I commented in the UTEP game thread that I thought this team was less disciplined than past teams. I got a reply that this was just more of the same. Here are the stats, penalty yards per game:

Year / Rice / Opponent
2015 / 62.2 / 45.8
2014 / 53.5 / 38.4
2013 / 45.3 / 40.3
2012 / 50.8 / 52.4
2011 / 38.4 / 37.5
2010 / 44.1 / 39.7
2009 / 47.8 / 67.7
2008 / 42.5 / 48.7
2007 / 43.7 / 73.3

More penalties could indicate aggressive but disciplined play, but that is not what I have seen this year.

Since we have only lost one close game this year, I think that it is reasonable to argue that our lack of discipline has only factored into one loss. (I think we would have lost to La Tech even without the bad penalties.) However, it does indicate to me that the coaches have lost control of the team. And, based on the stats, this appears to be a change from prior years.

(11-07-2015 10:41 AM)temchugh Wrote:  I commented in the UTEP game thread that I thought this team was less disciplined than past teams. I got a reply that this was just more of the same. Here are the stats, penalty yards per game:

Year / Rice / Opponent
2015 / 62.2 / 45.8
2014 / 53.5 / 38.4
2013 / 45.3 / 40.3
2012 / 50.8 / 52.4
2011 / 38.4 / 37.5
2010 / 44.1 / 39.7
2009 / 47.8 / 67.7
2008 / 42.5 / 48.7
2007 / 43.7 / 73.3

More penalties could indicate aggressive but disciplined play, but that is not what I have seen this year.

Since we have only lost one close game this year, I think that it is reasonable to argue that our lack of discipline has only factored into one loss. (I think we would have lost to La Tech even without the bad penalties.) However, it does indicate to me that the coaches have lost control of the team. And, based on the stats, this appears to be a change from prior years.

This is definitely the most undisciplined team in terms of penalties, and your stats back that up. Qualitatively I do not remember being so frustrated with penalties in years past, so I'm happy the quantitative data bore that out.