Trevor Tate isn’t out to judge. He and the Air Force offensive line are simply seeking perfection.

The line, which has started the same five players all six games this season, has paved the way for an offense that leads the Mountain West in scoring (38.3 points per game), total offense (490.3 yards per game), rushing (276 yards per game), yards per completion (20.74), passing efficiency (191.2) and has scored in 22 of 24 quarters.

The line, which in each game has started Tate at left tackle, Palmer Ridge graduate Alec Falk at left guard, Coston Cooley at center, Jack Burnett at right guard and Nathan Elwood at right tackle, was named to the Joe Moore Award midseason honor roll Wednesday night. The Joe Moore Award is the position award for offensive linemen equivalent to the Biletnikoff Award for receivers or Thorpe Award for defensive backs.

All three service academies, along with programs like Ohio State, Alabama and Indiana, were among the 24 lines named.

“We’re playing good,” Tate said, “but we need to play great.”

For all the Falcons (1-5, 0-4 Mountain West) have shown on offense, they are stuck in a five-game losing streak as the defense has struggled.

But Tate gets it.

When the third-generation service academy player – his grandfather and two uncles played at Navy and his father was a 1992 Air Force graduate – was inserted into the starting lineup last year at this exact point of the season, the Falcons were a mess on offense.

The lineup for Game 7 featured the fifth combination on the offensive line and the team, through a 1-7 start, was held below 250 yards of offense five times.

The combination the team found up front when Tate joined the lineup stuck and started together for the final six games. Over the final four, all victories, Air Force averaged 29.3 points, 302.1 yards rushing, 372.3 total yards and a 38:30 mark in time of possession.

Cooley, Falk and Tate all returned this year and have maintained the level of play.

“That matters,” coach Troy Calhoun said of the continuity in this year’s offensive line. “Absolutely matters. … You aren’t going to be good at anything offensively if you aren’t sound and solid up front. Those guys, especially the five who are playing a good bit, they went through some growing pains. I think if you went last year and took about the first seven games, six, seven games, there was some ironing out that had to occur.”

Because of that history, Tate can relate to the growing pains of a Falcons’ defense that, largely because of injuries, has started five personnel combinations in the secondary through six games.

“I know exactly how it feels, and it’s tough,” Tate said. “So you can’t sit here and blame people. We’re a team. You’ve just got to take one step at a time – eyes up, next target. Just get better every week, focus on the small details and succeed. At the end of the day we’ve got to have some playmakers on both sides and that happens during the week in practice in the little things.”

Even if the defense lands on an effective combination, the impact might not be instant. It wasn’t for the Steed Lobotzke-coached line last year. The offense lost its first two games under the lineup that surged at the end of the season.

“I would say it continued to take some time,” Tate said. “It felt good to get that first win last year, and something clicked, but it’s a constant growth mindset. We’re still growing. There’s always room to grow, always room to get better. … It feels good to be succeeding. We’re just not winning.”