When it comes to eliminating yellow flags, coach Will Muschamp might as well wave a white one. The Gators have a penalty problem, and it’s not going away any time soon.
Florida was called for 100 penalties in 2011, the seventh-highest mark in the nation. Through 10 games in 2012, the Gators are on pace to eclipse the century mark. Florida’s 66.1 average penalty yardage per game is 6.6 yards more than last year’s mark.
“We’ve talked about it, we’re going to re-emphasize it again,” Muschamp said on Saturday of Florida’s penalty predicament. “We have emphasized it every day in every situation we could. We’ve benched guys. … We’ve done everything we can do. We’re going to find another way.”
While Muschamp’s commitment to eradicating the Gators’ penalty woes is admirable, his efforts are ultimately futile.
Florida is an undisciplined football team, and nothing anybody can do will fix the problem immediately. Penalties have been a problem since Game 1 of Muschamp’s tenure, and there are no substantial signs of improvement.
Learning to play football responsibly within the rules is apparently a gradual process for the Gators.
Fifty-seven of Florida’s 79 penalties — 72.2 percent — are undisciplined penalties, which are flags earned for just being stupid. Offsides, false starts, delays of game, substitution infractions, too many men on the field, late hits, facemasks, chop blocks and roughing kickers, passers and punters all qualify.
With the possible exception of delay of game, no undisciplined penalties this late in the season are the fault of the coaching staff.
Don’t move until the ball is snapped, and stop when the whistle blows.
If you are on scholarship at a Southeastern Conference university to play football, the assumption is that you understand the basic rules of football.
Despite the towering pile of yellow flags that likely haunts Muschamp’s dreams, the Gators are 9-1 and will finish the season as SEC East co-champions.
“There’s absolutely zero evidence to support that you can’t win a championship and be a penalized football team,” Muschamp said on Aug. 6.
Well, congratulations, Florida. You won a championship, sort of.
And hey, the Gators still have an outside shot of sneaking into the BCS National Championship Game in Miami on Jan. 7.
But if Florida didn’t have such a large issue with penalties, Muschamp’s squad would be sitting pretty as the No. 1 team in the country right now.
Imagine if UF didn’t commit 10 penalties, seven of which were undisciplined, in its loss to Georgia. What if the Gators had not recorded more penalty yards (95) than rushing yards (75)? Perhaps Florida could have done without two separate false starts on third down.
Maybe two first-down personnel errors — 12 men on the field and a substitution infraction — were the straws that broke Florida’s back.
Amazingly, despite numerous dumb penalties and six (!) turnovers against the Bulldogs, the Gators were still one Jordan Reed fumble away from overtime.
Florida will complete this season with double-digit victories for the first time since 2009. The Gators have improved drastically in 2012, and they should be extremely proud of the strides they have made since a brutal 2011 campaign.
But as long as Florida struggles with undisciplined penalties — one of the basic fundamentals of football — continued growth will be difficult.
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
