Penn State offensive line earns spot on Joe Moore Award honor roll
Penn State is at its midway point of the 2023 season, and the Nittany Lions offensive line has earned recognition as one of the top units in the country. The group was named to the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll on Tuesday. Phil Trautwein’s crew was one of 23 listed for the award, which is given annually to the top offensive line in college football.
The Nittany Lions are one of three Big Ten schools on the list, joining Ohio State and Michigan. The Wolverines have won the award the last two seasons. Semifinalists for the award will be announced on Nov. 14 and the finalists will be out in December.
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 solely through weekly review of actual game film and offensive line coach-provided cut-ups.
Penn State players have been up for the Joe Moore Award’s Weekly Pancake Block of the Week award twice this season. The group won it after the Nittany Lions’ win over Iowa, in which a group effort on a quarterback sneak won the fan voting. Head coach James Franklin said that the recognition was well-deserved for his group.
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“One of the things I thought was really cool is those guys got the Joe Moore weekly pancake award,” he said late last month. “To me, that’s like the best and coolest award in college football because it’s given to a group. Which, to me, is really cool.”
Penn State has the Big Ten’s highest-scoring offense
Led by midseason All-American Olu Fashanu at left tackle, Penn State’s offense leads the Big Ten and is fifth in the country in scoring at 44.3 points per game this season. Through six games, the Nittany Lions have allowed just 34 pressures and three sacks. Penn State is fifth nationally in sacks allowed per game (.67 per game), seventh in tackles for loss allowed (3.67 per game) and 15th in rushing offense (203.3 yards per game).
The full list of programs on the Joe Moore Award midseason watch list are as follows:
No. 22 Air Force, Clemson, No. 16 Duke, Florida, No. 4 Florida State, No. 1 Georgia, Kansas State, Kentucky, No. 21 Louisville, No. 19 LSU, Miami, No. 2 Michigan, No. 20 Missouri, No. 15 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 9 Oregon, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 8 Texas, UCF, No. 5 Washington, and Wyoming.
The Joe Moore Award annually recognizes 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.
