FSU Football: How good is Miami’s offensive line really?

With the FSU football looming, Chop Chat’s Sam Tschida takes a look at how and why Miami’s offensive line looks like it has massively improved.

The state of the offensive line at Florida State has become an old joke that it is no longer funny. Since 2016, the offensive line has been in a state of flux, going from average at best to possibly the worst in the Power 5 in three years. Last season, the line improved from the objectively terrible to ‘bad’. This season was supposed to represent another step in their slow journey to mediocrity by reaching the ‘below-average’ rung on the ladder.

While that may still be possible, after their performance against Georgia Tech, it seems very unlikely. The Noles were sacked three times and only ran for 109 yards on the ground against the Jacket’s backups. While things are not as dire as in previous years, there will be no miraculous resurrection of the offensive once again. Rodney Hudson isn’t walking through those doors.

Funnily enough, the Hurricanes of Coral Gables have also dealt with their fair share of o-line troubles the past few seasons. In 2019, they were marginally ahead of FSU according to PFF and  ranked worse in Standard-Down/Passing Down Sack Rate, which measures how often teams were sacked while adjusting for how often they throw. Going into this season, the Canes were ranked one of the worst in the country in terms of o-line prospects against their prospective schedule (FSU was 129th, for what it’s worth), according to PFF.

But through their first several games, the Canes have not struggled much on offense. They currently rank 39th in Offensive SP+ and performed well against a good UAB defense (29th in SP+). The Canes were decent in the run game against UL, with 160 yards on the ground. UM was also very good through the air, with quarterback D’Eriq King passing for over 300 yards.

This ranking is not the profile of a team with a still-developing offensive line. This is the profile of a team that, at worst, has a decent offensive line. So, despite similar ratings to FSU, did the Canes front get magically better, and is their offense now on par with their defense? Let’s take a look.