With all the discussion on various threads, I took a look at the penalty information for 2015, and compiled a spreadsheet on some interesting numbers. As a note, I included declined and offsetting flags and counted plays that were nullified by penalty.
Total Plays: 2,087
Penalty flags thrown: 201, (102 VT, 99 Opponents)
180 Accepted, 15 Declined, 6 Offsetting
Per Game Range 12-24, ACC Range 12-19
VT Offensive Plays: 884
Flags, Offensive Plays: 35
% of VT Offensive Plays, Penalty Flag Thrown against VT: 3.96%
14 of the Penalties were pre-snap, with 12 of them being false starts.
7 Holding calls against the OL
VT Defensive Plays: 820
Flags, Defensive Plays: 50
% of VT Defensive Plays, Penalty Flag Thrown against VT: 6.10%
18 of the penalties were defensive offsides.
17 for Pass Interference / Defensive Holding
6 Personal Fouls
4 Unsportsmanlike Conduct
VT Special Teams Plays: 383
Flags, ST Plays: 17
% of ST Plays, Penalty Flag Thrown: 4.44%
* Note, I didn't separate out Delay of Game on Punts where it might have been the intent to draw the penalty.
Interestingly, the VT Offense and Opponent Defense were penalized at a very similar rate (3.96% and 3.39%, respectively). The VT Defense and Opponent Offense were penalized at a higher, but slightly less similar rate as well (6.10% and 7.44%, respectively). Given the same number of special teams plays, VT was penalized at nearly double the rate of the opponent (4.44% versus 2.09%).
Two big questions I'm sorting through center around penalties that have a direct impact on the game, and how the officiating crews correlate to the penalties called.
Cheers! If anyone is a stats geek and wants to play with the data set, just give me a shout!
Go Hokies!
Comments
I'm curious, because this has long been a pet peeve of mine: How many of those special teams penalties were blocks in the back? It feels to me like we finally improved in that area this year. Do the stats back that up?
That's correct. We essentially had two illegal blocks on returns, one against OSU and one against Purdue.
I don't know the actual stats. But unlike the fan base, I think Beamer trusted Stroman and went after more punts this yr. Thus more fair catches and more returns on an island with little help for Stroman (but also fewer opportunities to block in the back).
And on KO returns, I think fewer in general are being returned - and those that do generally start in the 2 yards deep to 5 yard line range. These returns are usually met with resistance before the 20 and before reaching any daylight whatsoever which is when the contact in the back calls often occur.
this is pretty cool. I would be interested to see a side-by-side of Memphis' stats in each category. I'm far too lazy to do that myself, though. Sorry not sorry.
Way to many of those penalties for procedural problems and control problems. False starts, Offsides, and 10 personal fouls/unsportsmanlikes?
One of those unsportsmanlike penalties was against the whole team at LOLUVA after the INT, that's allowed.
Honest question, how many times was Big Lu called for being offsides? He was probably the most penalized for that one.
That's actually one of the items I'm working on, by way of film review. The public stats sheets are a bit less detailed in some areas, such as the offending player (especially if it's multiple players). I have Maddy with 3, Dadi and Baron with 2 each, with 10 of the penalties reviewed.
Wow. Only 7 holding calls against the OL all year? That's pretty impressive. For a flag that could arguably be thrown on any given play, I think that's pretty impressive.
Well if you let them run by you before you get a hand on them then it is kind of hard to hold them.
via GIPHY
Beat me to it... if I had to choose between a few more holding penalties being called on us this year and not having Brewer and Motley peel themselves off the turf over and over, I would probably take a few more flags.
Obviously...with 34 sacks b/t Brewer (18) and Motley (16) and lord know how many hurries, I debated on including these numbers. Typically more holds happen when a team is getting blasted off the line due to desperation efforts to avoid the sack, but yet we only ended up with 7 holding flags. And yea, I'd agree that I'd rather have a few more holding flags than constantly grass stained QB...
But so much for looking on the bright side and having something positive to progress with.
One of the things that stands out, at least to me, is that of the 201 penalties called against VT and our opponents, 88 are for pre-snap offenses (43.8%). When you consider that out of 2,087 plays, only 113 flags were thrown for activity snap-to-whistle, that means almost 95% is "clean". I'm sure, from my own experience, some of that comes from the caliber of players and coaches in P5/FBS.
You see a different breakdown in the actual penalties called, but about the same numbers percentage-wise in the NFL (out of 208 in NFL week 15, 71 were pre-snap).