BYU football: Penalties, fourth-down failures cause Cougars' coach concern

SAN DIEGO — While BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was happy with its 38-28 Mountain West Conference win over San Diego State on Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium, he wasn't satisfied with all aspects of his team's play.

A few untimely penalties, which Mendenhall called "frustrating," and two failures to convert on fourth down in the second half had the Cougars' coach concerned.

"We're still looking to improve," he said. "I'd like to have cleaner play at critical times."

BYU seemed poised to add to its 21-14 lead on the opening drive of the second half, but the Cougars failed to convert on fourth-and-2 from the SDSU 23. Running back J.J. DiLuigi managed only one yard and the Aztecs took over.

On its next series, San Diego State ended up tying the tying the score, 21-21.

Later, in the fourth quarter and leading 35-21, BYU decided to go for it on fourth-and-inches from its own 40. Running back Harvey Unga came up short and the Cougars were flagged for holding, giving the Aztecs the ball in BYU territory, and that led to another San Diego State touchdown.

"As a head coach, those are things that as the game plays out, it's easy to say, 'I wish we hadn't done that, we should have done this,' " Mendenhall said. "One we were in field goal range, and that one bothers me a little bit more. The other one we had three inches. I'd probably do that every time. It was just unfortunate that we didn't get it."

HALL'S WINS: As a starter, quarterback Max Hall has engineered 27 victories as a starter. He trails only Ty Detmer as BYU's all-time leader. Detmer won 29 games during his career from 1988-1991.

BOWL-ELIGIBLE AGAIN: BYU is now 6-1 on the season and is bowl eligible for the fifth straight season. That makes Mendenhall the only coach in the program's history to lead his team to bowl-eligibility in each of his first five seasons.

INJURY UPDATE: Running back Manase Tonga (knee) did not play Saturday. Several other BYU players — cornerback Brandon Bradley, linebacker Shawn Doman, defensive lineman Brett Denney and running back Bryan Kariya — were affected by the flu, according to Mendenhall.

"We hope it doesn't spread into next week," Mendenhall said.

FLAG-BEARERS: BYU senior linebacker Jeff Bell carried out the team flag prior to Saturday's game, while Leon White, a linebacker on the 1984 national championship team who hails from San Diego, carried the alumni flag.

EXTRA POINTS: Announced attendance was 30,258. ... Representatives from the New Mexico Bowl, the Poinsettia Bowl and the Holiday Bowl watched Saturday's game from the press box. ... Temperature at kickoff was 80 degrees. ... BYU won its 500th game in its history. The Cougars now have an all-time record of 500-373-26 (.571).

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com