Opponent Analysis: The Offensive Line

[sushihorn 3233]

Offensive Line is any area about which little is written, yet it is foundational to the entire offense. It is not sexy or spectacular. There are a lot of subtleties and success is tough to measure directly. Because of those factors, I wanted to start with the O-Line. These are my opinions alone but I hope they start a good discussion:

Strengths: Mobility, Positioning and Footwork, Unit Cohesion

Weaknesses: Size, Power

(These assessments are relative to other top teams, not FBS as a whole)
 

Watching the Washington offensive line, I sometimes wonder how they get it done. They are not especially impressive to look at and they don’t blow anyone off the ball. Yet statistically they are excellent pass protectors (19 sacks surrendered) and good run blockers (1,000 yard rusher at 5.5 YPC). How do we reconcile those conclusions? They rarely bust blocking assignments, so pass rushers get blocked unless they bring numbers. Thus, Penix faced little early pressure and he was good at stepping up in the pocket or unloading the ball quickly. The O-Line buys ENOUGH time for the quick passing game and the occasional deep shot. They don’t have to look impressive doing it. 
 

The run blocking seemed more problematic to me. For the most part, UW hasn’t been able to drive block opposing fronts. In every game I’ve watched, they struggled to move defenders when blocking straight up without the advantage of angles or momentum. It was almost sad watching them run Inside Zone even against weak teams like Stanford and WSU. Yet they manufactured a decent running game against Oregon twice and USC. They did it by using the linemen’s mobility and footwork to compensate for lack of size and strength: pulling guards (PnP and counter), running out on the quick pitch, getting downfield on screens.

This is a tribute to coaching recognizing unit strengths and using those to cover up a serious weakness. They may have some smaller linemen but the coaches got them into favorable positions and matchups. 

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Texas is back! Sushihorn is back?!

[sushihorn 3233]

So how does this play out when matched up against the Texas front? I don’t think we will get consistent pressure when rushing Penix, certainly not early pressure when rushing 4. But I think the Texas pass rush can cause problems by denying Penix the ability to step up in the pocket and the time to go deep.

The style matchup in the running game is a very bad one for the Huskies’ OL. They couldn’t drive block weaker fronts; don’t expect them to do that to Texas. As for the pulling guards, you defeat that by holding the edge and creating a traffic jam. That forces the play wide where speed matters and pursuit can clean it up. Or the RB can look for a cutback lane against the interior DL. Good luck with that when one man is blocking back on our DTs. Lol

Oregon played a lot of 3 man fronts, asking a LB 4-5 yards off the ball to hold the edge. They gave up a soft corner by scheme. Texas rarely uses a 3 man front and usually only on obvious passing downs. Even against Tech’s empty set, Texas used 3 DL plus a stand up edge at the LOS. No soft corners here. 

[sushihorn 3233]

9 minutes ago, bigup2dahorns said:

Texas is back! Sushihorn is back?!

I survived Covid, got married and started a new business. RealLife (TM) has demanded too much of my time the last few years. Lol

[Atticus 3973]

How do their OL pressure numbers compare nationally and maybe against our schedule?

Just watching some UW games, I think Penix is very very good in the pocket.

[Braff Zacklin 13565]

Just now, Atticus said:

I think Penix is very very good in the pocket.

Depends on which "pocket" you put your Penix.

[sushihorn 3233]

2 hours ago, Atticus said:

How do their OL pressure numbers compare nationally and maybe against our schedule?

Just watching some UW games, I think Penix is very very good in the pocket.

They are average in stopping pressure: 35 QBH surrendered vs 55 hurries inflicted by the Texas D. UW is good at preventing pressure from becoming sacks. Penix’ pocket presence is part of that. 

[statsman 5462]

I’m kind of hoping that, with ACC (I assume that they won’t give us B10 or SEC officials, given the coming realignment) officials, we’ll find out that Texas has a better pass rush than thought 

[Valmy77 13226]

5 minutes ago, statsman said:

I’m kind of hoping that, with ACC (I assume that they won’t give us B10 or SEC officials, given the coming realignment) officials, we’ll find out that Texas has a better pass rush than thought 

We have Big 10 Officials.

[sushihorn 3233]

They do call OL for holding in the B1G. I do worry about bias towards an incoming conference member. 

[troph 24789]

5 hours ago, sushihorn said:

They are average in stopping pressure: 35 QBH surrendered vs 55 hurries inflicted by the Texas D. UW is good at preventing pressure from becoming sacks. Penix’ pocket presence is part of that. 

We all want to isolate winning and losing to one thing which is kinda silly but I’ll do it anyway. Apart from a 3rd quarter lull or slow start from Texas on offense I think pressure on Penix when he drops back is the game within the game that decides the outcome. Texas pressures enough into a couple of sacks and a TO (+1) and 3-4 quality stops and Texas wins. Penix has time - run game support or not - he’s gonna carve us up and then who knows if we can keep up.

[sushihorn 3233]

I forgot to add roster details. 
 

Starting LT: #55 Fautanu - 6’4” 317 pounds 

LG: #71 Kalepo - 6’6” 327

OC: #72 Brailsford - 6’2” 275

RG: #77 Buelow - 6’8” 311

RT: #73 Rosengarten - 6’6” 300

[Codaxx 5739]

On 12/13/2023 at 8:40 PM, troph said:

We all want to isolate winning and losing to one thing which is kinda silly but I’ll do it anyway. Apart from a 3rd quarter lull or slow start from Texas on offense I think pressure on Penix when he drops back is the game within the game that decides the outcome. Texas pressures enough into a couple of sacks and a TO (+1) and 3-4 quality stops and Texas wins. Penix has time - run game support or not - he’s gonna carve us up and then who knows if we can keep up.

If we look at the Bowl game. Texas did a great job vs the pass. They only gave up 1 explosive throw and that was on a trick play. In the 2 years at Washington, Penix's lowest yards per attempt was vs Texas. Texas defense had 2 issues in that game. #1 Washington was 13-23 on 3/4th down (57%). Texas is the #2 3rd down conversion defense in the nation this year (26.5%). Texas was 94th last year (41.3%). Hopefully, that improvement shows up in this game. The other issue was the run game. Texas gave up 158 yards and 5.64 yards/att. Texas is 4th in the country this year in rush defense (80.85 yards and 2.87 yard/att). That is an improvement from 33rd in the nation (125.7 and 3.9 per/att).. 

[RockyMountainHighHorn 890]

20 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

I forgot to add roster details. 
 

Starting LT: #55 Fautanu - 6’4” 317 pounds 

LG: #71 Kalepo - 6’6” 327

OC: #72 Brailsford - 6’2” 275

RG: #77 Buelow - 6’8” 311

RT: #73 Rosengarten - 6’6” 300

With the guards being so tall, I’m hoping sweat can get lower and leverage. 

[Constant 6732]

23 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

I forgot to add roster details. 
 

Starting LT: #55 Fautanu - 6’4” 317 pounds 

LG: #71 Kalepo - 6’6” 327

OC: #72 Brailsford - 6’2” 275

RG: #77 Buelow - 6’8” 311

RT: #73 Rosengarten - 6’6” 300

[Vertigo 20285]

a 6'8 and 6'6 guard is weird. Does DeBoer only recruit tackles and then move some of those guys inside to guard? I would expect Murphy to feast on those guys with his lower leverage point. And teams have not been able to run shit against us on counter plays all season. I think this game sets up well for us so long as we can avoid the deep shots daggers. 

[sushihorn 3233]

I should have posted the roster early. The comments about not being able to drive block anyone using Inside Zone would be much more obvious. 
 

I almost pity that Center. A 275 pound RS Freshman trying to get off a good snap then having to block an All-American NT has a really tough job. I expect he will need guard help a large majority of the snaps. 

[Rimbo 25924]

On 12/13/2023 at 10:16 AM, Braff Zacklin said:

Depends on which "pocket" you put your Penix.

[GringoSalado 1651]

Reposting that tweet thread that I saw here somewhere of run game clips from their last game. Don't think there is an inside zone play in here, and lots of 3 man fronts:

 

 

"mid zone"

 

[sushihorn 3233]

My main concern with the Washington O-Line is their mobility in the screen game. That matches their strength to get in the right position and covers a weakness by not putting them directly against opposing DL. And Grubb runs a lot of screens. 
 

They will be most dangerous in tunnel screen. RB screens have a lower success rate against Texas this year as they are often sniffed out by our veteran DL or blown up with quick pressure. OL of course don’t have that much impact on WR bubble screens. But the tunnel screen brings the play inside and the designated OL can get upfield to their assignments quickly. 
 

Tunnel screen also schemes against a penetrating, aggressive DL by attacking the space they would occupy at the LOS if they stayed home. That fits the Texas DL to a T. The D-Line literally have trouble seeing this one coming as the screen WR is not in their primary field of vision. Combine the quality of the Washington WRs with the mobility of their OL and Tunnel screen has potential for a big play against this defense.