The Beef Index: Which SEC team will have the strongest offensive line in 2024?

The North Atlantic right whale is extremely endangered. The fearsome animals were largely wiped out by commercial whaling in the 1890s, and even after that industry ended, the species never recovered, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

However, there are still about 360 of these whales living off the coast of the southeastern United States. They can grow up to 16 meters long, communicate by groaning and moaning, and weigh about 45,000 kilograms.

But even with that immense size, they still don’t outweigh the SEC’s offensive lines. If you add up all the offensive linemen listed in the league, the total tonnage as of Tuesday is 101,102 pounds.

When you consider everyone from the starters to the walk-ons, from the NFL’s next great left tackles to the next great Enterprise Rent-A-Car executives, this is what the SEC’s offensive line looks like.

The Beef Index

There are several ways to determine the strongest offensive lines in the SEC. Each of them has drawbacks.

The easiest way to do this is to take all the players listed as offensive linemen on an online SEC roster in Week 1 and add up their weights. When you do that, Texas A&M and Alabama are the clear leaders, with the Aggies weighing 7,065 pounds and the Tide weighing 7,025 pounds.

These two are the only schools that weigh over 7,000 pounds. They are also the only ones that have 23 offensive linemen on their rosters.

On the other side of the table, Mississippi State is in last place with 5,615, while LSU is in 15th place with 5,677.

Two schools have 22 linemen, Tennessee has 21, five have 20 and four have 19. The rankings by total weight clearly show that no school is ranked higher than a program that has more players on the OL.

Average

Another way to determine the strongest offensive line in the SEC is to take the average. Take the total weight, divide it by the number of players, and perhaps come up with something fairer than just pure tonnage.

Unfortunately, this method is not without its problems. Take Alabama, for example, which ranks last in the rankings at 305.43 pounds.

The Crimson Tide is hampered by its walk-ons. Davis Peterson will likely never play in a game, but he’s on the roster and at just 235 pounds, he, along with 240-pound JD Martin and others, weighs down the average on a team that includes 369-pound Kadyn Proctor.

When taking the average weight of all players, Tennessee leads the SEC with an average of 322.9 pounds. Vanderbilt is second at 317.05 pounds and Georgia is third at 316.05 pounds.

Texas A&M is one place ahead of the Crimson Tide with 307.51.

Only the starters

The final way to calculate the SEC’s strongest offensive lines is to consider only each team’s starters in Week 1. This still isn’t perfect, as each team has at least some players who aren’t in the starting lineup, but it does a better job of filtering out the players who aren’t on the field.

The average starting weight is in Ole Miss’ favor. Lane Kiffin’s squad averages 331 pounds, making them one of only two schools with over 330 pounds, along with second-place Vanderbilt.

Eight SEC teams average over 320 pounds, exactly half the league. Florida is the only other school to surpass 325 pounds.

Auburn finished last in average starting weight at 311.8 pounds. Missouri and South Carolina were just ahead of the Tigers at 312.4 pounds each.