When a team has more penalty yards than the opposing team has rushing yards in one game,
that team should be something to worry about.
Even if that team is 5-0.
The Ducks amassed 13 penalties for a total of 110 yards against Arizona on Saturday. The Wildcats rushed for 30 yards and had 46 penalty yards on six penalties.
In Oregon’s five games this season, it has earned 444 penalty yards through 54 penalties, or 88.8 penalty yards per game. The Pacific-10 Conference average is 70.5 penalty yards per game.
Oregon has committed a significant number of its penalties on kickoffs. The Ducks repeatedly are jumping the play with offsides. Some players also are having problems keeping their emotions in check, as celebration penalties and personal fouls have crept into the Ducks’ games.
“A lot of them are anxious penalties,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “I can’t fault them entirely because they’re aggressive penalties.”
That doesn’t mean Bellotti has nothing to worry about. The Ducks are second in the Pac-10 in average penalty yards per game. The only team with a higher penalty-yards-per-game average is Oregon State, with 103.2.
Saturday’s opponent, UCLA, is ninth in the conference in penalty yards, with only 247 total yards in five games. UCLA is last in the Pac-10 for opponent’s penalties, with opponents averaging only 45.2 penalty yards per game.
Bellotti is frustrated by his team’s lack of concentration.
“We talked about a combination of stupid penalties and selfish penalties, and we have to be rid of them,” Bellotti said. “It hasn’t come up and bit us in the behind yet, but it will. That’s very important that our players understand that.”
Despite the high numbers of penalties, Oregon is still going strong. The Ducks are averaging 38.8 points per game, good for third in the Pac-10. They are sixth in the conference in total offense, with 402.4 yards per game.
Oregon is third for total penalty yards in the Pac-10. Oregon State has 619, Arizona State has 480 and California has 455. Nationally, Oregon has the most penalty yards of any top-25 school. Only seven Division I teams have more penalty yards.
Bellotti is not the only one unhappy with the penalty situation.
“(For me) it’s just about as frustrating as it must be for those guys to see me miss a ball every now and then,” junior quarterback Jason Fife said. “It’s fixable, and that’s why Coach Bellotti is stressing it big time this week. And we’re aware of it, it’s stuff that we can take care of it, it won’t hurt us in the future.”
With rival Oregon State the only team with more penalty yards this season, some are wondering if there’s something in the water.
“The penalties trouble me,” Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson told the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
“Some of them I just don’t understand.”