Few things drive coaches and coordinators more crazy than penalties - especially the completely unavoidable ones that happen before the snap and after the whistle.
Conventional wisdom would lead most to think that the more penalty yardage you have, the less disciplined your players are, and the less W's you put in the win column...but is that true?
I decided to take a quick look at the most and least penalized teams in college football with two weeks left in the regular season, and found some of the results quite surprising.
The top 10 least penalized teams in the country at this point in the season are:
The combined record of the least penalized teams in college football? 57-42. Not exactly super-comforting right?
How about the most penalized teams in college football?
Now, the combined record of the most penalized teams in college football should surely be worse than that of the least penalized teams, right?
You'd be wrong. The combined record of the 10 most penalized teams in college football is slightly better than their counterparts at 60-39.
In all reality, the 3-win margin that separate the the most penalized teams in college football from the least penalized teams is negligible, so focusing your energy on minimizing penalties may not be the best use of your time when you could instead be focusing on turnover margin or something proven to swing things more in your favor.