Alabama Football: 2017 Tide opponents and trench warfare
By Ronald Evans
Alabama football has an evolving offensive line. Let’s dive into how the Tide line compares to the best offensive lines of the Tide’s 2017 opponents.
Spread formations and less dependency upon rushing have changed college football, including Alabama football. What has not changed is the most important five yards in football. The trenches, two and a half yards on either side of the line of scrimmage.
Winning trench battles is still the biggest determinant in winning or losing football games.
College football guru Phil Steele tracks many highly important stats of all the FBS teams. In a recent blog, Steele listed the offensive line experience of all 130 teams, measured by the career starts for each team’s 2017 lineman.
Clink on the link above for the full list. Here are the numbers for Alabama’s SEC opponents and FSU.
- Tennessee – 111 career starts
- Auburn – 106 career starts
- Ole Miss- 73 career starts
- Arkansas – 70 career starts
- LSU – 60 career starts
- Florida State – 57 career starts
- Texas A&M – 48 career starts
- Vanderbilt – 41 career starts
- Mississippi State – 30 career starts
Alabama football is in the middle of the pack with 67 career starts for its offensive line.
Why is this information so important? Successful offensive lines embody the “whole is greater than the sum of the parts” premise that the combination creates more quality than the total of individual components.
Cohesive offensive lines are driven not just by physical skills but also by a clarity of communication and trust. Playing shoulder-to-shoulder, experienced offensive line units develop an acute spatial awareness of each other.
Simply put offensive line units improve with continuity and repetition. And like every other position in football, physical attributes and talent are a major factor.
Thanks to Phil Steele, we know what Tide opponents have the most experience. Let’s consider who has the best players among the best O-line units the Tide will face in 2017: Tennessee, Auburn, LSU and Florida State.
Despite having two of the better offensive lineman in the SEC, Arkansas and Mississippi State don’t have enough quality help to combine with Frank Ragnow (Arkansas) and Martinas Rankin (Mississippi State.)