Notre Dame's record-breaking offensive season was fueled by its talented offensive line, and that dominant performance resulted in the Irish line being named the winners of The Joe Moore Award.
The award goes to the group named the nation's Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit. It is named after former offensive line coach Joe Moore, who led the Irish line from 1988 to 1996. Moore was the line coach the last time Notre Dame won a national title.
"The thing voters felt separated Notre Dame's O-line this year from the other deserving units was their technique and how they consistently finished their blocks," SEC Network Sideline Analyst and Chairman of the Joe Moore Award voting committee said in the release announcing the Irish group as the winners. "As impressive as the other Finalists and Semi-Finalists were, no one consistently finished blocks in 2017 like Notre Dame, and that really seemed to make the difference this year in the eyes of the voters."
According to the release, the voting committee is filled with "experts who played or coached the offensive line position at the highest levels."
Notre Dame ended the 2017 regular season with a 6.37 yards per rush, shattering the previous school record of 6.2 yards set back in 1921, when Knute Rockne was the head coach. The previous modern school record of 5.63 yards was set in 2015.
The Irish averaged 279.1 yards per game on the ground, its highest mark since a 280.9 average in 1992. That ranked Notre Dame 7th nationally in rushing offense. Its 6.37 yards per rush average ranked 3rd. Notre Dame was also 3rd in the FBS with 39 runs of 20 yards or more.
Notre Dame rushed for at least 300 yards in seven of its 12 games. For context purposes, consider that Notre Dame rushed for over 300 yards in a game just twice from 2004 to 2016.
Notre Dame senior left guard Quenton Nelson earned unanimous All-American honors and senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey earned consensus All-American honors, making first-team on four of the five main lists and also earning first-team honors by Pro Football Focus.
Notre Dame's offensive line became the first unit since 1931 to have two linemen earn first-team Associated Press All-American honors in the same season.
Notre Dame won the award over finalists Alabama and Auburn.
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