2015 Career Starts Offensive Line

Today’s blog starts my in-depth look at my NCAA Experience Chart. For 7 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 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 yet the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game more often than not.

This year UCLA is the top team in the country with 131 career starts returning on the offensive line. Bowling Green is #2 with 125 starts.  Coming in at #3 is Ole Miss who has 120 career OL starts returning. Baylor is #4 at 106. 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 Appalachian St and they improved from 138 ypg rush and just 3.9 ypc to 242 ypg rush and 5.4 ypc with the sacks allowed dropping from 20 down to 11. This despite moving from an FCS schedule to an FBS schedule!

At the bottom of the list is Toledo with just 4 career starts returning. Florida St has just 9 career starts back and Florida has 10. This is usually a good indicator that a line will struggle some especially early but not a death knell for the team. As an example Ohio St has a lot of talented OL’s but had the 3rd fewest career starts returning last year. They struggled early and even lost to Virginia Tech at home. By the end of the year they were blowing open holes for RB Elliot versus the likes of Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon. I think you might see the same from Florida St’s Oline which performed above expectations in the spring.

Here are the rankings for all 128 teams with regards to Career OL Starts Returning. The number in the ( )’s after the team name is where they rank in their conference.

Career OL Starts Returning

2015 College Football Preview
available right now on iTunes!

In 2013 was the first year my College Football Preview magazine was available on iTunes to download to your iPhone or iPad. In that initial year, we naturally dealt with some issues through trial and error and it was not available to purchase until mid-August. Last year it came out in early June and was PERFECT with non of the bugs of the previous year. I loved it as I do not use my iPhone much (I am always at my desk computer) but I was able to navigate it easily with no problems!

This year’s version will be available shortly!
1). It will be available WEEKS before the magazine hits the newsstands on July 1st! I would expect it up at the LATEST by early next week and will tweet it out @philsteele042 the second it is up.

2). It’s easy to use and works perfectly for both the iPhone and iPad. The download process may take up to 10-15 minutes but that’s because we have 352 pages with jampacked information!

3). No bugs, no issues, take it with you where ever you go!

4). Non-U.S. Customers: The magazine will not be on the newsstands internationally, the only way to get the 2015 College Football Preview is to order through our offices and pay at least $35 (includes S&H) or get it on iTunes  for just $9.99.

5). It’s only $9.99! On the newsstand, the magazine will cost you $12.99.

Don’t wait three weeks until the magazine hits the newsstands.
Coming Soon to both iPad and Google Play!

Please note: after downloading and purchasing the App, please make sure you search for 2015 if the old 2014 cover/edition comes up on your screen.