Cincinnati Bearcats Pass-Blocking Thriving Behind Joe Cotton, Offensive Line

 The Cincinnati Bearcats football squad has been squeaky clean on the pass-blocking front so far this season. Joe Cotton and the rest of the offensive line are the only unit in the FBS to have allowed zero sacks to this point in the season.

Individually, Cotton's carried over his great play from FCS South Dakota into a 77.1 Pro Football Focus grade through three games. He has not allowed a single quarterback pressure, let alone a sack.

Cotton's been great, but his constant-improvement mentality is still firing as Cincinnati gets ready to face a Kansas team with 13 sacks this season (tied for 11th nationally).

"It's first with the five up front and on the coaching staff. You know, we got running backs that are blocking well, we got tight ends that are blocking really well, and we're going into the game, knowing what blitzes that they run, knowing what kind of stunts they run," Cotton told me after practice on Tuesday. "So we're able to have that in the back of our brain, but then we obviously have more of an attack mindset when it comes to pass protection.

"So that's been something that I've been trying to get better at every week, which is just going after them, getting hands on, and just stopping the rush right away. And it's been going well so far, but this past week, with the bye week, it's been awesome for me to kind of fix a lot of the things that I've been struggling with throughout these first three games, and then just be able to conceptualize the offense."

Cotton's been a staple force across his 144 snaps this season and looks like the best transfer Cincinnati's landed yet in the Satterfield era. Hear more from him on the experience below: