FSU Football: Why did the offensive line regress against UL-Monroe?

After the FSU Football offensive line collapsed during the second and third quarters last week, Chop Chat’s Sam Tschida looks at what went wrong.

Last week against UL-Monroe, the FSU football offensive line had another fantastic first quarter. Helped by playcalling that called for quick reads and a bad Warhawk d-line, the FSU starting five played great. They paved the way for three early touchdowns, two of which were on the ground. They also kept James Blackman completely clean in the pocket.

Then, the line completely collapsed for the next two quarters, before rebounding in the 4th. The ‘Noles scored just 10 points until the late fourth quarter when the ground game finally got going again. So what happened to the FSU offensive line?

For the second year in a row, a tackle got hurt, and the productivity of the line ground to a halt. Juwan Williams injured his ankle in the first half of last week’s game and was replaced by junior Abdul Bello. Williams was one of the most scrutinized players on the Seminoles’ roster last year, and so far this season it looks like he has only minimally improved.

According to Pro Football Focus, Williams graded out as the lowest-rated FSU offensive player last season with an average grade of 25.2. In his first full game against Boise, Williams graded out to a 33.7 grade, an improvement to be sure but still the lowest grade on the team. Bello ended up getting a grade of 41.8, the third lowest-rated on the team, but still above Williams’.

So how is Bello really a downgrade? Well, there’s a reason why Williams is the starter and Bello was not good whatsoever against the Warhawks. Want proof?

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Now, this isn’t to say Bello was all bad. There were plays when the junior played decently well, and his run blocking was actually pretty average. But his pass blocking was pretty darn bad, worse than Williams’, and it caused the coaches to have to help him out by chipping running backs. This caused a reaction from ULM, who smartly started to blitz the hell out of the right side of the line and the middle, and with less help from tight ends and running backs, it led to plays like this one:

UL-Monroe brings a delayed blitz, both Roberts and Lucas are confused, and a designed pass play ends with a momentum-swinging sack.

So, why did FSU’s o-line play badly in the second half? It’s a combination of losing their starting tackle, paired with the fact they truthfully just aren’t good. This o-line is not as bad as last year, but it’s still probably one of the worst in the ACC. Once opposing defenses have a few drives, good defensive coordinators start to bring blitzes and attack the weak points, which is why the offense stalls so much.

Now, the o-line is improved; they are currently ranked 9th in Bill Connelly’s Offensive SP+. Their run blocking is far better, and even in situations when they get beat, a lot of the time the guys are at least staying in front of their man. There are reasons for optimism, but with Williams out for the UVA game, and the Cavs possessing a very good front-seven, it might be a rough week for the o-line.