Offensive Line = C+/B-
Everyone knew coming into the season that this would be the biggest worry of the year, and it has been something that remains a concern. I gave this position group varying grades because as the season has progressed they have done enough to keep Ridder upright and even when the running game seems to stall or the offense isn’t producing much, like the Tulsa game or first half against Miami, the offensive line is still holding up enough that Ridder isn’t taking unnecessary contact, no blindside sacks with a chance of injury or anything like that. For the most part after a quick adjustment early in the season Ridder knew he had to get the ball out quicker and he has and it’s helped to mitigate a lot of the deficiencies up front and for that they get a B-.
Where the group drops to a C+ stems from the one problem that has plagued the entire team from the moment the season began and that is all of the penalties. UC currently ranks in the bottom five of all of D1 (130 schools) in total penalties. Even though this is a broader team issue, the majority of those penalties seem to come from the offensive line. What’s even worst is a lot of those penalties come in drive ending situations like a 3rd and short that has now become a 3rd and long or Warren finally rips through a hole for a big chunk of yards, but it gets called back because of a holding call. It has been an issue that Fickell is aware of and all we can hope is that the second bye week brings an extra attention to detail and as the season begins to wind down the O-Line and the team in general can start to clean some of this up.
Injuries haven’t helped this group out with Chris Ferguson being nicked up missing a few games, Jeremy Cooper being out and as a whole being mix and match at times.
