For the second time in less than a week, Alabama has beaten Notre Dame for a trophy. 

The Alabama Crimson Tide won the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding offensive line unit. It is named after long-time college football offensive line coach Joe Moore who passed away in 2003. The finalists in 2020 included Alabama, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M. 

The 2020 Alabama offensive line unit includes consensus All-Americans Landon Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood, also finalists for the Rimington Trophy and Outland Trophy respectively. Along with starters Evan Neal, Emil Ekiyor, Chris Owens and Deonte Brown, they all paved the way for Alabama running back and Heisman semifinalist Najee Harris to record 24 rushing touchdowns and 1,387 rushing yards this season. 

Additionally, the group allowed just nine sacks in 12 games to help Alabama quarterback and Heisman finalist Mac Jones to lead the nation in passing efficiency. The veteran group is the foundation for why the Crimson Tide is a top five offense nationally. 

“I think this is one of the awards that I really cherish the most because it’s one of the few that honors a group of players, and the offensive line is a special group of guys,” Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban said. 

“They all seem to have similar personalities. They all have the same kind of competitive characteristics. They probably play more together as a unit and as a group in terms of how they communicate, how they combination block and all those things than any other group in football. I think this is a tremendous thing that they continue to do in Joe Moore’s honor because it does mean a lot to our group, who has won it before.”

Alabama now becomes the only school to win the award twice, having won it the first year the award was given out in 2015. 

Standing at six feet and weighing in at 800 pounds, the trophy is colossal- much like the players who win it. The Alabama Athletic department will need to find a place large enough to fit it, while leaving room for the other possible trophies the Crimson Tide in the running for, including the Heisman Trophy and a plethora of other college football awards. 

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