IRISH STEW

Notre Dame O-Line named finalist for Joe Moore Award

ND Insider Staff

ND Insider

FOOTBALL

Irish O-Line in final 3

Notre Dame’s offensive line on Wednesday made the cut to three finalists for the Joe Moore Award, given to the top offensive line unit in college football.

Alabama and Auburn join the Irish in the final three.

The award annually recognizes the nation’s most outstanding offensive line unit that best displays toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing.

Notre Dame is averaging 279.1 rushing yards per game (seventh in the FBS) and have 39 runs of 20+ yards (third in the FBS).

The Irish created a clean pocket on 78.4 percent of their pass plays, which is 5.4 percent better than the FBS average (73.8). ND is averaging 4.17 yards before contact (tied for fourth in the FBS).

The winner announcement will take place during a coordinated, surprise, on-campus presentation at the winning school in December.

The Notre Dame offensive line lines up against Stanford defenders during the Notre Dame-Stanford game Saturday at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif. (Tribune Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN)