re: BK said he could OL talent after 30 years of coaching.

I would say a lot of kudos go to Sloan for making a gameplan that mitigated their weaknesses. Didn’t ask them to do things they weren’t capable of. They weren’t dominant but did “enough” to win and build confidence going into the season.

OP, your title is confusing. You're missing a verb.

gameplan was to get the ball out quick b/c of their DL and our OL.

That was obvious.

they did ok.

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Dude the entire game plan was to hide the offensive line. We’ve never thrown that many screens and short passes in a game before. Durham was stuffed in the backfield on a number of runs. And Nuss had to escape the pocket in about 50% of the deep drop backs. The OL did not dominate by any means. Did they play well? Sure; especially the 3 guys we were confident in. But I watched Chester get embarrassed when he came in at LT, just as predicted. I also watched Mubenga get beat badly. Let’s not overreact to one game.

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The pass blocking was better than you are giving them credit for, but Nuss and the game plan definitely helped them out. The run blocking was really bad but that was expected considering BK has talked a lot about how the OL has to nut up and beat the guy in front of them to be successful in run blocking. They didn’t do that. Durham had to fight for every yard he got. Cant do that all year and be successful

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CBK's strength has always been getting a good OL. It's paying off this year for sure so far

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And utilizing the tight end position let’s hope we see more of that too.

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When you look at the grades, overall it didnt paint a very pretty picture outside of Moore. In pass blocking, the average time Nuss threw the ball was closer to 2 than 3 seconds (2.09 to be exact) which Kelly specifically said after the game was by design to not have to rely on the OL as much to hold up.

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A big takeaway is that, despite the opponent and environment, they didn’t fold, especially in pass pro. That was a legitimate possibility going into this game. It could have been as bad as the 22 FSU game without Daniels to play magician and get away from some of the pressure. That didn’t happen. They didn’t get free rushers up the middle (a huge issue for Mubenga last year and an improvement for him this week) and that allowed the quick plays to work, and for some of the longer developing screens to also work. If the OL had sucked, many of the plays we ran successfully wouldn’t have worked.

Also note that, if you go watch the film studies, some of the missed blocks that killed runs were on TEs and WRs. That wasn’t just on the OL. There are more guys with work to do than just the OL. Sharp, Nic Anderson and Hilton- I’m looking at you.

He didn’t get his name called once during the broadcast, but we’ve got a legit blocking TE in Donovan Green. That guy was really good Saturday. He didn’t miss blocks and ate some guys up out there. A guy like that can really help Davis as he learns on the fly and in short yardage. I hope we see a few passes mixed in to him just to keep defenses honest when he’s on the field.

The OL still has a lot of improving to do, but we know some things now. They have ability, and Moore, Adams and Thompson may end up being really good. They need consistency, and hopefully that comes quickly with game reps.

We didn’t see guys blowing assignments left and right Saturday, so they seem to be well prepared and on the same page. Some blocks were missed and one on ones lost, but looking at the film breakdowns online, you didn’t see guys stand out for being in the wrong spot, moving wrong on pulls, or obvious missed assignments allowing free rushers who blew up a play. Even with a lot of experience, we saw this too much last year (mostly Chester, but occasionally the vets too). That’s pretty good for a game one on the road with a bunch of new starters.

Even though Weston Davis struggled at times, he still had some really nice moments where you could see the talent. He sealed the backside twice on outside zone runs that the RB broke back to that side. He also got creative in pass pro a couple of times. Go watch the Carter Bryant offensive film study to see a good example of that. Davis has real potential, even with some struggles.

Another bright spot- the three interior guys got push on both QB sneaks, especially the first one. They aren’t weak. They bowed up and got it done on those 3rd and shorts. More please. Much more of this.

And we know for sure now that we’ve got a damn good Center. Moore was excellent in all phases for the entire game.

So it wasn’t all smoke and mirrors. There are real positives for the OL to build on. But we also won’t be good if they don’t improve from here over the next month. I think we have the pieces if they can keep improving and stay healthy, even if we still see some shuffling with Echols and Curne over time. Keeping those guys pushing each other to stay 100% engaged at all times isn’t a bad thing.

The OLine did good . Gave up one sack , about 5 pressure. They miss a few assignment in run block but I think all that will be clean up by the time SEC play start. The game plan was awesome . I love the screen plays in the middle of field .

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If they had been a true weakness Saturday, many of the plays we ran successfully wouldn’t have worked

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I agree with you, which is why I didn’t say they were a weakness in my post. What I wrote was that they were “a weakness relative to Clemson’s front seven”, which they were.

Well, they definitely did well enough to neutralize that experience disadvantage.

This weekend will tell us something. Last year, we couldn’t get run game push vs fricking Nichols, which was eye-opening and very concerning.

We need this OL to go out there and blow LA Tech off the ball. We’re a lot better than they are. Go play like it and that’s another small step forward.

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OP, your title is confusing. You're missing a verb.

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Not only that, he's missing a word that would explain what he is trying to say.