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Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 47280, member: 40"] "Excuse?" Your example inadvertently makes my point, Bills01. When an OL executes properly, on offense can be effective even with mediocre talent. THAT'S why the 1AA teams and Toledo were able to pile up yardage / points despite not necessarily physically outmatching us. It doesn't matter whether your offensive system is to run 100 times a game or throw 100 times a game--if the OL doesn't do it's job, you aren't going to be terribly effective at whatever you're trying to do. And when it does, you can be. Mind you, this is not a debate about the caliber of player, and I'm not suggesting that we don't need to get better talent / athleticism / speed / playmaking ability on the offensive side of the ball--we absolutely DO. But even with the talent on hand, the offense can and should be better--but the OL is a sieve that doesn't pass nor run block effectively. And that has resulted in the coaches limiting the playcalling to a smaller number of plays that they think the unit can run without getting blown up. Until the OL improves, we're going to continue to see subpar offensive play. Which dovetails right into your next point... I'm with you 100% here. SU [relatively speaking] has never enjoyed "strong" OL play, even back when we were good. I was hoping that Marrone would be the type of coach that OL prospects would want to come play for, and that he might reverse that to a certain extent. Thus far, I've been pretty disappointed. But it's important to keep in mind that the play of the OL plummeted under GRob, going from slightly below average at the end of the Pasqualoni era to "worst in college football" the next couple of years. I don't think we've set the world ablaze on the recruiting front for OL, but last year's class brought in several players [including two 4-stars in Trudo / Foy], many of whom are redshirting. This year's [class of 2013] similarly has four prospects who presumably will also benefit from a redshirt. So I think that the pipeline is improving there. How that translates into quality / improvement remains to be seen. [/QUOTE]

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