Mix 'n Match | by Pat

After listing a few OL co-starters on the depth chart, Charlie said in his pre-Nevada presser that he planned on rotating through a few different linemen during the game

Q. Looking over the depth chart, I think what jumped out at me was the left side of the offensive line, there's a couple of "or"s there. Where are you at those?

COACH WEIS: Paul Duncan will start at left tackle. Matt Romine will play in the game. Chris Stewart will start at left guard but Dan Wenger will definitely play in the game. Usually when you put offensive linemen in they're going to stay in for the whole time but those two guys are two guys that we want to make sure we get involved in the game in the first half. We're not going to wait to the second half to get Romine and Wenger in the game.

So Duncan and Stewart will both start but both Romine and Wenger will show up respectively at the left tackle, left guard position.

Given how little ND has rotated offensive linemen the past four years, I wanted to double-check and see when guys like Romine, Wenger, and Nuss got into the game. Sure enough, they played pretty early and likely would have played more snaps if not for that Michael Floyd guy scoring touchdowns nearly every time he touched the ball. Perhaps we are seeing some of the Verducci influence in the rotation of the linemen. Or maybe it's just that ND finally has a depth chart filled with juniors and seniors as opposed to sophomores and freshmen.

The table below lists the OL for each series in the game and the number of plays they were out there. Non-starters are in bold.

First Half Series 1-2 (21 plays) LT - Duncan LG - Stewart C - Olsen RG - Robinson RT - Young Series 3 (2 plays) LT - Romine LG - Wenger C - Olsen RG - Robinson RT - Young Series 4 (3 plays) LT - Duncan LG - Wenger C - Olsen RG - Robinson RT - Romine Series 5 (9 plays) LT - Duncan LG - Stewart C - Olsen RG - Nuss RT - Young

Second Half Series 6-7 (8 plays) LT - Duncan LG - Stewart C -Olsen RG - Robinson RT - Young Series 8 (8 plays) LT - Romine LG - Wenger C - Olsen RG - Robinson RT - Young Series 9 (6 plays) LT - Duncan LG - Stewart C - Olsen RG - Nuss RT - Young Series 10 ( 6 plays) LT - Clelland LG - Cave C - Golic, Jr. RG - Nuss RT - Dever

Personally, all three of the first guys off the bench -- Romine, Wenger, and Nuss -- looked pretty good. The fact that Romine saw time at both left and right tackle means the staff either wants to really work him into the game as much as possible or there is a gap between Romine and the rest of the backup tackles (probably a combination of the two). Either way, look for ND to use an 8-man line more frequently this season, which should only help keep everyone fresh later in games and the season. And when the inevitable injuries pop up, ND will finally be able to sub in a backup who isn't completely inexperienced.