Army West Point Black Knights Offensive Line Finalists for Joe Moore Award

The Army West Point Black Knights offensive line is up for the most prestigious award given to an entire unit.

Nov 30, 2024; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily (13) carries the ball on an option run behind Army Black Knights offensive lineman Connor Finucane (60) during the second half against the UTSA Roadrunners at Michie Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

The Army West Point Black Knights have been the top rushing unit in the country for much of the season. Earlier this week, the offensive line received its share of recognition.

Army’s offensive line is a finalist for the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the college game’s best offensive line each season.

The Black Knights are up for the award against Oregon and Texas, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country, respectively. Army is No. 24.

They were selected finalists by a group of former college football players and coaches.

While the award is given to the entire offensive line, the Black Knights (10-1, 8-0 in American) have started the same five offensive linemen all season — left tackle Connor Finucane, left guard Bill Katsigiannis, center Brady Small, right guard Paolo Gennarelli and right tackle Lucas Scott.

Army’s offensive line is coached by Mike Viti and Matt Drinkall. They are helping the Black Knights prepare for Friday’s American Athletic Conference championship game against Tulane (9-3, 7-1) on Friday.

The Black Knights rushing attack is one of the most potent in college football as it leads the nation with 312.5 yards per game. Army is the only program that averages more than 300 yards per game on the ground. Inside of that average is the Black Knights’ 2.88 yards before contact per rush, which is third in FBS.

Related, 50.2% of the Black Knights’ rushing yards come before contact, which is sixth in FBS, and only 13% of Army’s runs received contact from defenders either at the line of scrimmage or behind it, which is the lowest rate in FBS. The line has only allowed 34 tackles for loss, the lowest total in FBS.

Because of Army’s offensive style, defenses usually stack eight defenders in the box. Even with that, Army rushed for 5.4 yards per carry against eight or more defenders in the box, the best rate in FBS.

In the passing game, the line has only allowed six sacks, which is tied for the second-fewest in FBS. That is set against the fact that defenses blitz Army on passing downs 64.8% of the time, the highest rate on dropbacks.

The award is named for Moore, considered one of the college game’s top offensive line coaches. The Penn State alum coached offensive linemen at Pitt from 1980-85, Temple from 1986-87 and Notre Dame from 1988-96. While with the Irish, all but two of his starting offensive linemen made it to the NFL.