BYU football: Big blue line

PROVO — Averaging 42.7 points and 521 total yards per game, BYU's offense is ranked among the nation's leaders in those categories.

But those aren't the most impressive statistics recorded by the Cougars so far this season.

Through three games, the offensive line has not given up a sack, nor has it been flagged for a holding penalty. That's something that, at this point in a season, has never happened before in school history.

Not that the BYU offensive line — which consists of freshman left tackle Matt Reynolds, senior left guard Ray Feinga, senior center Dallas Reynolds, senior right guard Travis Bright and senior right tackle David Oswald — is basking in that glory.

When a reporter told Feinga about the zero sacks and zero holding penalties, he said, "I didn't know that. That's surprising. Thanks for telling me. Hopefully we can keep that up throughout the season. That's one of our goals. Every play, we don't want to let (quarterback) Max (Hall) get hit or give up a sack."

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall calls the no-sacks stat "a little bit misleading" because Hall sustained a blindside hit in the Northern Iowa game, when he fumbled and it resulted in a Panther touchdown.

"I do count the sack against Northern Iowa," Mendenhall said.

Statistically, though, it doesn't count. But, again, that doesn't matter to the big guys up front, who weigh in at an average of 326.4 pounds and average 6-foot-6 in height.

"We definitely weren't happy with it," Oswald, a 6-foot-8, 330-pounder, said of that hit on Hall. "We took that as a lesson. Even though Max hasn't gone down with the ball, he has been hit a

couple of times. We definitely aren't satisfied with that. We're just trying to get better every week."

"We don't want the quarterback to get hit," said offensive line coach Mark Weber. "The quarterback's been hit a couple of times, and that's more than what we want. Anytime the quarterback gets hit, we're not happy about it."

Other than that breakdown in the season-opener, though, the offensive line has been superb.

"The way they're playing right now kind of fires me up," Hall said. "I've got tons of time to throw the ball and make my reads. I feel very comfortable behind those guys. They're the reason for our success right now."

"I think the offensive line is playing at the highest level since I've been a coach anyplace, including here at BYU," Mendenhall said.