247 Sports: TCU OL has improved and credit goes to Jarrett Anderson

[TopFrog]

TCU OL has improved and credit goes to Jarrett Anderson

By JEREMY CLARK

As the old saying goes, credit should be given where credit is due. For TCU, that statement may not loom larger than when it comes to talking about the Frogs’ offensive line improvement since the beginning of the season.

The Frogs, which started the year 1-3, are winners of four of their past five games and recently finished their Big 12 slate with a 5-4 record. It was the first time the Frogs’ have been above .500 in conference play since the 2017 season.

A lot of that credit for the winning record can be directed for the stellar play of the defense. However, when it comes to the topic of where the most improved group from the beginning of the season, many would agree that it’s up front on the offensive line.

Read more at https://247sports.com/college/tcu/A...nd-credit-goes-to-Jarrett-Anderson-156506538/

 

[TopFrog]

This will be a popular headline/topic for the board.

But to be fair the OL was wracked with injuries/missing starters early and has rebounded to become a very good unit playing no as well as any in the conference and you have to give the unit coach credit for that, along with the players who have worked their arses off to get better in light of the criticism they had to be aware of.

 

[Moose Stuff]

This will be a popular headline/topic for the board.

But to be fair the OL was wracked with injuries/missing starters early and has rebounded to become a very good unit playing no as well as any in the conference and you have to give the unit coach credit for that, along with the players who have worked their arses off to get better in light of the criticism they had to be aware of.

It will definitely trigger a few people but it's 100% accurate. It's undeniable that our OL has improved and if you're gonna fault JA when they struggle then you have to give him credit when they succeed.

 

[youthfulfrog]

Delete post. Ban user.

 

[Double V]

It's not hard to improve from terrible...I'd much rather have a coach that has his players playing well from game 1, with minimal improvement throughout the season.

 

[CountryFrog]

I definitely give JA credit for getting them to be competent by the end of the year. I'll stop short of saying that they are now a very good unit. They're still the weak point of the offense even if they're not as weak as they used to be.

We lost the KSU and WVU games almost exclusively because of our offense being totally impotent and it started with the line. I have no idea how to divide up and assign the blame for that between injuries, COVID, scheme, players, and coaching but we need a full season of good OL play if we're going to be a good offense next year. I believe we have all the pieces to finish in the top 2-3 of the B12 next season if we do get good OL play.

 

[Big Frog II]

Dang it. Now who are we going to complain about?

 

[OICU812]

Dang it. Now who are we going to complain about?

I believe presently it's Donati but that could change by the time I finish typing this.

 

[BrewingFrog]

As Double V said, when you're at rock bottom....

 

[Eight]

Dang it. Now who are we going to complain about?

there always the old standbys such as gary's non answers at press conferences, steel's terrible prose, or country's horrific taste in breakfast foods

 

[Eight]

the line has improved over the season and while it might not be a great unit at this time it has been fairly effective outside of the west virginia game where the offense as a whole struggled to find any consistency.

went back and looked at the starting offensive line in the 9 games this year for the frogs and came up with these numbers:

10 different offensive linemen have started at least 1 game this year
0 offensive linemen have started every game this year
8 games is the most games started in the same position and that is andrew coker
6 is the number of different offensive line combinations tcu has started in 9 games this year
2 is the longest number of consecutive games started by any of the 6 line combinations this year

personally, i would love for mike bloomgren to step down from being the head coach at rice to take over the frogs offensive line, but if i am using up christmas wishes i will save those for my lottery ticket on friday and accept that gary won't be making a change at this position.

i do think anderson is a good foot soldier and will do what he is asked so i think a great deal falls back on the kill-cumbie-meacham trio to come up with a solid offensive scheme and build an identity for this offense built upon a philosophy

i do think the line got helped a great deal when the frogs got rid of the extreme split which exposed some of those 10 offensive linemen who struggled trying to pass block quicker, more agile defenders in way too much space

i do think we have seen some things done play calling wise that has helped the line and i think that can be developed

frogs have to get better in the interior line and they have to fit two consistent offensive tackles next year for this team to compete for the top level of the conference

 

[The Frog to be Named Later]

I think our Offensive staff is just like Chollie Strong and the Herminator -- Do just enough to hang on and prolong the mediocrity. In a perverse way I was hoping to continue the crater after the Western Virginia debacle so we could rip the band-aid off. Now I think there is a whiff of potential and GP will follow his inclination to stay with status quo.

 

[ShadowFrog]

Dang it. Now who are we going to complain about?

I could resurrect the annual Band thread.
No?
Ok

 

[TopFrog]

I definitely give JA credit for getting them to be competent by the end of the year. I'll stop short of saying that they are now a very good unit. They're still the weak point of the offense even if they're not as weak as they used to be.

Can't ignore the stats cited in the article ... top rushing offense and giving up 2.4 (I think it was) fewer sacks per game.

 

[CountryFrog]

Can't ignore the stats cited in the article ... top rushing offense and giving up 2.4 (I think it was) fewer sacks per game.

I also can't ignore that they've been playing all the worst defenses in the conference the last few games other than WVU who they struggled mightily against. And we also have maybe the best collection of runners in the B12 with our QB and RB's. So all of that is part of what leads to those numbers too.

I'm not trying to be negative. I'm usually accused of being purple glasses wearer because I don't want all the coaches fired and all the players benched after every loss. I just see a unit that still needs to get better and mainly needs to get more consistent in 2021 if we're going to be good.

It's certainly better now than it was at the beginning of the season though. That can't be argued.

 

[Eight]

I also can't ignore that they've been playing all the worst defenses in the conference the last few games other than WVU who they struggled mightily against. And we also have maybe the best collection of runners in the B12 with our QB and RB's. So all of that is part of what leads to those numbers too.

I'm not trying to be negative. I'm usually accused of being purple glasses wearer because I don't want all the coaches fired and all the players benched after every loss. I just see a unit that still needs to get better and mainly needs to get more consistent in 2021 if we're going to be good.

It's certainly better now than it was at the beginning of the season though. That can't be argued.

actually gourd head, baylor and ok state are 6th and 7th in the big 12 against the run in ypg and ypc, ok state was 3rd in sacks, and ok state is 1st in 3rd down conversion rate and baylor 4th

all that beta-carotene you have been ingesting must have skewed things because those numbers would seem to indicate that baylor and ok state were not among the worst defenses in the conference against the run, rushing the passer, or on 3rd down.

 

[CountryFrog]

actually gourd head, baylor and ok state are 6th and 7th in the big 12 against the run in ypg and ypc, ok state was 3rd in sacks, and ok state is 1st in 3rd down conversion rate and baylor 4th

all that beta-carotene you have been ingesting must have skewed things because those numbers would seem to indicate that baylor and ok state were not among the worst defenses in the conference against the run, rushing the passer, or on 3rd down.

Good on Ok St being 3rd in sacks. That is good and certainly good job by our OL against them on that.

The rest of it I don't know what point you're making. 6th and 7th in ypc and ypg isn't good. The 3rd down conversion rate is fine but I don't know how we're equating that to our OL success in run and pass blocking.

Also you didn't seem to mention anything about Tech or Kansas.

Maybe you should be eating more pumpkin.

 

[Eight]

Good on Ok St being 3rd in sacks. That is good and certainly good job by our OL against them on that.

The rest of it I don't know what point you're making. 6th and 7th in ypc and ypg isn't good. The 3rd down conversion rate is fine but I don't know how we're equating that to OL success.

Also you didn't seem to mention anything about Tech or Kansas.

Maybe you should be eating more pumpkin.

you said we were playing the worst defenses in the conference recently aside from wvu which isn't the situation with baylor and ok state, 6th and 7th aren't great, but they aren't the worst and in terms of total defense they both are in the top half of the conference.

didn't mention kansas because kansas is total crap, but against the run ksu ranks 9th and the frogs crapped the bed against them offensively so the quality of the opposing defense hasn't always translated for the frogs.

in regards to tech, again, they aren't great but the original comment was other than wvu the frogs had faced the worst defenses in the conference and that isn't completely true.

 

[FBallFan123]

I also can't ignore that they've been playing all the worst defenses in the conference the last few games other than WVU who they struggled mightily against. And we also have maybe the best collection of runners in the B12 with our QB and RB's. So all of that is part of what leads to those numbers too.

I'm not trying to be negative. I'm usually accused of being purple glasses wearer because I don't want all the coaches fired and all the players benched after every loss. I just see a unit that still needs to get better and mainly needs to get more consistent in 2021 if we're going to be good.

It's certainly better now than it was at the beginning of the season though. That can't be argued.

Agree that Duggan’s running ability is a key factor and he’s run it really well during this turnaround the last 5 games (363 yards, 6 TD’s).

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’re also playing some of the weaker run defenses in the conference.

Or that their one loss in those 5 games came against WVU ... the only top 5 run defense TCU faced in that span.

WVU held Duggan to one of his worst rushing games of the season ... just 19 yards and a 1.9 avg.

Here’s where the teams are ranked in the Big 12 in defensive rushing yards per game:

Baylor - 6th
Tech - 9th
WV - 3rd
Kansas - 10th
OSU - 7th

Obviously other factors ... it’s taken time for the OL to improve and a really young RB group is emerging.

 

[CountryFrog]

you said we were playing the worst defenses in the conference recently aside from wvu which isn't the situation with baylor and ok state, 6th and 7th aren't great, but they aren't the worst and in terms of total defense they both are in the top half of the conference.

didn't mention kansas because kansas is total crap, but against the run ksu ranks 9th and the frogs crapped the bed against them offensively so the quality of the opposing defense hasn't always translated for the frogs.

in regards to tech, again, they aren't great but the original comment was other than wvu the frogs had faced the worst defenses in the conference and that isn't completely true.

You're right that we haven't played the absolute worst defenses in every single category. The post above from FBall breaks down statistically pretty well what I was referring to.

The defenses we've played in the last 5 games have been (with very few exceptions) worse than the defenses we played in the first 4 games. That's the point.