Nation’s Top College O-Lines Narrowed Down to Three Units
NEW YORK (Dec. 21, 2020) — The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit in College Football today revealed the selection of three finalists for this year’s national honor, announced The Foundation for Teamwork, which has presented the unique award since 2015. Finalists in the running to be named the top collegiate O-line in the country include (in alphabetical order) *No. 1 Alabama, *No. 4 Notre Dame, and *No. 5 Texas A&M.
For games played through Dec. 19, this year’s finalists have a combined record of 29-2 and share a combined six wins over current AP Top 15 teams, average 478.76 yards of total offense per game (compared to the national average of 399.91 ypg) and 203.43 rushing ypg (compared to the national average of 168.24 rushing ypg).
The award’s voting committee will announce the winner of the 2020 Joe Moore Award who has best exemplified the criteria of toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing throughout the season after a surprise presentation to the winning unit’s university at a mutually agreed upon time in the near future.
“The finalists embody what the Joe Moore Award is all about, which is hard-working, like-minded individuals working together for the greater good without desire for personal gain,” said Aaron Taylor, CBS college football analyst and founder of the Joe Moore Award. Taylor played guard at the University of Notre Dame for the award’s namesake, the legendary offensive line coach Joe Moore. “The three finalists stood out all season long, and despite some late injuries, separated themselves through consistency, teamwork, and setting the tone for their entire teams.”
“We believe the O-line position to be the one that’s most dependent on coaching, offseason development, and consistent repetition of fundamentals,” said Cole Cubelic, chairman of the Joe Moore Award voting committee and lead sideline analyst for the SEC Network. “Given the extremely challenging circumstances of pandemic football, the committee was extremely impressed by the perseverance and in-season development by all three finalists. It’s refreshing to see that there is still a commitment to physical football in the modern era, and we appreciate the efforts of the O-line coaches to preserve this fundamental aspect of the sport.”
In addition to Alabama, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M, the voting committee was particularly impressed by Kentucky’s resilience, Coastal Carolina’s finish and tone setting, and Ohio State’s solid, high efficiency run and pass blocking despite seeing a variety of defensive fronts.
Finalist Criteria and Selection Process
The Joe Moore Award voting committee judges solely on six criteria: toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing. These criteria were established by polling over 800 years of O-line playing and coaching experience before the inaugural year of the award by asking a simple question: “What were the top three characteristics of the best O-lines that you played on, or coached?” Evaluations for finalists were made solely through weekly review of actual game film and offensive line coach provided cut-ups.
2020 Joe Moore Award Finalists at a Glance
Alabama (10-0)
Alabama’s starting offensive line has only allowed QB Mac Jones to be sacked eight times in 11 games on 377 drop backs, or one sack 47.1 drop backs, while Jones leads the nation in passing efficiency.
The Crimson Tide leads the nation in rushing touchdowns with 35 (3.2 per game) while ranking third in the SEC in rushing offense (189.8 ypg).
The Alabama offensive front has blocked for the nation’s top-ranked Power Five scoring offense (49.7 ppg), the No. 1 pass efficiency offense (197.5) and No. 5 total offense (543.9).
The Crimson Tide offensive line features leading candidates for the Outland Trophy (Alex Leatherwood) and Rimington Trophy (Landon Dickerson).
The veteran group boasts 121 career starts and their play has been the catalyst behind Alabama’s three Heisman Trophy candidates Najee Harris, Mac Jones and DeVonta Smith.
What the committee is saying: “Once again, Alabama’s offensive line is the ideal combination of size, strength and technique. They play with consistency and do a nice job of working their double teams on zone concepts and battling with strain on single blocks. Losing Landon Dickerson late against Florida is a crusher if he can’t return, as it’s clear he is the glue that binds this incredibly talented unit. This is a group that functions together at a very high level. They are constantly looking to be great beyond what was asked on any given play.”
Offensive line coach: Kyle Flood
Notre Dame (10-1)
The Irish lead the ACC and rank ninth in the FBS in third down conversion percentage with a remarkable 49.3 success rate.
Four different Notre Dame offensive linemen have been rewarded for their stellar play by picking up ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors (RT Robert Hainsey, LT Liam Eichenberg, RG Aaron Banks, LG Tommy Kraemer), while left tackle Liam Eichenberg has been honored twice. Out of 10 regular season games, the Irish offensive line has been honored following five games.
The Irish rank third in the ACC and 21st nationally in rushing offense (217.6 ypg).
What the committee is saying: “This unit was the gold standard of steady weekly improvement until the injuries of their C (Jarrett Patterson) and RG (Tommy Kraemer), but even then, they’ve still played at a pretty high level. The first thing you notice is consistency of their technique. They all shoot their hands very well and work to maintain leverage with their pads in the run game. Footwork and combos are what it should look like. Fundamentally sound unit with consistent sets and fierce punches in pass pro that’s clearly coached into them. The injury to their C and RG hurt their consistency, but not their effort. Resilient group.”
Offensive line coach: Jeff Quinn
Texas A&M (8-1)
For the season, Texas A&M has given up 4.0 total sacks on the year and is allowing 0.44 sacks per game through nine games against only SEC opponents. The per-game average puts the Aggies in a tie for fourth nationally while standing atop the SEC.
A&M’s 0.44 sacks allowed per game average is the lowest season average by any Power 5 team since Minnesota allowed 0.25 per game in 2005.
The Maroon Goons went 24 quarters and 201 pass attempts without letting its opponent get to the quarterback. The streak spanned from the second quarter of the season opener against Vanderbilt until the third quarter of the LSU game.
The Goons are allowing just 3.78 tackles for loss per game, which ranks sixth nationally and leads the SEC.
At Auburn, the offensive line cleared the way for the Aggies to tally 313 yards on the ground, their highest single-game total of the season, as sophomore RB Isaiah Spiller recorded the 10th 100-yard game of his career and senior QB Kellen Mond became the second Aggie and fourth SEC QB to pass for 60 TDs and rush for 20 more in their careers.
The O-line allowed just 1.0 tackle for loss at Mississippi State, the program’s fewest since not allowing a TFL in the 16-10 road win over Colorado midway through the 1997 season.
The Aggies are averaging a robust 437.2 total yards/game and 6.4 yards/play.
What the committee is saying: “This year they’ve been the catalyst for an offense that has shown a new level of toughness. In the second half of the Florida game, they battered the Gators on the ground and have been able to finish the season with strong efforts on the ground. They are a physical unit who work well together and get up to the second level extremely well. Right tackle Carson Green has been exceptional at clearing out space for his runners, and their RG Kenyon Green has a chance to be special. The unquestioned key for their offensive success was the fact that their O-line was dominant most of the season.”
Offensive line coach: Josh Henson
Voting Committee
The Joe Moore Award voting committee is comprised of 13 individuals who are highly knowledgeable about offensive line play, including former linemen, coaches, talent evaluators and media analysts. This group conducts in-depth analysis by reviewing game tape every week of the season to assess both the fundamentals and subtleties of overall O-line performance.
The 2020 voting committee includes Chairman Cole Cubelic (Auburn, SEC Network); Charles Arbuckle (UCLA, Indianapolis Colts); Randy Cross (UCLA, San Francisco 49ers); Gerry DiNardo (Notre Dame, head coach at LSU); Mike Golic, Jr. (Notre Dame, ESPN); Dave Harding (Duke, Blue Devil Network); Barrett Jones (Alabama, St. Louis Rams); Duke Manyweather (Humboldt State, player and coach); Geoff Schwartz (Oregon, Carolina Panthers); Sam Schwartzstein (Stanford, XFL rules creator); Phil Steele (publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, ESPN); Aaron Taylor (Notre Dame, Green Bay Packers); and Lance Zierlein (NFL draft analyst, NFL.com).
Looking Ahead
A vote will now be held to select the 2020 recipient of the Joe Moore Award by a voting body of 200-plus members. This voting body includes all of the current O-line coaches at the Division I/FBS level, as well as former players, coaches, colleagues of Coach Joe Moore, and a few, select qualified media members.
In an effort to aid in the evaluation, the Joe Moore Award voting will review each of the finalists’ season-long, O-line coach provided highlight reels and multiple back-to-back quarters of game film.
Past Award Recipients
Past recipients of the Joe Moore Award include the offensive lines of the University of Alabama (2015), the University of Iowa (2016), the University of Notre Dame (2017), the University of Oklahoma (2018), and LSU (2019).
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, most notably for his work at Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh. Coach Moore sent 52 players on to the NFL, including Bill Fralic, Mark May, Russ Grimm, Jimbo Covert and others. The Joe Moore Award trophy, crafted by legendary sports sculptor Jerry McKenna, is the largest trophy in college football, standing at a height of 6 feet and weighing in at 800 pounds. The perpetual trophy is made available for display by the winning university until the conclusion of the following college football season.
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. Find out more at joemooreaward.com and follow the Joe Moore Award on Twitter (@joemooreaward), Instagram (@joemooreaward), and Facebook (facebook.com/JoeMooreAward).
* College Football Playoff poll as of December 20th, 2020.
###