Oregon is one of the most penalized teams in the country. Only South Florida, Willie Taggart’s former team, has more penalties called against them.
With quarterback Justin Herbert still injured and true freshman Braxton Burmeister struggling in his absence, Oregon is already at a disadvantage. Adding so many penalties to the equation makes it even more difficult on a team hoping to get to a bowl game.
In Burmeister’s first career start against Washington State, center Jake Hanson said that he needed to work with Burmeister about being louder when communicating at the line of scrimmage because Oregon was flagged for two straight false start penalties to start the game against Washington State.
They also had penalties during the first two offensive possessions against Stanford that set them back. It’s a trend the Ducks want to stop.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take those lumps with the young guys being in there,” head coach Willie Taggart said of Burmeister’s communication during the Washington State game.
Learning how to be efficient at the most critical offensive position on the football field can only help limit offensive penalties. The upcoming game against the UCLA Bruins will be the third start for Burmeister as he continues to grow as quarterback.
“We’ve got an opportunity to go down to LA and try to get back in the win column,” head coach Willie Taggart said after following the Ducks 49-7 loss to No. 22 Stanford. “But we’ve got to play a hell of a lot better if we’re going to do that. We can’t hurt ourselves, and we’ve got to be more disciplined.”
The Ducks have relied on contributions from several freshmen, which could explain why so many penalties have been called against the Ducks this season. For Taggart, having to rely on kids playing early in their career is nothing new.  
There’s a learning curve that takes time for young players who are adjusting to playing college football.
“Everywhere I’ve been, we’ve played a lot of freshmen and they got better,” Taggart said. “There’s no better experience than game experience.”
With the speed the Ducks possess, they like to utilize the outside on runs, which requires wide receivers to turn into blockers. The problem with this is when a play goes to the outside where there are more youthful players than other positions, there is a higher likelihood of an inexperienced player committing a holding penalty against their defender.
“I think we just have to lock in and pay attention more to detail,” running back Royce Freeman said. “We can’t be selfish, we just have to go out there and we just got to limit penalties better.”
With six combined underclassmen lining up at wide receiver, including a converted safety in Brenden Schooler, the Ducks have had a challenge avoiding penalties when the running backs try to break away for a big play.
“It’s frustrating, but I appreciate them going out there and even trying to block,” Freeman said. “We just have to clean up some things and be smarter about how we go about blocking.”
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter @zlast3445