Skip to main content
All Sooners

Oklahoma Offensive Line Lands on Midseason Honor Roll

The Joe Moore Award committee voted the Sooners one of 19 o-lines in the country to their mid-season honor roll.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma Offensive Line Lands on Midseason Honor Roll
Oklahoma Offensive Line Lands on Midseason Honor Roll
Anton Harrison blocks for Eric Gray.
Anton Harrison blocks for Eric Gray :: BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-Imagn Content Services, LLC

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s offensive line was at the center of the Sooners’ slow offensive start to the 2021 season, but the group is coming off its best performance of the season last week against TCU.

So the timing of Tuesday’s big news couldn’t be better.

The Sooners’ front five is among 19 selected to the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll.

The honor was announced by the Joe Moore Award committee, which judges solely on six criteria: toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing.

The committee makes its evaluations after weekly review of actual game film, including clips provided by college offensive line coaches.

“This has been a challenging year to evaluate O-line play due to some unexpected inconsistency,” said former Notre Dame All-American Aaron Taylor, who played for Joe Moore in college and now is a CBS college football analyst. “But as always, the cream rises to the top and that certainly has been the case with the units on this year’s honor roll.

“As in years past, the bar will rise rapidly from here, and there could also be a surprise unit or two that emerges late in the year like Iowa did in 2016.”

Sooners offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh has had just one change in the starting five this season (Andrew Raym for Robert Congel at center), but has had personnel movement at numerous positions due to injuries and inconsistency. In Saturday’s victory over the Horned Frogs, former left tackle starter Erik Swenson — who has also played guard this year — closed at right tackle. Head coach Lincoln Riley said it was his first time there all season.

Despite the slow start (back-to-back games of 23 and 16 points — lowest in the Riley era — OU is averaging 6.94 yards per play, which is well below the OU average under Riley but this season still ranks 11th in the nation.

The Sooners’ 42.7 points per game rank seventh, and their 479.1 yards per game rank 14th.

Others on the midseason honor roll: Air Force, Alabama, Appalachian State, Arkansas, Baylor, BYU, Coastal Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Tennessee, and UCLA.

Oklahoma won the Joe Moore Award in 2018.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Share on XFollow johnehoover
Home/Football