12 Pac: Ranking the Pac-12's Offensive Lines

Once again, Stanford's offensive line is head and shoulders above the rest of the units in the Pac-12.

By Jack Follman Dec 23, 2013, 6:00am PST

1. Stanford

Once again, the Cardinal offensive line dominated and was one of the best in the entire country as they owned the line of scrimmage and protected Kevin Hogan comfortably in the passing game. Pretty much every starter on their line was an All-Pac-12 caliber player and most are arguably All-American caliber players.

2. Oregon

I would say that the Duck offensive line took a little bit of a step back this season, especially later in the season, but they were still effective in Oregon's system at making the Ducks the best rushing team in the conference and protected Mariota exceptionally well most of the time. They were actually a young bunch, so don't be surprised if they are actually even better next season.

3. Arizona

This might seem surprising as the Wildcats' offensive line is unheralded and doesn't have many stars, but they did their job very well in 2013 as they were near the top of the conference in rushing yards and kept B.J. Denker away from harm. A lot of this has to do with Arizona's system and Denker's speed, but overall what matters most is that they did what they need to do very effectively.

4. Washington

Another unit that maybe seems overrated, but did a great job in their system and is probably this high because of a very weak year for offensive lines in the conference. The Huskies offensive line played a big role in making Bishop Sankey one of the nation's leading rushers and protected Keith Price better than they have in the past.

5. UCLA

The Bruins' unit battled injuries and youth and ended up doing a good job of it. No matter who was their running back, he ran for good yardage and they protected Brett Hundley more effectively than in 2012.

6. USC

Another young unit that battled injuries, but did a good job of opening holes for numerous running backs. The Trojans are a talented bunch up front, so they probably underachieved just a little bit, but they are young, so the future is bright.

7. Arizona State

The Sun Devils' offensive line did a great job of run blocking for Taylor Kelly, Marion Grice and D.J. Foster, but were the worst in the entire conference at giving up sacks. That's especially bad considering how good of a runner Kelly is.

8. Utah

The Utes were average at running the ball in 2013 and never seemed to be able to run the ball all over anybody. They were also pretty average at protecting their quarterbacks.

9. Colorado

The Buffs improvements in running the ball and protecting their quarterbacks is a good sign for the future of their offensive line and a big reason why they won four games this season.

10. Oregon State

The Beavers' offensive line struggled almost all of the season to open up holes in the run game at all and didn't protect Sean Mannion well when facing good defenses. The good news for the Beavers though is that their line did actually play well in their near upset of Oregon in The Civil War.

11. Washington State

The Cougars don't even try to run the ball that much, but dead last in the entire nation in rushing isn't a great stat to have regardless for the offensive line and they struggled to strike well on their draws against better opponents. They did a better job of protecting Halliday than many thought they would going into the season, but overall, he was still pressured and sacked quite a bit.

12. Cal

It was just an all together horrible year for Cal and even though they were a little bit better in run blocking than some teams, they were atrocious as protecting Jared Goff.