Tag: Joe Moore Award

Former Wisconsin offensive linemen, top assistant named semifinalist for national award

Former Wisconsin linemen, top assistant named finalist for national award

Several former Wisconsin Badgers have helped lead the Indiana Hoosiers to a record 10-0 start to the 2024 season.

Those are tackle Trey Wedig, guard Drew Evans and offensive line coach Bob Bostad. The trio is a significant reason the Hoosiers’ line was named a semifinalist for the 2024 Joe Moore Award on Tuesday.

Related: Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is doing what everybody expected Luke Fickell to do at Wisconsin

The award, with history since 2015, is given annually to college football’s best offensive line. Notable recent winners include Washington (2023), Michigan (2021-22), Alabama (2020) and LSU (2019).

The Hoosiers were named a semifinalist for the 2024 award along with Alabama, Army, Iowa, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Tulane.

As mentioned, three former Badgers are a big reason for the nomination.

Wedig has started all 10 games at right tackle for the Hoosiers this season. He boasts one of the top PFF grades of any eligible tackle in the Big Ten, making him one of Curt Cignetti’s top transfer additions from a highly successful offseason.

The versatile lineman entered the portal after playing a reserve role on the 2023 Badgers in year one under Luke Fickell. He would’ve been up for limited snaps again in 2024 with both Jack Nelson and Riley Mahlman back for a final season.

Evans, meanwhile, transferred to Indiana back in 2023 after initially walking on with the Badgers ahead of the 2022 season. He started the first nine games of the 2024 season for the Hoosiers before suffering a season-ending injury last week in practice.

Bostad, finally, is the most notable former Badger of the group. The current Indiana offensive line coach was a top assistant under Bret Bielema in the mid-2000s before returning to the Wisconsin program in 2017 as its inside linebackers coach.

He transitioned back to offensive line duties in 2022 as Paul Chryst reworked his offensive coaching staff. The veteran assistant then took a job at Indiana after Chryst’s firing.

Indiana will look to continue its dream season on Nov. 23 when it faces the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The team is a win away from possibly reaching the Big Ten title game, a remarkable turnaround after a 3-9 final season under Tom Allen.

A big factor in that success has been the work of Wedig, Evans and Bostad along the offensive line.

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Alabama offensive line named semifinalists for Joe Moore Award

The Crimson Tide have won the Joe Moore Award twice before.

The semifinalists for the 2024 Joe Moore Award were officially announced Tuesday morning, with the Alabama Crimson Tide one of the 10 program’s included.

Alongside the Crimson Tide, the other nine teams were the Army Black Knights, Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas Longhorns, and Tulane Green Wave.

The Joe Moore Award is presented annually to the top offensive line in college football, and is a honor that Alabama has won twice before. Those seasons came back in 2015 and 2020, which were two years that Alabama won the national championship.

Kalen DeBoer’s 2023 Washington team, which included starting Alabama center Parker Brailsford along the offensive line, also won the award a year ago.

Can the Alabama offensive front of Kadyn Proctor, Tyler Booker, Brailsford, Jaeden Roberts, and Elijah Pritchett become the third Alabama offensive line unit to win the Joe Moore Award later this season?

Oregon Ducks named semifinalist for Joe Moore Award

After a rough start, the Oregon Ducks offensive line has gelled into one of the best in the nation and are up for the Joe Moore Award.

After the first two games, no one this would be possible.

For the third-straight season, the Oregon Ducks offensive line is up for the Joe Moore Award. This honor recognizes elite O-line units for their unparalleled toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique, and ability to finish.

In the first two games, the Ducks offensive line had a tough time protecting quarterback Dillon Gabriel or opening up holes for the tailbacks on a consistent basis or just gelling as a unit.

But once Iapani Laloulu was moved to the center position and A’lique Terry found the rotation of players upfront that fit the best, everything fell into place. Oregon is tied for third in the Big Ten with 10 total sacks allowed this season, but the Ducks have given up just three total sacks over their last eight games. They have allowed zero sacks six times, and has racked up 127 total knockdowns this season including 102 over the last seven contests.

All of a sudden, Gabriel was sitting in the pocket with little to no pressure and the duo of Jordan James and Noah Whittington were running wild.

Among those also in the semifinals for this award are Alabama, Army, Indiana, Iowa, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas, and Tulane.

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Michigan football OL named to Joe Moore Award midseason honor roll

Wut. #GoBlue

The identity of Michigan football has long been two things: hard-nosed defense and elite offensive line play. Thus far through six games in 2024, the Wolverines have shown glimpses of both, but haven’t consistently done either well.

The offensive line did have full turnover from last year, which was a group that had previously won two of the last three Joe Moore Awards — given to the nation’s best blocking attack up front. As this line continues to get things figured out, the Joe Moore Award is honoring the Wolverines front five, as they have been named to the midseason honor roll.

https://twitter.com/UMichFootball/status/1844378810311160236

Though in recent years Michigan has won the award outright, the numbers didn’t always coincide with high PFF ratings. At this juncture, Michigan has the 46th-best run-blocking grade and the 111th-rated pass-blocking grade. Those numbers are significantly lower than how the Wolverines finished each of the past few years. In 2023, they had the 50th pass-blocking grade and ninth run-blocking grade. In 2022, it was 24th for the pass and 20th for the run. In 2021, it was 49th for the pass and 61st in the run. (Michigan won the award in 2021 and 2022).

But it does seem as if this group is still figuring things out. The team has allowed eight sacks (51st) and has the 38th-best rushing offense. It’s a far cry from the past three years, but certainly is still a work in progress.

LSU offensive line named Joe Moore Award finalist

The Tigers’ success had a lot to do with one of the nation’s best offensive lines.

The LSU offensive line was recognized this week, earning a spot as a Joe Moore Award finalist.

The award is annually given to the best offensive line in college football. The Tigers last won it in 2019, one of several trophies LSU picked up on that national title run.

Joining LSU as finalists are Washington, Oregon and Georgia.

The award speaks to the work offensive line coach Brad Davis has done since joining the staff in 2021. He was the only on-field assistant retained after [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] took over and that decision has proven to be one of Kelly’s best.

According to PFF, LSU’s offensive line ranks seventh in run blocking grade and the Tigers are among the best in pass blocking efficiency too.

The line anchored a unit that led the country in yards per run and protected [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] as he put up Heisman Trophy-caliber numbers.

The expectations will remain high next year with several key pieces slated to return, including star left tackle [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag].

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LSU’s offensive line named Joe Moore Award semifinalist

LSU’s offensive line has been a major part of the unit’s overall success.

The Joe Moore Award has named the 12 schools that have reached the semifinals for the award. LSU’s offensive line made the cut. The Tigers line joins Florida State, Georgia, Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, Tennessee, Texas and Washington as the final 12.

[autotag]Emery Jones[/autotag], [autotag]Lance Heard[/autotag], [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag], [autotag]Charles Turner[/autotag], [autotag]Garrett Dellinger[/autotag], and more have made up a solid offensive line group that has helped lead LSU to a 7-3 record so far with two games left in the 2023 regular season.

The Tigers will take on Georgia State and Texas A&M. Two very winnable games for the Tigers before playing in a bowl game.

If the Tigers can win out, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] will secure his second straight 10-win season. It’s not a national championship, but as I have stated before, winning 10 games a year when you play in the SEC is a feat in itself.

LSU will welcome Georgia State into Baton Rouge this weekend for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff.

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Tennessee’s offensive line named semifinalist for Joe Moore Award

Tennessee’s offensive line named semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award.

Tennessee’s offensive line has been announced as a semifinalist for the 2023 Joe Moore Award by the Foundation for Teamwork.

The award is presented to the most outstanding offensive line in college football.

The Vols have been nominated for the award in both 2022 and 2023. Tennessee, coached by assistant Glenn Elarbee, is one of only four schools nominated in both seasons. The others include Oregon, Georgia and Michigan.

Tennessee’s offense ranks second in the SEC and eighth nationally, averaging 213.3 rushing yards and 454.8 total yards per game, which is fourth in the conference and 17th in the nation.

The Jim Moore Award finalists will be announced on Dec. 5.

Notre Dame football’s offensive line is named as a Joe Moore semi-finalist

OLU is still producing

Although Notre Dame football hasn’t had the season many of us expected, there is one unit that has done enough to impress nationally, the Irish offense line.

The group has been named as a semi-finalist for the Joe Moore Award, given out annually to the top offensive line in the country. Led by All-American candidate Joe Alt and his tackle partner Blake Fisher, the Notre Dame offensive line has performed at an extremely high level this season.

They have opened holes for running back Audric Estime and company to rush for 1,660 yards and 20 total touchdowns. They unit also needs to get some recognition for giving quarterback Sam Hartman enough time to throw for 2,272 yards and 18 touchdowns on the year.

Unfortunately for the Irish, they will be without one of their starters for the remainder of the year, Rocco Spindler, who is out with an injury.

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Will Campbell says offensive line not satisfied with being named to Joe Moore Award midseason honor roll

“Honestly, to me it’s just a Twitter post,” the sophomore said.

LSU has had a ton of offensive success this season, and much of that has been due to the play of the offensive line.

That unit returned nearly its entire starting group from last season, and it has been named to the midseason honor roll by the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the nation’s top offensive line after the season.

Left tackle [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag], who has played a major role in that group’s success over the past two seasons, said the unit is not satisfied, however.

“Honestly, to me it’s just a Twitter post,” the sophomore said. “There’s 25 teams right now that have that, and we want to be the one at the end. So that’s the only thing that matters… We don’t want to be on the honor roll, we want to win it, that’s what matters to us.”

Campbell and LSU’s offense will be back in action this weekend as the team hosts Army looking to continue to build on its success.

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Michigan football wins Joe Moore Award for second-straight year

Best line in college football, confirmed. #GoBlue

They say the game of football is won in the trenches. And Michigan football has excelled on that front.

Last year, the Wolverines proved their mettle on the offensive line by winning the prestigious Joe Moore Award, given to the best unit in the country. With a Rimington Trophy and Outland Trophy award-winner in former transfer Olu Oluwatimi, the O-line was even better for Michigan football in 2022. The Wolverines were named Joe Moore Award finalists again, but had to battle Georgia, the other finalist, to take home the prize.

Turns out, they did. For the first time ever for any college football team, the maize and blue are back-to-back Joe Moore Award winners, matching their back-to-back Big Ten Championships.

We’ll find out in the College Football Playoff, starting with the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 vs. TCU, and potentially in the national championship game on Jan. 9, 2023, whether or not said offensive line can propel the Wolverines to the best team in college football, period.

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