You make a seemingly forgotten point...our line was terrible last year. On paper, it may appear that our line got worse and on paper it did. But I don't think you're going to see the **** show that took place last year, this year. Strangely I have more confidence in NC when he has to piece together a line, rather than having a set line like he did last year.
Another thing that people are neglecting to mention is that if this line can get the run game going, even if it's 3 yards and a cloud of dust, this will take the pressure off the line and CJ, because we won't be in predictably passing downs. A huge part of our failure last year was they couldn't run the ball. Imagine what Mixon and Co. (and dare I say Pearce, in a power scheme) can do when they have lanes to run.
I'm currently taking an optimistic view about the state of the OL because it looks like everyone has the pessimistic (or should I say realistic?) view covered. After all, we are fans of Houston football, regardless of which team(s) we've supported.