Nineteen O-Line Units Gain Attention of Voting Committee
NEW YORK (Oct. 19, 2021) — The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit in College Football today revealed the nineteen members of its 2021 midseason honor roll, announced The Foundation for Teamwork, which has presented the unique award since 2015.
Earning a spot on this year’s midseason honor roll are the O-lines of Air Force, #4 Alabama, Appalachian State, Arkansas, #20 Baylor, BYU, #14 Coastal Carolina, Florida, #1 Georgia, #15 Kentucky, Louisiana, #6 Michigan, #5 Ohio State, #3 Oklahoma, #10 Oregon, Oregon State, #22 San Diego State, Tennessee, and UCLA.
This year’s honor roll members represent six conferences and one independent (in alphabetical order): BIG TEN (2), BIG-12 (2), MWC (2), PAC-12 (3), SEC (6), SUN BELT (3), and BYU. For games played through Oct. 16, teams on this year’s honor roll have a combined record of 101-24, and includes ten ranked teams.*
These units have gained the attention of the Joe Moore Award voting committee as it moves closer to announcing the selection of semifinalists on Nov. 16 and finalists on Dec. 7. Selection of the 2021 Joe Moore Award winner will be made public after a surprise visit to the winning university’s campus in late December.
“This has been a challenging year to evaluate O-line play due to some unexpected inconsistency. But as always, the cream rises to the top and that certainly has been the case with the units on this year’s honor roll,” said Aaron Taylor, CBS college football analyst and founder of the Joe Moore Award. “As in year’s past, the bar will rise rapidly from here, and there could also be a surprise unit or two that emerges late in the year like Iowa did in 2016.” Taylor played guard at the University of Notre Dame for the award’s namesake, the legendary offensive line coach Joe Moore.
“Each unit of this year’s Midseason Honor Roll has earned the right to be recognized for displaying the award criteria in ways that embody the essence of our position,” said Cole Cubelic, chairman of the Joe Moore Award voting committee and lead sideline analyst for the SEC Network. “As we move forward, consistency, physicality, and an ability to perform in the “gotta have it” situations will be key, differentiating factors. We’re about to enter the fun part of the season where O-line play matters most, and we’re excited to see who’s able to rise up down the stretch and have their ‘Moore Moment’.”
Units of Interest:
In addition to the O-line units listed above, committee members also took note of the play and production of Cincinnati, Michigan State, NC State, and SMU.
Honor Roll Criteria and Selection Process
The Joe Moore Award voting committee judges solely on six criteria: toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing.
Evaluations for the midseason honor roll were made exclusively through weekly review of actual game film, including offensive line coach-provided cut-ups.
2021 Honor Roll at a Glance
Air Force (6-1)
Lead the nation in rushing and the only team averaging over 300 yards per game (336.4).
They have had three starting centers and six different starting lineups in seven games.
Entered the season with only three career starts returning....second closest team had 18, no other team with less than 25 (in the nation).
Helped the Falcons to No. 2 national ranking in time of possession (37:38).
Offensive line coach: Steed Lobotzke
#4 Alabama (6-1)
Alabama’s offensive front is opening holes and providing time for the nation’s No. 4 scoring offense (45.0 ppg), No. 4 pass efficiency offense (181.36) and the No. 13 passing offense (316.1 ypg).
The Crimson Tide’s rushing attack has been especially effective over the last four games, averaging 192.3 yards per game with seven rushing touchdowns and an average of 4.9 yards per carry.
Preseason All-American LT Evan Neal has paved the way for the Crimson Tide offensive line, allowing just 1.5 sacks on 234 drop backs and accounting for a team high 15 knockdown blocks.
Offensive line coach: Doug Marrone
Appalachian State (4-2)
Tied for 13th nationally with only six sacks allowed.
Top three among Sun Belt teams in both scoring offense (2nd, 31.5 ppg) and total offense (3rd, 436.7 ypg).
Running behind App State’s O-line, Nate Noel is the Sun Belt’s leading rusher at 92.2 ypg, and Camerun Peoples has the most rushing TDs in the league despite missing the last two games.
Recognized as a top-15 line by the Joe Moore Award in 2018 and 2019 before being ranked as the No. 7 FBS offensive line by PFF College in 2020.
Offensive line coach: Nic Cardwell
Arkansas (4-3)
Arkansas’ 64 rushes of 10+ yards rank 1st in FBS/1st in SEC.
Offensive line has paved the way for 243 yards rushing per game, 4th in SEC and 8th in FBS, and 459.7 yards of total offense per game (5th in SEC).
Arkansas offense leads FBS with 67 plays of 10+ yards against ranked opponents and has 121 plays of 10+ yards – 4th most in SEC.
Offensive line coach: Cody Kennedy
#20 Baylor (6-1)
Baylor has increased its rushing production by 164% from last season, raising its rushing average from 90 ypg (123rd nationally) to 238 ypg (10th nationally).
Baylor has started the same O-Line combination across all seven games this season: LT Connor Galvin, LG Xavier Newman-Johnson, C Jacob Gall, RG Grant Miller and RT Gavin Byers.
Four members of the Baylor O-Line have combined for a total 103 starts across their careers.
Offensive line coach: Eric Mateos
BYU (5-2)
BYU’s offensive line is top 25 in the country in fewest sacks allowed and red zone scoring.
RB Allgeier is 12th in the nation in TDs (8), 14th in total yards (637), and 17th in yards per game (106).
Offensive line coach: Darrell Funk
#14 Coastal Carolina (6-0)
The Chanticleers have allowed just 5.0 sacks over the first six games of the season, an average of under 1.0 per contest (0.83), which ranks first in the Sun Belt and eighth nationally.
In fact, after allowing a season-high three sacks in the road win at Buffalo (Sept. 18), the Chants have not allowed a sack over their last three games [versus UMass (Sept. 25), ULM (Oct. 2), and at Arkansas State (Oct. 7)].
The OL sets the tone for the Coastal Carolina “Teal Team 6” offense, as the Chanticleers lead the nation in third-down conversion percentage (61.8), fourth-down conversion percentage (100.0), completion percentage (77.1), and team passing efficiency (222.78).
Offensive line coach: Bill Durkin
Florida (4-3)
Florida is T-7th nationally and ranks second in the SEC in sacks allowed with (5).
The Gators O-line has paved the way for 254.3 rush yards per game, which is fifth nationally and second in the SEC.
Offensive line coach: John Hevesy
#1 Georgia (7-0)
The Bulldogs lead the SEC and are tied for fourth nationally in Sacks Allowed with only four through seven games (0.57/game).
Featuring three backs with at least 240 yards rushing apiece through seven games, the line has allowed Georgia’s top trio to average 5.2 yards/carry.
The Bulldogs have exploded on the ground versus their last three top 20 ranked opponents: 166 vs. #11 Kentucky, 201 vs. #18 Auburn, 273 vs. #8 Arkansas.
Offensive line coach: Matt Luke
#15 Kentucky (6-1)
Behind Kentucky’s talented O-line unit, RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. leads the Southeastern Conference in rushing and is ninth nationally in total rushing yardage
UK linemen already have been chosen Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week three times out of the six weeks this season.
Kentucky is tied for 13th with rushing plays of 20+ yards (23).
Offensive line coach: Eric Wolford
Louisiana (5-1)
Louisiana ranks third in the Sun Belt and 28th nationally in sacks allowed (1.50) and fourth in the Sun Belt in tackles-for-loss allowed (5.67).
Louisiana’s rushing offense is 47th nationally behind the offensive line.
Louisiana has been included on the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll the last two seasons and were semifinalists a season ago.
Offensive line coach: Jeff Norrid / Darnell Stapleton
#6 Michigan (6-0)
The Wolverines lead the Big Ten and are seventh in the NCAA in rushing offense at 246.5 yards per game
The Wolverines offensive line has yielded just two sacks in 408 offense snaps.
U-M leads the nation in fewest tackles for loss allowed per game (2.17 avg.) and ranks second in the NCAA in fewest sacks allowed (0.33 avg.); leads the Big Ten in both categories.
Offensive line coach: Sherrone Moore
#5 Ohio State (5-1)
Ohio State’s offensive line has helped the Buckeyes. rank No. 1 nationally in total offense with an average of 563.2 yards per game
The offensive line is second nationally with just 14 tackles for loss allowed for an average of 2.33 per game.
The line has also surrendered just eight QB sacks (T19th nationally) on 192 passing attempts.
Offensive line coach: Greg Studrawa
#3 Oklahoma (7-0)
The Sooners’ O-line has paved the way for 6.94 yards per play this season, good for 11th nationally.
Oklahoma ranks seventh nationally with its 42.7 points per game and 14th with its 479.1 yards per game.
Offensive line coach: Bill Bedenbaugh
#10 Oregon (5-1)
Oregon’s O-line has paved the way for 210.3 rushing yards per game, and 5.1 yards per carry.
The Ducks have only allowed 26 tackles for loss, which is second in the Pac-12 and T-16th nationally.
Offensive line coach: Alex Mirabel / Mario Cristobal
Oregon State (4-2)
OSU leads the Pac-12 averaging 242.3 rush yards per game, which also ranks ninth nationally.
The Beavers have allowed just six sacks, the fewest in the Pac-12 and tied for ninth fewest nationally.
Oregon State has given up just 18 tackles for loss, the third-fewest in the nation, and fewest in the Pac-12.
Offensive line coach: Jim Michalczik
#22 San Diego State (6-0)
The Aztecs started the season with five straight 200-yard rushing games and currently rank 19th in the nation in rushing yards per game (215.3).
SDSU has allowed just nine sacks on the season in six games, ranking in a tie for 28th in sacks allowed per game (1.50).
San Diego State ranks 25th in the country in time of possession (31:44).
The Aztecs have started the same five on the offensive line all five games.
Offensive line coach: Mike Goff
Tennessee (4-3)
Tennessee is sixth nationally and third in the SEC in rushing yards per game (249.1).
Tennessee is tied for seventh nationally with 20 rushing TD.
Offensive line coach: Glen Elarbee
UCLA (5-2)
On the ground, the Bruins average 5.0 yards per rush per game and 219.9 rush yards per game (17th nationally).
The Bruins O-line have paved the way for RB Zach Charbonnet to lead the Pac-12 with 697 rushing yards this season.
Offensive line coach: Justin Frye
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 2021 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); Harry Hiestand (Joe Moore disciple, NFL and College O-line Coach); Barrett Jones (Alabama, St. Louis Rams); Duke Manyweather (Humboldt State, player and coach; founder of OL Masterminds); 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
After the semifinalists and finalists have been selected, a vote will be held to select the 2021 recipient of the Joe Moore Award by a voting body of 200-plus members. This voting body includes 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 members.
In addition to reviewing game tape every week of the season, the Joe Moore Award voting committee will later go through each of the finalists’ season-long 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), Oklahoma University (2018), LSU (2019), and the University of Alabama (2020 - first repeat winner).
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).
* AP Poll as of Oct. 17
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