It’s a question that ought to be asked, even though a precise answer is hard to pin down.

Tech junior tailback Branden Ore was a first-team all-ACC selection last season. But he has struggled in this season’s first four games because of a bad offensive line, rushing 65 times for 205 yards and two touchdowns. His 3.2 yards per carry are 2.3 fewer than the first four games of last season*, when he rushed 73 times for 399 yards and six touchdowns. Ore’s lack of production is clearly the fault of this season’s crummy line. Or so says one school of thought.

The other school: The line wasn’t great last season, either, but it was good enough to help Ore rush for 207 yards against Southern Mississippi and 203 against Clemson. He gained 6.8 yards per carry in those two games combined. But in eight games since that Clemson game, Ore has failed to rush for 100 yards.

He closed last season with 79 against Miami, 72 against Kent State, 5 against Wake Forest and 42 against Georgia. To be fair, Ore hurt his ankle in the Wake Forest game and didn’t play against Virginia the next week. His per-carry average in his final four games of last season: 2.6. His per-carry average for all of last season was 4.7.

By the way, his numbers this season: 70 against East Carolina, 28 against Louisiana State, 82 against Ohio and 25 against William and Mary. So Ore’s rushing numbers haven’t been great for his past eight games. Do you blame him? The line? Both? What say you, fine readers?

“All we have to do is give him a little crack,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said, which sounds like something the cops on “The Wire” would say before they tried to get Bubbles, that lovable drug addict, to give them some information on Stringer Bell.

The Ore-related stat that jumps out the most (and kudos to former colleague David Teel for pointing this out at today’s walk-through) is this: Ore rushed 10 times for 25 yards against William and Mary, which faced Delaware in its season opener. In that game, Delaware’s Omar Cuff rushed 30 times for 244 yards—an astounding 8.1 yards per carry. Cuff’s numbers since then: 21 carries for 93 yards against Division II West Chester (Pa.), 14 for 56 against Rhode Island and 27 for 109 against Towson. So we’re not exactly talking about The Second Coming Of Red Grange here.

* Chuck Klosterman-style footnote here: When comparing the first four games of last year with this year, you have to consider the opponents. Last year: Division I-AA Northeastern (finished 5-6), North Carolina (3-9), Duke (0-12) and Cincinnati (8-5). This year: East Carolina (1-3 with only win over North Carolina, also 1-3), Louisiana State (4-0, legit national title contender), Ohio (2-2, including a loss to Wyoming) and William and Mary (2-2, with wins over VMI and Liberty).