculous, granted some of it is the running backs not hitting the hole hard and quick.

Pelini's defense is good and he is good at play calling and schemes, but the UF game wasn't great and I didn't like what happened in that game.

However, I think Saban's defense was substantially more complex than Pelini's and took much more time and experience to learn it. Saban had the guys making decisions and changing blitz packages, etc after the offense broke the huddle, plus they faked much more blitzes and really confused the offenses more than Pelini's. I don't believe Pelini has the defense making that many decisions after the offense breaks the huddle and doesn't blitz as much and doesn't fake it as much. He doesn't create the confusion on the opposing offenses as Saban's defense does.

That's my opinion and what I see.

The difference in the Florida game is the turnovers. The Defense was on the field longer then it should have been. You seldom see a team have 5+ turnovers and win a game. I was just a sloppy game for us.ldskule:

SemperFi,
I agree you can't expect the defense to hang to the game when SP teams screw up and give UF points. But Pelini changed to a different scheme than we've seen the entire time he has been here.

Because of that UF drove down the field on the first drive. Pelini was using 3 down lineman and wasn't bringing blitz very much at all until late in the game. The D and Pelini stepped up quite a bit throughout the game but he did use a lot of 3 down lineman and wasn't aggressive with UF for much of that game.

Thanks Red, that seems reasonable.

GEAUX TIGERS

Red, I have to disagree with some of your analysis. Take for example OT-Peter Dyakowski. You are expecting the impossible of Searles to "Get'er done", because sometimes you just can't "Polish a turd", so to speak. No disrespect to Dyakowski intended, I think he's a good representative of LSU, but is woefully lacking in physical skills needed to compete as an every down OT in the SEC. While I agree Ciron Black looks to have a bright future, & is learning on the job, I was wondering about your Ryan Miller All-SEC? He'll be a Junior next year, and has done little to warrant ALL-SEC consideration at this point. I do hope he flanks out to OG or maybe OT next year. Coach Searles can teach OL techniques, but cannot give the Olineman physical talent, quick feet & instincts. We do have some talented OL, but we also have some holes to fill & severe lack of depth, that will have to be filled by redshirt &/or true Freshman.(Possibly 1 Juco player) It's not too far fetched to think for example, Zhamal Thomas starting at Right Tackle backed up by D' Montreal Wilson...or whoever steps up next season. I agree, we have litttle run blocking this year, that's why we recruited Steve Singleton & Matt Allen, because they look to have the skills to be a true pulling guard(s). Saban messed up 2 OL classes, and it's starting to show now. Lets' not sugarcoat this - LSU is almost 2 complete OL recruiting classes behind the rest of the SEC - 2003 & 2005 - 1 player in each of those 2 recruiting classes. Next season I think our OL will be much improved, but I also expect us to go through some growing pains.