It Isn't That He's Biased, He Just Doesn't Know Football

My previous contention that Sam McKewon was simply a biased Husker fan and Big 12 North shill masquerading as a sportswriter appears to have been giving him too much credit; it isn't that McKewon is biased, he just doesn't know football, and therefore can't be expected to know what he is talking about. McKewon's last two columns have been attempts to rank the Big 12 defensive and offensive lines; his lack of football knowledge shines through in both articles.

When ranking Big 12 offensive lines, McKewon puts way too much emphasis on returning starters, even at the expense of production. I don't care if you return everyone on your offensive line, if they all failed to produce last season, having that collective failure returning isn't a good thing. This is the case with Colorado, who McKewon ranks as the preseason best offensive line in the Big 12 because they return all five starters. Colorado's offensive line showed last season that they couldn't run block (87.9 rushing yards per game, good for 11th in the Big 12) and couldn't pass protect (gave up an astonishing 44 sacks last season, worst in the Big 12), which was a big reason they ended up with the worst offense in the Big 12. Colorado shouldn't be ranked among the Big 12's best offensive lines, they should be bringing up the rear as one of the worst.

McKewon again falls into the experience trap by putting Nebraska as tied for second-best offensive line with Missouri. I think even Nebraska fans would agree with me that their offensive line was atrocious last season; there is a reason Nebraska was unable to run the ball to take the pressure of carrying the offense off their quarterbacks. The only offense worse than Nebraska last season was Colorado, and McKewon thinks all of these linemen coming back is a net positive?

Even when trying to go beyond the experience criteria to rank lines, McKewon gets it wrong. Both A&M (Patrick Lewis, Evan Eike) and texas (Michael Huey, Trey Hicks) return two starters on their offensive line, but McKewon ranks texas' offensive line above A&M's line. His rationale:

While not combining a ton of starts, the longhorns’ line is full of upperclassmen like Tray Allen and Britt Mitchell, a converted tight end. Kyle Hix is one of the league’s better left tackles and guard Michael Huey will be a centerpiece of UT’s improved running game.

Tray Allen is a bust at OT who has some experience as a backup offensive guard; that isn't a positive. Kyle Hix is such a terrific left tackle he spent last season at right tackle, where he failed to help their line run the ball. texas.can't.run.the.ball. texas hasn't been able to run the ball the consistently the last two seasons, and returning two linemen who were a big part of that failure isn't a net positive. McKewon goes on to say:

Perhaps shifting to a pro-style offense - which offers more protection options - will help the horns out.

The problem isn't the formation (plenty of teams run the ball well from the shotgun) or the scheme, it is the players trying to execute the scheme.

McKewon on A&M's line:

In short time, head coach Mike Sherman has recruited offensive linemen well, and 2010 ought to begin to bear some fruit.

A&M finished second in the Big 12 (to Oklahoma State) in rushing last season, and finished #5 nationally in total offense; looks to me like our offensive line has already shown terrific results.

Also breaking in a new right tackle and center. A&M will be hard-pressed to match last year’s bunch.

"Last year's bunch" was fairly horrible for the first six games of the season; it'll be pretty hard for us to match that level of ineptitude we had, especially in pass protection. With both starting guards returning against a Big 12 dominated by even-front defenses, this offensive line should be ranked much higher.

McKewon's rationale is even more ridiculous when you look at the defensive line rankings. I don't have a problem with him ranking Oklahoma as the #1 defensive line in the conference (although the Sooners return three starters, not two; Taylor, Alexander, and Beal all started last year), as part of my rationale for ranking the Sooners #2 in my Big 12 preseason defensive rankings was based on their returning talent at defensive line. Where I really start to have an issue is when I read his rationale for ranking texas as tied for Oklahoma with the best defensive line:

Although texas runs a 3-4 defense, Buck linebacker Alex Okafor will spend probably half his time with a hand in the dirt, so he figures in as a defensive end for the Longhorns, and he’ll be a good one after a productive first year.

Yeah, texas runs a multiple 4-2-5 scheme. While they may bring in a third DE or extra LB to put on the line in third down and long situations to help their pass rush, an odd-front doesn't automatically equal a 3-4 defense. The Buck position in texas' defense is the weakside DE, not a linebacker.

It’s hard to replace a guy like Sergio Kindle as a decoy and a pass rusher. Teams no longer have to account for him.

If you ever needed proof that McKewon pays more attention to hype than actual production on the field, here it is. It won't be hard to replace Kindle, because he was an underachieving non-factor in 2009. Teams didn't have to account for him any more than telling their LT, "Go block him." The move of Kindle to weakside DE in 2009 was a complete bust in 2009, but McKewon is too football ignorant to realize that.

McKewon has A&M ranked tenth, which I normally wouldn't have an issue with, mainly because we haven't been productive enough to deserve a higher ranking. However, has has Tech ranked above us at seventh, who returns one player in Colby Whitlock and is moving to a new defensive scheme. McKewon gives Tech credit for the possible contribution of Tennessee transfer Donald Langley, but doesn't mention juco transfer Jonathan Mathis for A&M, who figures to play a prominent role on our defensive line this year? McKewon lists Tony Jerod-Eddie and Lucas Patterson as returning starters, but forgets Eddie Brown, who figures to be the anchor of our defense at NG this season. He also says he doesn't count Von Miller as part of the DL because he is "more of a LB", but thinks Alex Okafor is an OLB for texas, and counts him as part of their DL? Miller will be lining up in a three-point stance part of the time, so using McKewon's criteria, he is part of the defensive line.

Most laughably, KcKewon has Kansas' defensive line ranked ahead of A&M. With Buddy Wyatt, who specializes in coaching underachieving defensive lines, as the position coach and Carl Torbush coordinating the defense, Kansas could have Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain returning as their starters and Dallas' old Doomsday defensive line as their backups, and they'd still deserve to be ranked last in the conference. 

Of course, in order to know be aware of that, McKewon would have to actually know something about football, and that appears to be asking too much of him.