Breaking Down the Offensive Line’s Performance Vs. California, What a Lack of Rotation Revealed

For the first time this year, the Ducks stuck to a five-man lineup up front, and Alex Mirabal's group did its job Friday night.

Author:
Ally Osborne
Publish date:
Oct 20, 2021 1:12 PM EDT

During the Oregon Ducks’ near win over the California Golden Bears, the offensive line showed us something we hadn't seen all year: consistency in the lineup. With Alex Mirabal’s offensive line priding itself on versatility in the trenches, the commitment to the starting five suggests a need to keep certainty over experimentation.

As pregame warmups began, starting center Alex Forsyth was wearing his jersey and street clothes. The junior from West Linn missed the previous game against Stanford due to back spasms.

Curiously enough, Mario Cristobal stated that Forsyth looked good earlier in the week, and he was featured on the pregame starting lineup on the jumbotron at Autzen Stadium.

Forsyth oversaw the practice snaps and gave coaching input to those warming up. Five young linemen were gearing up to take on the position, with Kanen Rossi, Kai Arneson, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Marcus Harper II all taking snaps, but it was junior Ryan Walk, who snapped the ball to quarterback Anthony Brown during pregame warmups, that took the coveted role.

Walk is typically known for sticking to the guard position, though his previous experience in 2018 and 2019 put him almost exclusively at center.

Following Walk, the line-up included (from left to right): George Moore, T.J. Bass, Steven Jones, and Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu. Jones was a surprise at the right guard position, given his season-long appearance at right tackle. However, Jones’ seniority and aggressiveness over Harper pushed him to pick up Walk’s transition. Aumavave-Laulu naturally stepped into right tackle having had his experience at the position last season.

Noticeable exclusions from the Cal game along the line were Powers-Johnson and Dawson Jaramillo. Cristobal stated their absence was due to minor injuries and not being able to play to the level of “winning football.” Forsyth’s absence was also cited as a major reason to keep younger players from rotating in for play.

Powers-Johnson saw multiple snaps this season at center as well as reps at the guard positions. Jaramillo tends to swap with Moore for the left tackle position and even got a decent load of snaps against Ohio State.

The main reason in this game to keep the front line the same was keeping consistency to make up for what was missing. Forsyth was out, so keeping the next most experienced center at the helm made sense.

CJ Verdell’s season-ending injury pushed running back Travis Dye to become the focal point of the offense along with Byron Cardwell taking some important snaps in the fourth quarter. Dye took on 145 of Oregon’s 210 rushing yards. With a focus on the ground attack, it makes sense to cement linemen that are known to get the job done in terms of creating holes and shutting down Cal’s defense.

Of course, there is also the elephant in the room of the play of Brown, who was 20 for 28 against Cal — far better than his typical 58% completion rate versus conference teams. However, that can be traced back to the consistency of the offensive line allowing him more time in the pocket.

In some cases, Brown’s most noticeable misses were when he had a clean pocket, and missed wide open receivers. The support for Brown from the offensive line is also something to note. Walk said during the postgame press conference that Brown “is our guy.” He also shared a moment during the game where Brown came to thank the line for their support.

That support led to the Ducks putting up 210 rushing yards. Cal typically allowed just under 150 yards to opponents this season. Funny enough, Oregon’s average rushing yards per game now sits at 210.3 per game, so fairly on point there).

However the passing attack wasn't as stellar, with Oregon putting up 244 yards compared to Cal’s 247 yards that game (Cal’s passing defense averages 274.2 yards per game). However, the offensive linemen looked aggressive, completed a majority of their blocks, and felt like they meshed together. The minor flaws coming from the line were a false start on TJ Bass and a holding call on Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu.

For the future, it seems as if changes along the offensive line will happen directly depending on the health of Forsyth. Cristobal said Forsyth will be ready for the UCLA game, and this was confirmed in the release of the pregame organizational chart with Forsyth at the starting slot for center.

The chart also revealed that George Moore, TJ Bass, Ryan Walk, and Steven Jones will start in their expected positions. Position changes during the game are not looking likely, and the Ducks seem to be confident in their leading men up front.

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