Notre Dame Football's Unexpected Standout Unit Gains National Recognition in 2024

Notre Dame's offensive line has overcome a lack of experience in a big way

Nov 9, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman talks to his team before a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Notre Dame Stadium. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Rewind to the days leading up to Notre Dame's season opener at Texas A&M and remember what the thoughts going through your football mind were.

Notre Dame's offensive line had just lost Charles Jagusah for the year, as the sophomore was supposed to anchor the left tackle position. Entering the game against the daunting Texas A&M defensive front was a Notre Dame offensive line that had combined to make just six career collegiate starts.

We now know that Notre Dame's offensive line more than held its own that night, rushing for 198 yards and averaging 5.8 yards per attempt against the big, bad Aggies.

It hasn't been as impressive as that all year as the following week against Northern Illinois was an all-time speedbump but with just three games to play this regular season, this unit has turned into one of the very best in all of college football.

Notre Dame Football Named Joe Moore Award Semi Finalist

That's not just me saying that.

That's the selection committee of the Joe Moore Award, which goes annually to the nation's top offensive line unit. Notre Dame was announced as a semi-finalist for the award on Tuesday morning, being just one of 10 teams nationally to earn the recognition.

Notre Dame is obviously built offensively on running the ball and the offensive line clearly has plenty to do with that being a success or failure. How has it worked three-quarters of the way through the 2024 regular season?

Notre Dame owns the 12th-ranked rushing offense in the nation, averaging 214.8 rushing yards per game.

In all nine games to date, Notre Dame has outrushed its opponents' average yards allowed entering the game. The Irish have rushed for an average of 92.6 yards more than their opponents' 2024 rushing yards allowed entering the game.

Add in that Notre Dame is allowing just 1.3 sacks per game this season and you can see why the group is getting this kind of praise.

Unit strength 💪

The offensive line has been named a Joe Moore Award Semifinalist#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/cabkB5V3iP

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 12, 2024

Freshman Anthonie Knapp has grown in a big way as he was thrown into the starting role at left tackle, but the Jagusah injury was hardly the only one this offensive line unit has had to deal with.

Billy Schrauth began the season at left guard but missed time due to an ankle injury suffered against Purdue while original starting center Ashton Craig was also injured in the Purdue game but lost for the year.

The likes of Pat Coogan, Sullivan Absher, Rocco Spindler and Sam Pendleton have been called upon and helped deliver for one of the nation's top offenses this fall while Aamil Wagner has been solid at right tackle.

The growth is a testament to offensive line coach Joe Rudolph who certainly entered the year with his hands full.

2024 Joe Moore Award Semi Finalists

Notre Dame was one of 10 teams to be named a Joe Moore Award semifinalist for 2024.

Joining the Fighting Irish are:

Alabama
Army
Indiana
Iowa
Ohio State
Oregon
Tennessee
Texas
Tulane

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