Tuesday, November 02, 2010

New At al.com: Blogger Roundtable for Ole Miss, Part 1

Looks like al.com elected to break up my responses to this week's Blogger Roundtable again, here's a preview of the first part, which was just posted:

Auburn question: With Cam Newton hogging the highlight reels, it's easy enough to forget about the five big guys behind him who make the offense go. Talk about the job Auburn's offensive line has done this season.

They've been tremendous, and it's well past time for them to get their due. It's not unusual for an SEC line with four seniors--center Ryan Pugh, guards Mike Berry and Byron Isom, and left tackle Lee Ziemba (all joined by junior Brandon Mosley at right tackle)--to play well, but as Jon Solomon pointed out, this bunch is leading the way for an offense that's performing at historic levels. Forget this "finesse spread offense" business; in 2010 Auburn is running the ball better than any previous SEC team that didn't include the wishbone or Bo Jackson. That doesn't happen without an outstanding set of linemen.

Yeah, Newton is special (and Onterio McCalebb and Mike Dyer aren't exactly chopped liver), but you don't average over 300 rushing yards a game unless the guys up front are blowing the opposition off the ball. And you absolutely don't go out and destroy LSU's defensive line for a ridiculous, two-team-record 440 rushing yards unless you've got five monsters up front to go with the ones in the backfield.

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