Why Michigan has played a part in Joe Moore Award committee’s ‘frustration’ the last three years

Michigan Wolverines football became the first-ever back-to-back winner of the Joe Moore Award for the nation’s top offensive line in 2021 and 2022. However, casual, New Year’s Eve viewers of the Wolverines’ two College Football Playoff games those seasons — losses to Georgia (34-11) and Texas Christian (51-45) — probably had no idea U-M’s line was regarded as the best in America.

Michigan’s offensive line was overmatched at the line of scrimmage by an elite Georgia defensive front that featured the No. 1 overall pick in end Travon Walker and two first-round defensive tackles ( Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt ).

The Wolverines mustered up only 91 rushing yards on 27 carries, and their quarterbacks were sacked 4 times. It got to the point where starter Cade McNamara was benched for backup and then-freshman J.J. McCarthy because the latter was more mobile and less susceptible to being downed by Georgia’s aggressive front-seven players.

“The protection just wasn’t as good as it needed to be, and J.J. gave us more of a chance to escape it, avoid it and run because that was the reason we made that switch,” former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game.

The next season against TCU, the Wolverines came oh-so-close of pulling off a comeback win but failed to convert on fourth down to keep their final possession alive. The offense got going through the air but had trouble running the ball — which was its identity throughout the season.

Not having star running back Blake Corum (injured) hurt, but so did the offensive line being caught off guard by TCU’s looks up front. The Maize and Blue churned out 186 rushing yards, but 54 of those came on the first play on a run by back Donovan Edwards . The level of consistency just wasn’t there — outside of that dash by Edwards, U-M averaged only 3.4 yards per carry, and they had a whopping 13 negative plays.

The Joe Moore Award committee placed a 7-foot tall, 800-pound trophy in the middle of Michigan’s state-of-the-art weight room … for those two performances?

Given that, even though Michigan had a chance to have another great offensive line in 2023, it was tough to envision the Wolverines actually taking home that hardware, unless the committee was, out of sheer practicality, not willing to remove the 800-pound trophy from Schembechler Hall.

Turns out, they were more than willing, giving the award to a deserving Washington group.

While the committee wasn’t pleased with how Michigan played the prior two seasons, it was then disappointed in the Wolverines again, for a different reason.

“You know what, as a Joe Moore committe member, I can tell you, talking to [former Notre Dame and NFL offensive lineman] Aaron Taylor , we’re frustrated,” college football expert Phil Steele told TheWolverine.com .

“Michigan’s offensive line looked like the best offensive line in the country in the playoffs this year, and not in the regular season.”

Michigan — not Washington — controlled play in the trenches in the national championship game, despite playing without unanimous All-American Zak Zinter at right guard.

The Wolverines had rushed for 200-plus yards in only two of their prior 14 outings but amassed 303 yards on the ground in a 34-13 win over the Huskies to take home the program’s first title since 1997. On the other side, Washington allowed just 1 sack, but quarterback Michael Penix Jr. took a beating, and he limped up the tunnel holding his ribs after the heartbreaking loss.

This stat jumps off the page: As mentioned, Michigan had 13 negative plays on offense against TCU. In two College Football Playoff victories in 2023, though, against Alabama and Washington, Michigan had just 4 negative plays.

This past three-year stretch involving Michigan has led the committee to think about their selection process.

“We’re wondering whether we do the award after the playoff is over, because that’s three-straight years that the award-winner didn’t look as good in the postseason as they did during the regular season,” Steele said. “And an offensive line like Georgia’s the previous two years looked really good in the postseason, and this year Michigan looked really good.

“Had you taken the vote after the season is over, Michigan would’ve had a shot at winning it [in 2023], just based on the recency and the playoff.

“It’s been very frustrating for the Joe Moore Award, seeing that an offensive line that wins the award isn’t as good as another offensive line in the postseason.”

For Michigan, all the frustration of 2021 and 2022 was worth it.

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