2011 5.08-45.08
North Carolina - 6-36
Central Connecticut State - 5-60
Liberty - 8-92
William & Mary - 5-59
Richmond - 4-37
Maine - 5-35
Villanova - 6-50
Old Dominion - 6-49
New Hampshire - 8-73
Rhode Island - 3-25
Massachusetts - 2-25
Eastern Kentucky - 4-25
North Dakota State - 4-20

2012 5.27-49.55
St. Francis - 5-65
Alcorn State - 7-70
West Virginia - 7-41
Rhode Island - 8-85
Towson - 0-0 The last penalty-free game.
William & Mary - 6-65
Richmond - 11-98
Georgia State - 4-35
Maine - 2-20
Villanova - 4-21
Old Dominion - 4-45

2013 6.5-61.75
Central Connecticut State - 7-70
Akron - 9-72
St. Francis - 8-54
Charlotte - 4-40
Delaware - 9-77
Albany - 10-95
Richmond - 7-60
William & Mary - 4-30
Villanova - 7-100
New Hampshire - 3-33
Stony Brook - 1-15
Towson - 9-95

2014 7.85-66.62
Maryland - 9-102
Lehigh - 9-70
St. Francis - 10-90
Villanova - 6-33
Delaware - 7-54
Albany - 8-83
Towson - 8-89
Charlotte - 5-23
William & Mary - 9-85
Stony Brook - 7-50
Richmond - 10-85
Elon - 7-36
Liberty - 7-66

I don't know about you, but this is a disturbing upward trend. If you were wondering if this was the worst penalized season in a long time, yes it was. We gave up 2/3 of a football field per game.

What needs to be done to curb this trend?

can you do an analysis of penalty trends in the year of a coaching change?

i'm sure some of this is a result of new coaches, terminology, schemes, even new rules within the NCAA (ie - targeting)

the only analysis I care about the last few years is:

8-5
7-4
6-6
9-3

(12-01-2014 02:59 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  can you do an analysis of penalty trends in the year of a coaching change?

i'm sure some of this is a result of new coaches, terminology, schemes, even new rules within the NCAA (ie - targeting)

the only analysis I care about the last few years is:

8-5
7-4
6-6
9-3

I'd also be curious to see the trend in college football as a whole.

A valid point DD. I will revisit this thread this time next season to see how we've hopefully improved. Nearly 8 penalties per game and 66 yards is part of the problem. We can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

I wonder also if the number of plays run has an impact on this number. I don't know if the stats are out there, but I'm sure we ran a significantly higher number of plays this year. . . more plays gives more opportunity for a penalty.

Targeting also wasn't around a few years ago. So that's at least 5 penalties added that wouldn't have been called 4 years ago.

We're also running FAR more plays than in years past. To really tell the story, you'll have to break down penalties/plays.

(12-01-2014 02:59 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  can you do an analysis of penalty trends in the year of a coaching change?

i'm sure some of this is a result of new coaches, terminology, schemes, even new rules within the NCAA (ie - targeting)

the only analysis I care about the last few years is:

8-5
7-4
6-6
9-3

So Mickey's playoff losses count but Wither's don't?

One definite change in penalties was that in the past we received about two play clock violations per game. I think that I remember one this year. Who would a thunk it???

i'm actually surprised we were that "good" with penalties in 2011. seems like it's been going on like this forever. it also seems like teams like W&M have few penalties every year, but i haven't looked it up.

it's something i think is one of the biggest things we need to clean up. feels like we're constantly letting offenses stay on the field after a 3rd down defensive penalty, or negating our own big plays on offense with a hold or something.

Even if you account for a higher number of total plays we still committed penalties (that were accepted) at a higher rate over previous years.

Here's something for the conspiracy theorists out there. The discrepancy of our penalties per play vs. our opponents penalties per play in 2014 was staggering. Almost 2%! And it's not just that ours was really high. The calls on our opponents were significantly lower than previous years.

Total plays (O/D/ST):
2014: 2049
2013: 1770
2012: 1511
2011: 1638

JMU percentage of penalties per play:
2014: 4.98%
2013: 4.41%
2012: 3.86%
2011: 4.03%

Opponent percentage of penalties per play:
2014: 3.07%
2013: 3.90%
2012: 4.10%
2011: 3.72%

(12-02-2014 09:26 AM)Jay M. Youix Wrote:  i'm actually surprised we were that "good" with penalties in 2011. seems like it's been going on like this forever. it also seems like teams like W&M have few penalties every year, but i haven't looked it up.

it's something i think is one of the biggest things we need to clean up. feels like we're constantly letting offenses stay on the field after a 3rd down defensive penalty, or negating our own big plays on offense with a hold or something.

I think this is the more compelling thing to look into. Who cares if we get some dumb "celebration" penalty after a TD score or whatever it may have been. A block in the back on a pick or kick return, holding on a critical 3rd down that negates a 1st, or a jump on D on a 3 and 4 to extend the opponents drive, those are the killers.

Not so much a numbers game (though more penalties provide more opportunities for them to be critical) but the situation. Down and distance and how did it directly effect the game. Seemed we had our share of penalties in these critical situations this year.

(12-03-2014 02:14 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 09:26 AM)Jay M. Youix Wrote:  i'm actually surprised we were that "good" with penalties in 2011. seems like it's been going on like this forever. it also seems like teams like W&M have few penalties every year, but i haven't looked it up.

it's something i think is one of the biggest things we need to clean up. feels like we're constantly letting offenses stay on the field after a 3rd down defensive penalty, or negating our own big plays on offense with a hold or something.

I think this is the more compelling thing to look into. Who cares if we get some dumb "celebration" penalty after a TD score or whatever it may have been. A block in the back on a pick or kick return, holding on a critical 3rd down that negates a 1st, or a jump on D on a 3 and 4 to extend the opponents drive, those are the killers.

Not so much a numbers game (though more penalties provide more opportunities for them to be critical) but the situation. Down and distance and how did it directly effect the game. Seemed we had our share of penalties in these critical situations this year.

absolutely. i haven't watched the LU game again (and probably won't), but it felt like we had SO many of those. maybe i was just being overly negative during the game, but it just seemed like we'd make a great play, then a penalty.

i'm also surprised that based on our fast tempo, our opponents didn't commit a higher percentage of penalties against us. don't know if there is usually a correlation there, but i would have guessed there was.