Joe Moore Award Unveils 2025 Semifinalist List
Ten teams earned spot on prestigious list thanks to physical, focused play
The Foundation for Teamwork announced tonight the 10 college football offensive line units that earned a spot on the 2025 Joe Moore Award Semifinalist list. These programs represent the best of the best, signifying the offensive line units that best display toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing.
The Joe Moore Award revealed the semifinalists during a livestream of its weekly “Trench Life” show on YouTube. As part of the show, Aaron Taylor, the co-founder of the Joe Moore Award and an analyst for CBS Sports, provided a “state of the union” on offensive play, noting the impact the transfer portal, NIL, changes to proactive habits, offensive styles and other factors in the college football landscape have had on performance.
The Joe Moore Award 2025 Semifinalist Reveal Episode of “Trench Life” can be viewed here.
CBS Sports personality Jenny Dell was joined by ESPN / SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic, FanDuel Sports Network podcast host Mike Golic Jr., Fox Sports analyst Geoff Schwartz and CBS Sports analyst and co-founder of the Joe Moore Award Aaron Taylor as they unveiled the best offensive lines in the country. The group provided analysis and commentary on what made these offensive lines stand out during the first half of the college football season.
“Offensive line play across the country has been uneven, but this group’s tape still represents the very best the sport has to offer,” said Taylor. “The programs on our list of semifinalists have earned a spot based on the entirety of their body of work throughout the course of the season. From here, the bar from semifinalist to finalist rises significantly, with consistency and finishing usually leading the charge.”
This year’s Joe Moore Award Semifinalist list includes:
Cincinnati
Duke
Georgia Tech
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Oregon
Texas A&M
Utah
Vanderbilt
“There were several teams in contention who have played well, but just missed making the list,” said Taylor. “It’s worth remembering that it is not unprecedented for a team to not make one of these lists, but still win the award. Iowa, for instance, didn’t make the Midseason Honor Roll in 2016, but wound up taking home the trophy. It will take some work, but there is time for some of those teams that just missed out to play their way onto our Finalist list.”
The changes to the college football landscape have made the evaluation process more difficult, noted many of the voting committee members.
“With inconsistency across the country and programs battling youth, injuries, and the shifting landscape of the portal and NIL, evaluating offensive line play has never been more challenging,” said Cubelic, a member of the Joe Moore Award voting committee. “Some units are peaking now, others showed their best earlier, but each earned its place through sustained effort, physicality and teamwork.
The Joe Moore Award voting committee is composed of individuals who are highly knowledgeable about offensive line play, including former linemen, o-line coaches, NFL 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 offensive line performance.
“Even in a season marked by volatility, these 10 offensive line units have put their best work on tape,” said Taylor. “Now comes the true test – the leap to finalist requires peak performance when the stakes are highest. November separates the ready from the rest.”
Joe Moore Award Credo
Teamwork. It’s what defines football as a sport, and it is displayed in its greatest glory – in its most profound necessity – in the play of the offensive line. For it is there that individual achievement only matters if the entire unit is performing. When we execute together, great things happen. But if one player missteps, the rest of the team pays the price. That idea – along with hard work and the willingness to strive to be your best – embodies what Coach Joe Moore instilled in his players.
But it’s about more than football. It’s about how we live our lives, how we contribute to society, how we participate in the realization of great things. Teamwork is a bond. It’s a promise. And it’s a commitment to put the greater good above ourselves. It’s the greatest form of individual achievement because it requires total sacrifice – of focus, of effort, of ego. The road to success requires an unwavering commitment to purpose that creates an unbreakable bond between each of us. And it makes that success one of the greatest achievements on the planet.
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, Andy Heck 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 seven feet and weighing in at more than 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 bringing that spirit of collective achievement to athletics, education, and organizations.
Learn More or Follow Us
Find out more at joemooreaward.com and follow the Joe Moore Award on Twitter (@joemooreaward), Instagram (@joemooreaward), and Facebook (facebook.com/JoeMooreAward).
For media inquiries, please contact Johnathan McGinty at johnathan@trestlecollective.com.