Duke?s Offensive Line a Joe Moore Award Semifinalist

NEW YORK – Duke's offensive line unit has been selected as one of 20 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, an honor given to the top offensive line in college football, according to an announcement Monday by the Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork.

The Blue Devil unit ranks fifth nationally with 0.90 sacks allowed per game and is among the nation's leaders in fewest sacks per pass attempt at 41.67.

A year after leading the nation with just over 3.00 tackles for loss per game allowed, Duke has yielded a total of 38.0 this season, an average of 3.80 per contest. The 3.80 TFL allowed per game are the fourth fewest nationally, and the second fewest by a Power 5 program. The Blue Devils' 38 TFLs allowed have resulted in just 108 lost yards, the second fewest in the country.

Duke's offensive front is led by redshirt senior center Matt Skura, an All-ACC selection a season ago who has started 37 consecutive games for the Blue Devils over the past three seasons. Skura is joined up front by redshirt junior left tackle Casey Blaser, redshirt sophomore right tackle Gabe Brandner, redshirt senior left guard Lucas Patrick and redshirt junior right guard Tanner Stone.

“This season is truly shaping up to be the year of the lineman with an increased emphasis on tough, physical play at the line of scrimmage,” Aaron Taylor, CBS CFB Analyst and Chairman of the Joe Moore Award Voting Committee, said. “It has been a pleasure to see these O-lines grow together into cohesive units and their play has translated into success for their teams. The cream has started rising to the top and we're looking forward to watching the film in the coming weeks to see which units separate themselves even further down the stretch.”

The five Joe Moore Award finalists will be named November 30 with the winner announced the week of December 7.

The Joe Moore Award is named after Joe Moore, widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football history. It is the only major college football award to honor a unit. The award will annually recognize the nation's Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit that best displays toughness, effort, teamwork, physicality, tone setting and finishing.

The voting committee is comprised solely of people who played or coached the 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.

Joe Moore Award Semifinalists
Alabama
Arkansas
Baylor
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Iowa
LSU
Michigan State
Navy
North Carolina
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oregon
Pittsburgh
Stanford
Toledo
USC
Utah
Virginia Tech