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Orange Bowl build up: Oklahoma beats Alabama for another national award
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Oklahoma has edged Alabama for another award. This time, it’s not an individual award, but a team award. The 2018 Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit in College Football, which claims to be the only national college football award that recognizes a group or a unit, is going to the Sooners.
Alabama won the first Moore Award given in 2015 and came close to being the first repeat winner.
“In an unprecedentedly close vote, Oklahoma’s offensive line unit narrowly edged out Alabama and Georgia in what many voters felt was their toughest decision yet,” CBS college football analyst and co-founder of the Joe Moore Award Aaron Taylor said in the announcement.
The award’s voters credit Oklahoma’s offense success, such as 8.7 yards per play and 49.5 points per game, to the big men up front.
“All three finalists displayed the award criteria in impressive fashion, but Oklahoma made a statement with how consistently they finished and played through the echo of the whistle,” said Cole Cubelic, chairman of the Joe Moore Award voting committee. “They showed a tone-setting attitude in both pass protection and run blocking that really caught the attention of the 200 plus member voting body that has collectively played and coached this position for over 800 years.”
If the Sooners are able to get a push against Quinnen Williams, Isaiah Buggs and the rest of Alabama’s front seven come Dec. 29 in Miami, they probably deserve the award. The Joe Moore Award “trophy” checks in at seven feet tall and roughly 800 pounds. Bigger is not always better. The Crimson Tide will gladly settle for hoisting the Orange Bowl trophy.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
