Just how green is Iowa's offensive line? Only 14 teams in the nation have less starting experience

Sportswriters get ridiculed for giving Phil Steele so much attention and credit, but the guy puts up a lot of statistics that people like me would never get bogged down compiling.

Today (the complete list is here on his blog) he lists the offensive line career starts returning for all 120 FBS teams.

Iowa, with 36 starts, is 106th in the nation and 11th in the Big Ten.

Julian Vandervelde has 24 career starts, Riley Reiff 11, and Adam Gettis 1. 

This is another of a myriad of statistics that can be deceptive. Are those "good" returning starts you have, or are they "fill-in" starts from players who started only because of injuries to better players?

Reiff, for instance, had no starts entering last season. Yet, you'd say he was a plus and not a minus as a performer in 2009, would you not?

But facts are facts, and a fact is that an offensive line isn't cohesive right away when three-fifths of it watched most of the games from the sidelines last year.

Luckily for Iowa (though luck isn't really a major part of it), the quarterback, wide receivers and No. 1 tight end have plenty of experience. That doesn't hurt.

Other Big Ten teams and their returning OL starts:

Minnesota 114

Wisconsin 107

Ohio State 93

Northwestern 89

Michigan 82

Penn State 56

Indiana 54

Illinois 46

Purdue 47

Michigan State 43

Also: Iowa State 89, Arizona 71, Ball State 92