Quote Originally Posted by Jarius View Post
Our offensive line isn't any worse than it was last year. Our offensive line last year was made to look good because Dak ran the ball on undesigned runs and we used our option game very well. Until we start running our option game with our quarterback instead of protecting him all game, we are going to suck on offense. We would have went 6-6 last year if we let Dak play this way. No one was concerned about our offensive line this year because no one thought Dan was dumb enough to turn our dual threat quarterback into Tyler Russell.
I agree that the way Dak is running -- or, rather, not running -- is hurting us. But I'm not sure I think the early struggles against LSU -- before we were forced to come from behind the with pass, like it or not -- were due to leaning on Dak's arm or treating him like Russell. In our first three drives against LSU, we ran it seven times, passed it twice, and were sacked twice. Factoring in the losses on the sacks, we gained a total of 7 yards. (And of course, after two of those drives, LSU ended up with the ball in our territory after our punt and proceeded to score two TDs.) I just rewatched those drives, and it looked to me like we were running the same stuff we did last year. There may have been one zone-read play in those three drives where Dak should have kept it, but for the most, it looks like the ends were staying home on him to force the hand-off. To me, it looked like our O-line was getting badly outplayed from the get go, both on the runs and in pass blocking.