Penalties

[The_Reaper]

Penn State is called linebacker U, The Pac 10 is known for good QB's, The Big 12 is running backs, And the Big ten is known for linemen. USF is going to be called Penalty U. This has been an on going problem since the inception of the team. Doesn't anyone over there know how to coach these kids and stop all the penalties? We certainly can't keep poo-pooing this saying "Oh, we gotta work on cutting down the penalties." Or whatever. DO IT for Gosh Sakes. Or at least teach them how to get away with it like all the rest of the good teams out there!  It's gotta stop! Reaper

[Guest]

Penalties that result from aggressive play are not discouraged... penalties that result from lack of concentration are...

Still, I don't know if there is really anything that can be done.  How do you coach being aggressive but not too aggressive?  How do you coach focus and concentration?

[NormalBull]

I don't understand why people get all worked up about penalties when we win by 30.  There is no connection between this game and the next one.  Would you rather we commit two penalties and lose the game?

Please try hard, all you perfect people out there that never make a mistake in your lives, to understand that many of the penalties yesterday were related to the fact that we had a patchwork OL with players playing in positions on the line that they are not accustomed to.  As long as we are not getting personal foul penalties that are a result of frustration, I do not care how many penalties we get...especially when we win games by 30 points.

So please, do not judge us imperfect people who make mistakes occasionally just because you are perfect in every way.

Thanks.

Normal

[MikeG]

look at how many of the penalties occured after the game was completely out of reach. Is that a serious issue? Of course young guys are more prone to making some mistakes-- and we had many in there yesterday once Leavitt called of the dogs.

Also-- how many of those penalties were personal fouls? Not as many as in years past-- and those were the ones I am more concerned about.

IMO-- the whole penalty drum beating is overdone. While we were 6-0, we were doing pretty decent on penalties as a whole and no one complains. Then we have a beat down game and have a large number and all of a sudden it is a national crisis and "trend" of our team. Total BS-- just something to complain about in the face of little to complain about.

[WWMJD]

Mike and Normal, you have never noticed the penalty problem before?  I think you confuse complaining with finding room for improvement, even in victory (although there are some who just like to complain I will give you that).  I'm happy it didn't cost us the game, of course, and this game was not as bad as some I have seen in years past. 

This team has always had trouble with penalties, though.

Digest this... among 119 (I think) division 1 football teams, USF has had:

The 5th most penalties in 2004

The 7th most penalties in 2005

The 3rd most penalties in 2006

The 8th most penalties in 2007

That is top ten in penalties for four years running.  How can you deny there is a problem?

[snarling Bull]

Seems to me alot of the penalties are bogus- or they are called againsat us and not against the opponent for the same infraction

[MikeG]

I can deny that I give a crap about a problem after we win a game finally after three straight losses.

I also strongly believe that USF gets a ton of penalties called on it that are not always justified. Lost in the statistics are the events that occur resulting in a penalty.

Also-- we have been during that entire 4 year stretch the "new kid" on the block in two different conferences.

I guess I feel we hae bigger issues to worry about than some penalties. I am worried about our offensive line health. I am worried about our special team play. There are many other things on my mind that outpace coaching penalties. I would rather sacrifice some penalty yards and stay aggressive on both sides of the ball than the alternative.

Call me crazy-- but this issue always comes up when we have nothing to complain about and there happen to be a bunch of penalty yards. It's the flavor of the week. For all the animosity over the bad calls made against us in the Rutgers, UConn, and non-calls in the Cinci game-- you would think people would question the referees more so than our own players. BE refs have been pretty attrocious this season. CUSA refs were no great shakes either. Take a look at the others in our conferences during those times and see if there is a similar trend among those teams. It might be there-- it might not. but that would be information worth looking into moreso than Sunday morning hindsight about a meaningless stat from a blowout win.

just my take

[BJ]

I don't understand why people get all worked up about penalties when we win by 30.  There is no connection between this game and the next one.  Would you rather we commit two penalties and lose the game?

Please try hard, all you perfect people out there that never make a mistake in your lives, to understand that many of the penalties yesterday were related to the fact that we had a patchwork OL with players playing in positions on the line that they are not accustomed to.  As long as we are not getting personal foul penalties that are a result of frustration, I do not care how many penalties we get...especially when we win games by 30 points.

So please, do not judge us imperfect people who make mistakes occasionally just because you are perfect in every way.

Thanks.

Normal

While there is no direct correlation between penalties in individual games (meaning that causing penalties in the Cuse game doesn't mean that we will cause a lot of penalties in the Louisville game by default), there is no denying that our Bulls commit way, way too many penalties on a scarily consistent basis

[BJ]

I can deny that I give a crap about a problem after we win a game finally after three straight losses.

I also strongly believe that USF gets a ton of penalties called on it that are not always justified. Lost in the statistics are the events that occur resulting in a penalty.

Also-- we have been during that entire 4 year stretch the "new kid" on the block in two different conferences.

I guess I feel we hae bigger issues to worry about than some penalties. I am worried about our offensive line health. I am worried about our special team play. There are many other things on my mind that outpace coaching penalties. I would rather sacrifice some penalty yards and stay aggressive on both sides of the ball than the alternative.

Call me crazy-- but this issue always comes up when we have nothing to complain about and there happen to be a bunch of penalty yards. It's the flavor of the week. For all the animosity over the bad calls made against us in the Rutgers, UConn, and non-calls in the Cinci game-- you would think people would question the referees more so than our own players. BE refs have been pretty attrocious this season. CUSA refs were no great shakes either. Take a look at the others in our conferences during those times and see if there is a similar trend among those teams. It might be there-- it might not. but that would be information worth looking into moreso than Sunday morning hindsight about a meaningless stat from a blowout win.

just my take

I disagree with you. Complaining about penalties is not a flavor of the week. Or maybe it's just been a hell of a long week.

[SANJAY]

Penalties have always been a problem.  It is a function of having a perpetually young team with little depth.  Every year we bring in players who are better than guys already here and every year the core of our teams is sophomores and juniors.  With the lack of depth (especially on the O-line) it will continue to be a problem.

3 penaltyies yesterday on Schmidt.  A holding and 2 false starts, I believe he was out of position playing at Tackle.

Clebert gets 15 on that roughing the punter, can that even happen on the quick quick?  I guess we know it can now.

Selvie is offsides.  Guess what?  He will be offsides once per game since he is always timing the snap.

I am just happy that it seems the block-in-back penalties on returns seem to have stopped.  Also the late hits on the QBs seem fewer this year.