USC Football OL gets credit it deserves for first half of season play

USC Football's offense has had a strong season up to this midseason point. They could be better as far as pass-blocking goes, but they've still been good enough for QB Caleb Williams to have enough time to have a truly elite season--averaging 10 adjusted passing yards per attempt this year with 19 passing touchdowns (22 total touchdowns) and just one pick (no fumbles lost).

They have been more than good enough, however, in their run-blocking. SC has averaged 5.4 rushing yards per attempt this year. A massive emphasis on the Lincoln Riley era was going to be controlling the line of scrimmage and being able to beat teams on the ground.

That's certainly happened this year, and Travis Dye has been dominant as an RB1 this season. He in particular has averaged 6.4 yards per carry on the year. That's higher than his average from last year and his average from his career heading into this season (both six yards per carry). Dye already has seven rushing touchdowns this year.

Not to mention, Williams has been able to chip in 235 yards on the ground too. This offensive line was the highest-graded line in college football according to PFF last season, and has certainly not missed a beat this year. They were just named to the 2022 Midseason Joe Moore Honor Roll for their strong first half:

USC Football was one of 22 teams whose offensive line was named to the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll.

USC Football has the 10th-highest AP Poll ranking out of the 22 teams with offensive lines on this list. It goes to show that SC has a line that can compete nationally, and be part of why this team as a whole can compete nationally.

Andrew Vorhees leads the bunch, as he's likely to be an early-round draft pick in next year's NFL Draft, but everyone else has also been at least competent in addition to him.

Some have been much more than competent, and in fact terrific, such as Brett Neilon at Center and Justin Dedich at Right Guard. It's a great unit, and one that gives SC a chance to finish this regular season with just this one loss as they come out of the bye week.