Notre Dame’s offensive line started the year with expectation it could be college football’s best.
As the season reaches its final weeks, the front five is indeed being recognized as such.
Pro Football Focus ranked all 127 Football Bowl Subdivision offensive lines and slotted Notre Dame atop the list. No team has a higher PFF run-blocking grade than Notre Dame’s 89.6. Its 87.7 pass-blocking grade is 13th nationally. The Irish are one of only seven teams with run- and pass-blocking marks in the national top 15.
“Not only does Notre Dame have the best offensive line of the 2020 college football season, but it also has one of the best offensive lines we have seen in the PFF College era (since 2014),” PFF’s Anthony Treash wrote.
The line’s highest-graded player through nine games is left tackle Liam Eichenberg, with an overall mark of 88.3 that ranks sixth among FBS left tackles with at least 100 snaps. He has not allowed a sack since Week 5 of the 2018 season.
“Eichenberg, left guard Aaron Banks, right guard Tommy Kraemer and right tackle Robert Hainsey all rank eighth or higher in the FBS in PFF grade at their respective positions. And center Jarrett Patterson was right up there at No. 9 before he went down with a season-ending injury after Week 11.”
Banks has the line’s highest pass-blocking grade, at 89.4, while Hainsey’s 90.8 run-blocking grade leads the team and ranks fifth nationally. He’s Notre Dame’s highest-grade offensive player, at 91.1.
Patterson’s replacement, sophomore Zeke Correll, held up fine in his first career start Nov. 27 at North Carolina. PFF, though, gave him the lowest offensive grade of any Irish player in that game. Senior Josh Lugg pinch-hit for Kraemer (appendix) and fared better in PFF’s view.
“The Irish missed Patterson’s presence as well as that of Kraemer, who was out due to an appendectomy. Correll recorded a 41.9 PFF grade in his first game in Patterson’s spot, and Lugg posted a 63.8 mark while filling in for Kraemer.”
Notre Dame might turn to its third center of the year Saturday against Syracuse. Correll will be a game-time decision due to an ankle injury, coach Brian Kelly said. Lugg will play center if he can’t go. Kraemer will not play against the Orange unless there’s an “emergency,” in Kelly’s word, meaning Dillan Gibbons would take Lugg’s place and make his first career start if Lugg slides over to center.
Gibbons has played five games on offense this year, with his most notable action coming at left guard against Florida State when Eichenberg left for a few drives due to an eye injury and Banks kicked out to tackle. PFF gave him a 62.1 overall and 67.0 run-blocking grade in 22 snaps against the Seminoles. He has a 58.9 overall grade in 65 snaps this year.
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