Daily Blog • July 28, 2014

If you’re familiar with my CFB Preview, you know that I value a team’s returning experience and broke down each of my experience categories in a blog series about six weeks ago.

When most folks 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 defensive line and yet the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game more often than not.

Today’s blog takes a look at the career defensive line starts for all 128 teams, something that is not factored into my experience chart. One of the main reasons for this is because of the fact that not all teams have four-man DL’s, which gives those teams an added advantage in this category over 3-man units. Still it is another unique look in evaluating a team’s DL unit coming into 2014.

Here are the rankings for all 128 teams with regards to Career DL Starts Returning.

Career DL Starts Returning in 2014

DL   DL Career DL   DL Career
Rank Team Starts Rank Team Starts
1 Clemson 95 64 Toledo 36
2 Washington 94 64 Hawaii 36
3 UTSA 86 67 Virginia Tech 35
4 Nevada 81 67 Penn St 35
5 Wyoming 80 69 Florida 33
6 San Jose St 78 69 Arkansas  33
7 Appalachian St 76 69 Utah 33
7 Minnesota 76 69 Oregon St 33
9 Ole Miss 74 73 Oregon 32
10 NC State 71 73 Rice 32
10 UAB 71 73 Texas Tech 32
12 Mississippi St 69 76 Eastern Michigan 31
12 ULM 69 76 Boston College 31
14 Auburn 68 76 Temple 31
15 Idaho 65 79 WKU 30
16 Army 62 79 Connecticut 30
17 Miami, Fl 60 81 Virginia  29
18 Iowa  56 82 Kansas St 28
18 USC 56 82 Western Michigan 28
18 Washington St 56 84 UCLA 27
21 Central Michigan 54 84 California 27
21 Miami, Oh 54 84 Fresno St 27
21 Memphis 54 84 Ball St 27
24 Maryland 53 88 Rutgers 26
24 San Diego St 53 88 New Mexico St 26
26 Michigan St 51 90 FIU 25
26 Air Force 51 90 Arkansas St 25
28 Bowling Green 50 90 Colorado St 25
28 UCF 50 90 Nebraska 25
30 Indiana 49 94 Illinois 24
30 Southern Miss 49 94 LSU 24
32 TCU 48 94 Georgia 24
32 Akron 48 94 Kansas 24
32 Tulsa 48 98 Iowa St 23
35 Louisiana 47 98 East Carolina 23
35 Tulane 47 98 Utah St 23
35 Ohio 47 101 Navy 22
35 Ohio St 47 101 Troy 22
39 Colorado 46 103 South Carolina 20
39 Middle Tennessee 46 104 Boise St 18
41 Houston 45 105 Vanderbilt 17
41 Texas 45 105 Arizona St 17
41 FAU 45 105 North Carolina 17
44 Oklahoma 44 105 Kent St 17
44 Old Dominion 44 109 South Alabama 16
44 Michigan 44 109 Pittsburgh 16
47 Texas A&M 43 111 USF 15
48 Duke 42 111 Buffalo 15
48 Baylor 42 111 BYU 15
48 Purdue 42 111 Georgia St 15
51 UNLV 41 111 Alabama 15
51 Stanford 41 116 Georgia Tech 14
53 Kentucky 40 117 North Texas 13
54 Arizona 39 117 West Virginia 13
54 Missouri 39 119 Georgia Southern 12
54 Louisiana Tech 39 119 UTEP 12
57 Louisville 38 119 New Mexico 12
57 Syracuse 38 122 Notre Dame 11
57 Marshall 38 123 Massachusetts 9
60 Northwestern 37 124 Northern Illinois 8
60 Cincinnati 37 124 Tennessee 8
60 SMU 37 126 Wisconsin 5
60 Oklahoma St 37 127 Wake Forest 4
64 Florida St 36 128 Texas St 1

I was not surprised to see Clemson top the chart in this category with 95 career starts returning. They return their entire 3-deep this year that includes 6 seniors. Overall, they rank as my #2 DL in the country (Ohio St #1). At the bottom of the chart is Texas St who returns just 1 career start on the DL this year.

Now let’s take a look at a combined chart of OL/DL career starts returning and find out who are the most experienced teams in the country this year at the line of scrimmage.

Career OL/DL Starts Returning in 2014

Overall   OL Career OL DL Career DL Total
Rank Team Starts Rank Starts Rank OL/DL Starts
1 UTSA 143 2 86 3 229
2 Appalachian St 145 1 76 7 221
3 Washington 124 4 94 2 218
4 Minnesota 105 15 76 7 181
4 Auburn 113 9 68 14 181
6 Idaho 115 7 65 15 180
7 Indiana 130 3 49 30 179
8 Louisville 119 6 38 57 157
9 Oklahoma 107 13 44 44 151
10 Mississippi St 81 39 69 12 150
10 Florida St 114 8 36 64 150
12 ULM 79 40 69 12 148
13 Clemson 49 87 95 1 144
13 Central Michigan 90 27 54 21 144
15 Arizona 104 16 39 54 143
16 Miami, Oh 87 31 54 21 141
17 NC State 69 55 71 10 140
17 Oregon 108 12 32 73 140
19 Louisiana 91 25 47 35 138
20 Northwestern 100 18 37 60 137
21 Toledo 100 18 36 64 136
21 North Texas 123 5 13 117 136
23 Ole Miss 61 67 74 9 135
24 Nevada 53 83 81 4 134
25 Miami, Fl 73 49 60 17 133
25 South Carolina 113 9 20 103 133
27 Texas A&M 89 29 43 47 132
28 Wyoming 48 90 80 5 128
28 UAB 57 75 71 10 128
30 Army 65 61 62 16 127
31 South Alabama 110 11 16 109 126
32 Duke 83 36 42 48 125
32 UNLV 84 35 41 51 125
32 Rutgers 99 21 26 88 125
35 Rice 92 24 32 73 124
36 Eastern Michigan 90 27 31 76 121
37 Houston 75 44 45 41 120
37 Illinois 96 22 24 94 120
39 USF 104 16 15 111 119
40 Iowa  62 65 56 18 118
40 Hawaii 82 38 36 64 118
42 Memphis 63 64 54 21 117
43 Syracuse 78 41 38 57 116
44 UCLA 88 30 27 84 115
44 Buffalo 100 18 15 111 115
46 Kentucky 74 46 40 53 114
46 Northern Illinois 106 14 8 124 114
48 Maryland 60 69 53 24 113
49 Michigan St 61 67 51 26 112
50 Missouri 72 51 39 54 111
51 San Diego St 57 75 53 24 110
51 Iowa St 87 31 23 98 110
53 USC 53 83 56 18 109
53 Boston College 78 41 31 76 109
55 Cincinnati 71 52 37 60 108
55 Texas Tech 76 43 32 73 108
57 Navy 85 34 22 101 107
58 Tulane 59 73 47 35 106
58 Baylor 64 62 42 48 106
58 Georgia Southern 94 23 12 119 106
61 Bowling Green 55 79 50 28 105
61 TCU 57 75 48 32 105
61 Colorado 59 73 46 39 105
64 Akron 55 79 48 32 103
65 Middle Tennessee 56 78 46 39 102
65 Marshall 64 62 38 57 102
67 San Jose St 23 125 78 6 101
67 BYU 86 33 15 111 101
69 California 73 49 27 84 100
69 New Mexico St 74 46 26 88 100
69 Vanderbilt 83 36 17 105 100
72 Florida 66 60 33 69 99
72 LSU 75 44 24 94 99
74 Kansas St 70 53 28 82 98
75 UCF 45 94 50 28 95
75 Virginia Tech 60 69 35 67 95
77 Texas 49 87 45 41 94
77 Fresno St 67 59 27 84 94
77 FIU 69 55 25 90 94
80 Texas St 91 25 1 128 92
81 Washington St 33 111 56 18 89
82 Western Michigan 60 69 28 82 88
83 Old Dominion 43 100 44 44 87
84 Southern Miss 37 107 49 30 86
84 Ohio 39 104 47 35 86
84 Pittsburgh 70 53 16 109 86
87 Arkansas  51 86 33 69 84
88 WKU 53 83 30 79 83
89 Troy 60 69 22 101 82
90 Michigan 37 107 44 44 81
90 SMU 44 97 37 60 81
90 UTEP 69 55 12 119 81
93 New Mexico 68 58 12 119 80
94 Tulsa 31 117 48 32 79
94 Utah 46 93 33 69 79
94 Arizona St 62 65 17 105 79
94 Wisconsin 74 46 5 126 79
98 FAU 33 111 45 41 78
98 Virginia  49 87 29 81 78
98 Georgia 54 81 24 94 78
101 Air Force 25 123 51 26 76
102 Oklahoma St 38 105 37 60 75
102 Oregon St 42 101 33 69 75
104 Purdue 31 117 42 48 73
104 Arkansas St 48 90 25 90 73
106 Ball St 44 97 27 84 71
107 Ohio St 21 126 47 35 68
108 Stanford 26 121 41 51 67
109 Notre Dame 54 81 11 122 65
110 Temple 33 111 31 76 64
111 Louisiana Tech 24 124 39 54 63
111 Connecticut 33 111 30 79 63
113 East Carolina 38 105 23 98 61
113 North Carolina 44 97 17 105 61
115 Kansas 36 110 24 94 60
116 Georgia Tech 45 94 14 116 59
117 Colorado St 33 111 25 90 58
117 West Virginia 45 94 13 117 58
119 Nebraska 32 116 25 90 57
119 Kent St 40 103 17 105 57
121 Georgia St 41 102 15 111 56
122 Penn St 20 127 35 67 55
123 Alabama 37 107 15 111 52
123 Wake Forest 48 90 4 127 52
125 Utah St 27 120 23 98 50
126 Boise St 26 121 18 104 44
127 Massachusetts 30 119 9 123 39
128 Tennessee 6 128 8 124 14

To no surprise UTSA, tops the chart with an incredible 229 career starts returning on the OL/DL and they easily rank #1 in my combined experience chart. FBS newcomer Appalachian St comes in at #2 with 221 career starts while Washington comes in at #3. At the bottom of the chart, again to no surprise is Tennessee who returns just 14 career starts at the line of scrimmage this year, which is 25 less than any other team.


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