Football games are decided on the scoreboard, but won in the trenches.

Players in skill positions score the touchdowns; offensive linemen allow the offense to operate.

This season, the ISU football team will rely on an inexperienced and unproven offensive line corps to protect quarterback Bret Meyer and open holes for the running game.

Even coach Gene Chizik doesn’t know what to expect.

“I have got confidence in the guys. They’ve worked hard. Coach [Robert] McFarland has done a great job with them. To me they will be one of the things, as everybody, we’ll be looking to find out how they’ll perform,” Chizik said. “We’ve put a lot of pressure on them. And they know it.”

Tom Schmeling started eight games at right guard last season. Reggie Stephens started the other four.

The two also have a combined 10 appearances off the bench – the total Big 12 experience for the offensive line. Schmeling will start at right guard, and Stephens will move to the left. Junior Brandon Johnson is set to start at center, while junior college transfer Doug Dedrick and tight end-turned-lineman Ben Lamaak will start at left and right tackle, respectively.

Iowa State has struggled to run the ball and protect Meyer in the past two seasons. Meyer was dropped 39 times in 2005 and 38 times last season, including seven sacks against Chizik’s Texas defense.

Only six Cyclones have rushed for 100 yards in the past two seasons, and Iowa State finished eighth and 10th in the conference in 2005 and 2006, respectively, in rushing yards.

The offensive line corps has size – all measure 6-foot-3 or taller and more than 280 pounds. Stevens is listed at 322 pounds, the heaviest of the starting five, and Dedrick is the lightest, at 282 pounds.

Dedrick is listed at 271 pounds in the media guide, but has put on size and muscle and, Schmeling said, will be able to block Big 12 defensive ends “week in and week out.”

Lamaak was 230 pounds when he came in as a freshman, but is now 306 pounds.

Schmeling, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound junior, said the group is gelling.

“We’re coming along real well,” Schmeling said. “We’re all getting our communications down together, you know, getting used to fitting into each other on double teams, stuff like that. So we’re getting that cohesiveness that we need.”

The line will gain experience, and the coaches will get a good evaluation of the group against a relatively inexperienced Kent State front Thursday night.

“I’ve seen some growth. I’ve seen them do some good things,” Chizik said. “I think right now our biggest problem is that we’re inconsistent. How do I feel about it? I don’t know yet, to be honest with you. I really don’t.”

Meyer said he didn’t worry about the uncertainty of the line in the off-season.

“It didn’t really cross my mind,” he said. “With the coaches we have . other than Doug, all of them have been on campus; all of them have been around.”