Why Greg McElroy thinks Notre Dame has the best offensive line in college football

There’s a clear No. 1 in ranking the best offensive lines in college football in 2025, and ESPN analyst and host of the “Always College Football” podcast, Greg McElroy, doesn’t think it’s particularly close. The best offensive line in the sport this season belongs to Notre Dame, McElroy said on his show this week.

“I am that bullish on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish,” McElroy said. “I just think they’re that good.”

Why? Many reasons. McElroy spelled them out.

For starters, he said he liked what he saw from Anthonie Knapp as a true freshman starting 15 of Notre Dame’s 16 games. It would have been a perfect 16 of 16 if he didn’t get hurt in the Orange Bowl vs. Penn State and have to miss the subsequent national championship game vs. Ohio State.

Between running onto the field in College Station in Week 1 and holding a starting spot from then all the way through the national semifinal, Knapp was as solid as first-year players get — especially at a position as demanding as left tackle. He should be even better as his career progresses. The feeling amongst team members, players and coaches alike, is that Knapp is only just getting started as a mainstay for the Notre Dame offensive line.

Being even better than the year before is a theme that shipped Pat Coogan down to Indiana and Rocco Spindler off to Nebraska. Those two seniors wiggled their way into starting slots last September because of injuries to original starters. They ended up starting all the way through the national championship game, but because the players they replaced are back and ready to start from the onset of the 2025 season, they felt compelled to transfer.

That was McElroy’s second line of reasoning for why Notre Dame has the best offensive line in the country; Coogan and Spindler started over a dozen games each during an Irish run to the natty, and they were not guaranteed to be starters the next season. Far from it. They’d likely have been on the sideline for the season opener just like they were last year. That’s how talented and deep the Irish are up front.

Charles Jagusah. Aamil Wagner. Right guard, right tackle, respectively. Put that pairing up against the right side of anyone else’s offensive line. Who’s got a better duo? Would be hard to find one. McElroy knows that, so he mentioned it as his third bullet point in defending Notre Dame’s offensive line as the best in the nation.

Lastly, Billy Schrauth and Ashton Craig were supposed to be the highlight of Notre Dame’s offensive line last fall. They’re both big bruisers who have potential to work really well with each other at left guard (Schrauth) and center (Craig). They only played two and a half games with each other before they were both injured in Week 3, but imagine what they look like if they stay healthy.

They have McElroy’s attention. All of Notre Dame’s offensive linemen do.

“I just think across the board, their starting five, this group has elevated beyond everybody else in college football,” McElroy said. “And, frankly, I just don’t think the competition at one is that close with whoever would be sitting there at the second spot, third spot or what have you.”

Who occupy those distant spots beneath Notre Dame? Here are McElroy’s top 10 offensive lines in 2025. The Irish are set to face two of them in their first two games of the season.

Greg McElroy’s top 10 college football offensive lines in 2025

1. Notre Dame
2. Texas A&M
3. Florida
4. Alabama
5. Utah
6. Miami
7. Penn State
8. Auburn
9. Clemson
10. Oregon