Jenga Pieces
I’m not sure many college football fans are familiar with Dave Dameshek, but he has a podcast for NFL.com and is always good for some interesting theories on the NFL. One of his most famous ones is the Jenga theory that borrows the premise of the game with blocks and applies it to football.
What that tweet doesn’t mention is that he doesn’t include quarterbacks. Why? Because it’s pretty obvious that teams like the Green Bay Packers would collapse without Aaron Rodgers. Taking quarterbacks off the table, it’s a little bit more difficult to find who the Jenga piece is on a football team.
It’s not always the best player. A lot of it has to do with depth and the situation the team would be in if that player wasn’t available. That’s why I believe Te’von Coney is the Jenga piece for this year’s version of the Fighting Irish.
Given the unproven depth at Mike linebacker and Drue Tranquill moving inside to Buck for the first time, Notre Dame’s defense would have a very tough time replacing Coney (which shows exactly why it was so important he came back to school). He may or may not be the best player on the defense, but as of right now, he is the most valuable.
I went through every team’s roster on Notre Dame's schedule and picked who I view as their Jenga piece. It’s something to keep in mind if any one of these players get injured and doesn’t play against the Irish this season.
Michigan - Guard Ben Bredeson
Bredeson could be an All-Big Ten guard for the Wolverines this year and they don’t have anyone else on their line who is at that level quite yet. That’s precisely why he is so important to them. There is no Jim Harbaugh power running game without a good offensive line and for Michigan their line has little chance of being good if Bredeson is not playing.
Linebacker Khaleke Hudson and defensive end Rashan Gary could be All-Americans on defense, but that side of the ball is so loaded that the could deal with a major injury if it happened. Their o-line could not.
Ball State - Wide Receiver Justin Hall
Last year Ball State was decimated by injuries and without their quarterback and star tailback, their season fell apart. Since we can’t pick a quarterback and since they had their backup running back have a pretty good year last season, I went with Hall.
As a freshman Hall had 78 catches from the slot. That’s impressive enough on its own, but seems even more so when you consider he had 48 catches and 501 yards more than the second leading receiver on the team. He was responsible for over ⅓ of Ball State’s receptions and yards in the passing game.
Vanderbilt - Cornerback Joejuan Williams
There aren’t many former 4-star recruits on Vanderbilt’s roster, but Williams is an exception. He has developed into one of the best cover corners in the SEC and has the size to match up with many receivers that other corner could not.
With him the defense can blitz often and take more chances because of his abilities in man coverage. Without him the defense will struggle to cause the same amount of havoc they did in 2017 (46th in Havoc Rate).
Wake Forest - Wide Receiver Greg Dortch
Even without Dortch last season, Wake was able to put up some big numbers on offense late in the year. But that was with senior quarterback John Wolford. He’s gone now and they’ll need Dortch to turn short throws into long gains more than ever.
His value to Wake is even higher because they lost two difference makers on defense. They might be in a lot of shootouts this fall and they won’t win many of those without Dortch.
Stanford - Running Back Bryce Love
We saw that a hobbled Love really affected Stanford’s offense in a loss to Washington State. It was his only game of the season where he didn’t gain over 100 yards. Before his ankle injury he had a run of 60 yards or more in six of their first seven games. After the ankle injury he didn’t have another one until he had some time off before the bowl game against TCU.
The other backs on the roster are solid players, but he takes their offense to a different level.
Virginia Tech - Defensive Tackle Ricky Walker
The Hokies have been decimated by injuries and departures on defense. Defensive coordinator Bud Foster is probably the true Jenga piece because if he wasn’t around, this defense might be below average for the first time in a long time.
They still have a chance to be pretty good, but only if Walker has the same kind of season he had last year. With no more Tim Settle to pair with him on the interior, Walker needs to be dominant. He is the only proven game wrecker they have and with an inexperienced secondary, they will be in trouble if he isn’t disruptive up front.
Pitt - Linebacker Oluwaseum Idowu
Pat Narduzzi was known as one of the best DCs in college football before he took the Pitt job. That reputation has taken a hit because they have not finished better than 76th in yards per play in the three years he’s been there.
They finally started to play better defense towards the end of last season and were sparked by Oduwo who led the team in tackles, sacks, and tackles for loss (94, 5, and 11.5). Pitt returns a lot of experienced players, but only one guy that could play for almost any defense in the country. That’s Oduwo.
Navy - Safety Sean Williams
With Navy, it can never be someone on offense because even when they get their quarterback hurt, they still can score points. They typically only have a couple of impact defensive players and no one more valuable this year than Williams.
Northwestern - Linebacker Paddy Fisher
Fisher was one of the best run defenders in the nation last season according to Pro Football Focus and his stats backed that up. 113 tackles and 9 TFLs was impressive for a redshirt freshman. His four forced fumbles were also as big as anything else he did.
They don’t have a lot of depth at linebacker and he should be one of the best linebackers the Irish face. This was an easy pick.
Florida State - Cornerback Levonta Taylor
Another easy pick despite the way that Florida State has recruited at corner. The season went bad for the Seminoles as a whole, but Taylor played like an All-American. He’s the type of talent that can shut down his side of the field. Losing that impact would greatly change how FSU would call their defense.
Syracuse - Defensive Tackle Chris Slayton
Dino Babers is going to do what he does on offense. The problem is that his defense is going to do what they do as well. That means giving up a lot of yards and points. They have one player on defense who can flip that within a game by making plays behind the line and that’s Slayton.
He demands double teams and made their linebacker's jobs a lot easier too. They need him in their front seven or else things on defense could get even uglier than they’ve been the last couple of years.
USC - Tackle/Guard/Center Toa Lobendahn
When Lobendahn has been in the lineup and healthy the last couple of years, the Trojans’ offensive line has been mostly fine. The problem has been him getting injured so frequently that he hasn’t been available to stabilize them up front. He can play any position on the line and do so at a high level.
They need him to be available more than anything else. Skill talent is never an issue with USC. Toughness and stability up front has been a much different story. If Lobendahn gets hurt, the new quarterback at USC is going have to deal with a lot of chaos.