Penalties

[Gopher07]

The good news first, though we're tied for 12th in the conference in penalties per game and alone at 13th in the conference in penalty yards per game, Illinois is worse. That might make this weekend's game a four-hour flagfest.

Bad news, as we've all noticed, the penalties this year have been pretty bad. In particular, the pre-snap and personal foul penalties have really stuck in my craw:

vs Oregon State

• 4 false starts
• 1 offside
• 1 illegal formation (declined)
  
• 3 personal fouls

vs Indiana State

• 4 false starts
• 2 offside
  
• 2 personal fouls

vs Colorado State

• 3 false starts
• 2 offside
  
• 1 personal foul

vs Penn State

• 2 offside
• 1 illegal shift (declined)
  
• 1 personal foul

vs Iowa

• 4 false starts
  
• 1 personal foul

vs Maryland

• 3 false starts
• 2 illegal formations
• 1 offside

vs Rutgers

• 2 offside
• 1 false start
• 1 illegal formation (offset)
  
• 2 personal fouls

What can be done to improve this? I have no doubt that Claeys has noticed and is bringing it up in practice, but these discipline things are killing us and have been probably the most disappointing thing about the team for me so far this year. Any hope for a marked improvement in coming weeks?

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

The prevailing wisdom seems to be fire the entire coaching staff, hire a coaching staff they have no shot of hiring, and play a QB who can throw pretty spirals.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Thanks for the breakdown....I count 24 penalties on the offense (false start or illegal formation) in 7 games. That feels really high but not sure how that compares with previous seasons.

Offsides is frustrating but usually is caused by guys trying to be aggressive and make a play. Still not good but easier to forgive. The offensive penalties however, that is a different story, because the players should know the snap count and should also be able to get lined up correctly. Self inflicted wounds like that can just kill you especially when you don't have a huge margin for error to begin with.

 

[Gopher07]

Thanks for the breakdown....I count 24 penalties on the offense (false start or illegal formation) in 7 games. That feels really high but not sure how that compares with previous seasons.

Last year we had 11 false starts or illegal formations through seven games. In 2014, we had 9 false starts or illegal formations through seven games.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Last year we had 11 false starts or illegal formations through seven games. In 2014, we had 9 false starts or illegal formations through seven games.

Wow....so yeah this is a massive problem on offense. Strange thing with the false starts is that most of our games have been at home so you can't blame crowd noise, plus the one stadium we played in where crowd noise might have been a factor, at PSU, we didn't have any false starts. I think we could all clearly see there was a problem but that is shocking to see how many more of these calls we have had this year vs. previous years. On top of that these are the kind of calls fans can't blame on the refs being out to get us. Self inflicted wounds.

 

[Gopher07]

Wow....so yeah this is a massive problem on offense. Strange thing with the false starts is that most of our games have been at home so you can't blame crowd noise, plus the one stadium we played in where crowd noise might have been a factor, at PSU, we didn't have any false starts. I think we could all clearly see there was a problem but that is shocking to see how many more of these calls we have had this year vs. previous years. On top of that these are the kind of calls fans can't blame on the refs being out to get us. Self inflicted wounds.

Agreed.

I come down to two potential reasons: one, our new offensive linemen are more error prone than years past and two, poor coaching. I think the thing that gets me the most is that these types of pre-snap discipline things appear to be symptomatic of larger coaching issues (specifically, a lack of attention to detail). That of course may not be true, they may be performing really well during practice and just not bringing it on gameday, it may just be that mentally the guys on offense don't have it, but from my rube position it looks like smoke to a fire that I can't ignore.

 

[Jack jones]

Pretty simple - disclipine or lack thereof.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Going back to 2008 this is our most penalized team, per cfbstats. We are 104th in the nation IIRC. Usually between 20s to 40s under Kill and the latter Brew years.

 

[Nort73]

You'd think with clapping to signal the snap every play, our guys would wait to move until they hear it...


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[Maverick]

You'd think with clapping to signal the snap every play, our guys would wait to move until they hear it...


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That led to one of our motion penalties when the linebacker for the other team clapped and we moved. Officials screwed that up royally. Take one of those motion penalties off the board..!!!

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[Sparlimb]

The prevailing wisdom seems to be fire the entire coaching staff, hire a coaching staff they have no shot of hiring, and play a QB who can throw pretty spirals.

Good start. Then beat Iowa and Wisconsin on an annual basis and win a BCS bowl in the years you don't make the playoffs.

 

[Ewert86PC]

The illegal formation penalties (4) bother me. Not only can we not start the play on the snap, but we can't even line up properly.

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[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

Good start. Then beat Iowa and Wisconsin on an annual basis and win a BCS bowl in the years you don't make the playoffs.

I am confident my stated remedy will cure all of the programs ailments. The Axe and Pig would reside permanently in Dinkytown if only the administration would heed my call.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

The illegal formation penalties (4) bother me. Not only can we not start the play on the snap, but we can't even line up properly.

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Those drive me crazy more than the false starts....

 

[Ewert86PC]

Those drive me crazy more than the false starts....

Illegal formation penalties fall directly on our team. No provovation or deception by the other team can cause them. We just are not prepared to run the play that is called. It's as bad as too many players on the field.

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[MNVCGUY]

Those drive me crazy more than the false starts....

Agree that formation issues are 100% preventable as it is just a matter of getting lined up right. That said the false starts are bad as well because the lineman should know the snap count and while they might be influenced by the guy across from them they still walk up to the line knowing when the ball is going to be snapped.