Games Feature Western Kentucky vs. Alabama, Cal vs. San Diego State, and Notre Dame vs. Nevada
In its continuing effort to help educate fans on how important the offensive line is to winning football, the Joe Moore Award is featuring three games in this week’s “Big Ugly Spotlight”. The list for Week 2 features Western Kentucky vs. Alabama, Cal vs. San Diego State and Notre Dame vs. Nevada.
On a weekly basis, the Joe Moore Award will provide analysis for the upcoming weekend’s featured games. Stay tuned for Joe Moore Honor Rolls, which will recognize outstanding offensive line play, culminating with the announcement of the 2016 winner of the Joe Moore Award after the conclusion of the regular season.
Week 2 "Big Ugly Spotlight" List for Games on September 10
WESTERN KENTUCKY @ ALABAMA – 3:30pm EST on ESPN2
Even though the Alabama offensive line has many new faces, the Tide O-line showed signs of dominance in last week’s win over USC. Head coach Nick Saban will be looking for the unit to continue to “improve its consistency and technique”, and if they do, they could potentially make another run at this year’s award. The Western Kentucky unit is led by senior Forrest Lamp, a Second Team All American in 2015 and surefire NFL prospect. In a dominant win over conference rival Rice last week, the Hilltoppers racked up 46 points and 649 yards in total offense. A similar effort, or more, will be necessary against one of the best defensive lines in the country.
CAL @ SAN DIEGO STATE – 10:30pm EST on CBS Sports Network
After the long road trip to Australia and a 51-31 win over Hawaii, the Cal O-line has had time to recover and will look to continue to rally around Davis Webb, who has replaced Jared Goff, the first round pick of the LA Rams. The Bears’ experienced unit will have a more difficult challenge against a tough San Diego State 3-3-5 defense that was #2 in the country in takeaways (34) a year ago. They allowed only 141 yards of total offense in shutting out New Hampshire in a 31-0 opening day win. In that game, the Aztecs offensive line led the way to a balanced attack that produced 170 rushing yards and 283 yards passing.
NOTRE DAME vs. NEVADA– 3:30pm EST on NBC
The good news for Nevada is that Notre Dame comes off a short week and a heartbreaking loss to Texas. In that loss, the Irish defensive line struggled at times to slow down their opponent, and the Nevada O-line unit has the experience to go into this matchup with some confidence. The bad news for the Wolf Pack is that their defense – which was dominated by Cal Poly just last week – will now face one of the best O-line units in the country. Whether the Fighting Irish continue rotating quarterbacks or commit to DeShone Kizer, expect the Notre Dame offense to also try to get their ground game going behind a unit coached by one of the best OL coaches in the country, Harry Heistand.
About the Joe Moore Award
The JOE MOORE AWARD is named after Joe Moore, widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football history, and is the only major college football award to honor a unit. The award will annually recognize the nation’s Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit that best displays toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique, and “finishing”. The voting committee is comprised of college football experts, especially people who played or coached the offensive line position, including all of the current offensive line coaches at the Division I/FBS level as well as former players, coaches, colleagues of Coach Moore and select media.
About the Foundation for Teamwork
The Foundation for Teamwork is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to fostering teamwork in all societal endeavors and bring that spirit of collective achievement to athletics, education, and organizations. Follow the Joe Moore Award on Twitter (@joemooreaward), Instagram (@joemooreaward), and Facebook at facebook.com/JoeMooreAward.