BYU O-line coach expects improvement this weekend
"I thought it was a good, solid performance last week, but we have a lot of things we need to correct and work on," said offensive line coach Mark Weber.
"We have great kids who did some awesome things considering we have a guy playing a new position (Dallas Reynolds at center) and another new guy who hadn't played before (Matt Reynolds, left tackle).
The Cougars rushed for 77 yards (2.8 yards per rush) in a contest in which the offense turned to the pass and accumulated 563 total yards in a 41-17 win over Northern Iowa.
Bronco Mendenhall said rushing for a hundred yards is a "statistical" mark which predicts success by BYU over the years.
But this Saturday, the tables turn and the pressure to run will be considerably tougher against Washington.
"It will be a good challenge playing a Pac-10 team in a hostile, hostile environment," Mendenhall said. "It will be very loud there with a lot of fans. They have good players and they're fighting like crazy to get their first win, so it will be a good challenge, and we need to make the appropriate improvement this week."
"He's a great athlete; they (the Huskies' front four) are all very good football players," Weber said.
"They won't play us the same way they played Oregon (which whipped Washington last weekend). They're pretty athletic and they'll be a challenge for us."
Asked about BYU's run-blocking against the Panthers last week, Weber said his guys need to be more consistent.
"You can't single one guy out. It's like pass protection. It takes the line, the backs and the receivers doing things on time. It's a whole unit thing," Weber said. "We need consistency and we need to sustain blocks longer and be more sharp, all of us."
Weber said he graded his linemen and had David Oswald, Travis Bright and Matt Reynolds with the highest marks after last week. He said the sack/fumble for a touchdown on Max Hall was Matt Reynolds' responsibility, but he credits 50 percent of the mistake on a great play by the Northern Iowa defensive player.
"Matt relaxed on a technique and the other guy took advantage of it," Weber said. "At this level, you cannot ever relax because the other guys will take advantage of it."
Cougars' head coach Bronco Mendenhall called Wednesday's practice "sloppy" with some dropped passes and execution issues.
Recent comments
BYU's quest for perfection is dumb and they think they are a great…
Richard | Sept. 5, 2008 at 7:41 p.m.
The O line is good. They will be great by the end of the game tomorrow…
avh1 | Sept. 5, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Why can't we all just get along? Go Utes.
Rodney | Sept. 5, 2008 at 6:03 p.m.
