Today’s blog starts my in-depth look at my NCAA Experience Chart. For 9 years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team, had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In 2009, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better by adding new categories like Career Starts on Offensive line, % of Offensive Yards returning, % of Defensive Yards returning and % of lettermen returning.

Today I will look at the number of career starts returning for offensive lineman. When most judge a team for the upcoming season they look at the QB, RB and WR’s that are returning. A few may take the time to look at star defensive players that are back (those with a lot of sacks or interceptions). However, very few look at the offensive line and yet the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game more often than not.

This year Wisconsin is the top team in the country with 150 career starts returning on the offensive line. Boston College came in at #2 with 139 starts. In at #3 is Wake Forest who has 131 career OL starts returning. FIU is #4 at 129. If you purchase my magazine you will get my complete ratings on each offensive line as I look at last years production, size, talent and cohesiveness on top of the career starts.

Last year the #1 most experienced Offensive Line belonged to San Jose St. Their ypg rush did lower lower from 156 ypg rush and just 5.3 ypc to 120 ypg rush and 3.2 ypc. Also their pass production went down from 222 ypg to 198 ypg but the sacks allowed had a huge drop from 50 down to 36.

At the bottom of the list is Air force with just 13 career starts returning. WKU has just 18 career starts back and UTSA and North Carolina are tied with 19. This is usually a good indicator that the  Oline will struggle some especially early in the year.

Here are the rankings for all 130 teams with regards to Career OL Starts Returning. The number in the ( )’s after the team name is where they rank in their conference.

 

Available now: The digital copy of the Phil Steele 2018 College Football Preview is now available on Android devices through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Just search for “Phil Steele” on their app store, download the app and purchase the 2018 College Magazine there for just $12.99. Also we have a digital browser version here. The Apple App Store and Amazon Kindle versions are awaiting approval and should be out shortly.

**Also a bonus for those of you that purchase the magazine on the browser version you will be able to use your login credentials on any of the platforms listed above.

It will save you wear and tear on your printed magazine. If you get both you can use it as your mobile version of the magazine and that will keep your actual magazine from getting dog eared and torn up early in the year.

Any questions or problems with the Phil Steele browser version or Apps please contact Todd at todd@philsteele.com.