Good news and bad news...
First, the good news...The O-Line in 2018 will be very experienced with only 1 starter graduating.
Then, the bad news...essentially the O-Line in 2018 will be the same as last year - good enough to win PAC-12 but not good enough to break into the Final 4 or even the Top 10 of FBS.
The current O-Line has been pressure tested and proven to be a notch below the top-tier programs. I just have a hard time believing that next year will see dramatic improvement. My gut (batting average of .833) tells me the current cast of characters are 97% fully baked (they are who they are) and 1 more year is not gonna result in any discernible difference. I am skeptical.
Again, winning the P-12 remains an expectation of mine. But we all know the P-12 will not be represented in the Final 4 CFP. There's a huge drop off and the committee has already been vindicated that Conference Championships are meaningless & irrelevant when it comes to CFP. And the Big 3 teams (USC, Stanford, UDUB) proved to be flops in the bowl games. P-12 is not a respected conference and therefore SOS is questionable.
I guess our best hope is that Notre Dame, @Texas, and @Stanford is in a similar predicament or possibly worse off than we are.
More good news...I think we should know the truth by end of day September 15, 2018. Better to know sooner rather than later.
