[GK3]

All of you are capable of doing this.

Rewatch the SC game. 
Focus on one OL at a time.
Keep the pause button handy, or slow motion--even better--if you have it.
Ask three questions of the guy:

1.  Does he move his feet well?  Does he have quick feet and a nice first step? 
Does he move well and decisively on pulls?.

2.  Does he deliver a strong blow, tight hands, hard to the defender's pecs?

3.  Is he able to drive his man after the blow?  Is he moving him, drawing stalemates, or even being pushed back (if he's standing tall and near erect, he's getting pushed. If his shoulders are ahead of his hips, he's winning.)

I recommend starting with Little, because our impressions of him were so good and our expectations so high.  If he was playing at that level, we'd be running a bit better because of it. 

To a lesser extent, ditto Herbig.  He's doing a nice job, but he isn't Decastro, Garnett, or Yankey yet. 

It's not much fun, I assure you.  Startling at first, then discouraging.  The hope is that they're trending up.  ND, which I haven't rewatched, looked a bit better and Love had some room at times.  Not the of immense proportions holes we saw last year, but room.

---

"How long have we been running Power?  10 years?  Marecic was leading Toby through the hole in 2009.

That's a long time for defenses to catch up.  The same way they caught up to bubble screens and jet sweeps.

The rest of college football has adapted.  We haven't."


Power? 

How often do we run Power?  
(Power isn't a scheme, it's a play: pulling guard, lead block from a back, double teams on the play side.)

Are our results when we do run Power--not often--worse than our results on other plays?

Is there an NFL team that doesn't run Power?  

Over Love's career, over 60% of his big plays have come running behind a fullback.  
Not sure how many of those plays have been Power, but quite a few.

Defenses have not adapted to successfully stop Power and force teams away from using the play.  It's still a staple; it's very hard to defend and it's good for attitude.

Your point is well taken.  Against ND it seemed to me that both Little and 75 had a very hard time pass blocking once we in a "have to throw" situation, and sometimes even before that.  They were slow getting to their man, who often had them half way beat within a couple of yards of the LOS.  As a result, instead of being able to push their man out and back and keep the top of the pocket from collapsing, KJ often ended up stepping up in the pocket, only to find the rush pushing our guys into his face and the defensive tackles immediately to his rear.  The pocket, if you want to call it, that didn't amount to much.  I didn't think that either of our tackles showed quick enough feet to get out on their man in time.  Perhaps play action would have slowed ND down some, but at that point the threat of running was pretty minimal.

[GK3]

All of you are capable of doing this.

Rewatch the SC game. 
Focus on one OL at a time.
Keep the pause button handy, or slow motion--even better--if you have it.
Ask three questions of the guy:

1.  Does he move his feet well?  Does he have quick feet and a nice first step? 
Does he move well and decisively on pulls?.

2.  Does he deliver a strong blow, tight hands, hard to the defender's pecs?

3.  Is he able to drive his man after the blow?  Is he moving him, drawing stalemates, or even being pushed back (if he's standing tall and near erect, he's getting pushed. If his shoulders are ahead of his hips, he's winning.)

I recommend starting with Little, because our impressions of him were so good and our expectations so high.  If he was playing at that level, we'd be running a bit better because of it. 

To a lesser extent, ditto Herbig.  He's doing a nice job, but he isn't Decastro, Garnett, or Yankey yet. 

It's not much fun, I assure you.  Startling at first, then discouraging.  The hope is that they're trending up.  ND, which I haven't rewatched, looked a bit better and Love had some room at times.  Not the of immense proportions holes we saw last year, but room.

---

"How long have we been running Power?  10 years?  Marecic was leading Toby through the hole in 2009.

That's a long time for defenses to catch up.  The same way they caught up to bubble screens and jet sweeps.

The rest of college football has adapted.  We haven't."


Power? 

How often do we run Power?  
(Power isn't a scheme, it's a play: pulling guard, lead block from a back, double teams on the play side.)

Are our results when we do run Power--not often--worse than our results on other plays?

Is there an NFL team that doesn't run Power?  

Over Love's career, over 60% of his big plays have come running behind a fullback.  
Not sure how many of those plays have been Power, but quite a few.

Defenses have not adapted to successfully stop Power and force teams away from using the play.  It's still a staple; it's very hard to defend and it's good for attitude.

Your point is well taken.  Against ND it seemed to me that both Little and 75 had a very hard time pass blocking once we in a "have to throw" situation, and sometimes even before that.  They were slow getting to their man, who often had them half way beat within a couple of yards of the LOS.  As a result, instead of being able to push their man out and back and keep the top of the pocket from collapsing, KJ often ended up stepping up in the pocket, only to find the rush pushing our guys into his face and the defensive tackles immediately to his rear.  The pocket, if you want to call it, that didn't amount to much.  I didn't think that either of our tackles showed quick enough feet to get out on their man in time.  Perhaps play action would have slowed ND down some, but at that point the threat of running was pretty minimal.