Football: Offensive line coming together

It’s an age-old saying in football: “The game is won and lost in the trenches.”  In other… It’s an age-old saying in football: “The game is won and lost in the trenches.”  In other words, it doesn’t matter how good your quarterback is if he can’t buy three seconds to throw, and it certainly won’t matter how fast your running back is if he has nowhere to run.

Last year, Pitt’s offensive line showed it had the manpower to dominate up front. It had a running back that was breaking school records and a quarterback who sat comfortably in the pocket whenever he stepped back to throw. The battle in the trenches was being won by the Panthers, and everyone in the country knew it.

After losing three starters from that team, the 2010 edition of Pitt’s offensive line has had its ups and downs but finally looks like it’s come together. The team has two ball carriers averaging more than 4.5 yards a carry — Dion Lewis and Ray Graham Graham’s 6.4 yards a carry is 13th amongst rushers with at least 100 attempts on the season.

“I think we’re gelling well,” guard Chris Jacobson said earlier in the season. “We got our swag together.”

Jacobson, who got a surprise start for Pitt in the Meineke Car Care Bowl last year, has taken over at left guard for Pitt. In his first season as a starter, he still sees things Pitt can improve on.

“I would just say as a whole unit when we get down to the red zone, we need the six points instead of the field goal,” he said. “We need to just pile it in the end zone.”

In the Panthers’ game against Connecticut in November, Pitt’s 28 points all came on those touchdowns Jacobson wanted to see — a good sign for the offensive line. The team found success in the running game, with three touchdowns between Lewis and Graham to go along with 143 combined rushing yards.

Unfortunately, the Huskies provided an even more stellar example of how integral a dominant front can be on its way to a victory over the Panthers, amassing 249 rushing yards to represent a ground attack that dominated all night.

The Panthers’ offensive front got bullied in Pitt’s loss to West Virginia, but bounced back in its most recent game against Cincinnati. This gave quarterback Tino Sunseri plenty of time to throw and leading the way for Lewis to run for a career-high 261 yards.

The offensive line struggled early on in the year, and after a 1-2 start to the season, the team reshuffled the line, benching right guard Greg Gaskins, moving right tackle Lucas Nix to his position and promoting junior Jordan Gibbs to starting right tackle.

Gibbs relished the opportunity to have a big role in the Panthers’ success. At 6-foot-7 and 305 pounds, he is a force to be reckoned with when the Panthers put the ball on the ground.

“I just went out there every day and practiced hard, trying to give a contribution to the team,” he said. “I just took the opportunity and ran with it.”

The Panthers immediately reaped the benefits of the reshuffled line, as Graham ran for 277 yards in their next game against Florida International, the second-highest single game total in Panthers history.  Tony Dorsett set Pitt’s record for rushing 303 yards in 1975.

“The offensive line did a great job giving Ray [Graham] all kinds of holes,” Sunseri said after the game.

Perhaps the most important man on the Panther’s offensive line is starting left tackle Jason Pinkston. Pinkston has one of the largest responsibilities of the entire offensive line — protecting the quarterback’s blind side. Especially for a young quarterback, protection and comfort on his blindside while in the pocket is key.

Pinkston, who is coming off an All-Big East junior season, also provides leadership for the Panthers as a team captain.

“We have a lot of younger guys on the team,” Pinkston said. “The seniors are all constantly reminding them, focus on what we have to do today. Do what we need to do every day at practice to get better.”

The team and the offensive line ended the regular season on a good note with the win over the Bearcats and now have a month to prepare for their bowl game against Kentucky, where the guys up front will need to repeat their last performance.