For those of you still cursing the absence of DPI on that long ball early last night, it triggered my curiosity. I thought maybe the Pitt game was an outlier since Nardouche complained so loudly about the officiating last year. I can easily see Ron Cherry calling up Jeff Flanagan (the ref for this year's Pitt game) and telling him "let the boys play this year" and keep it in your pocket unless it has to be called (and they definitely did).
But after last night there have only been 14 flags thrown in the past 2 games. Keep in mind that this is NOT looking just at flags thrown on VT, but all flags thrown in the game (accepted and declined). Of those:
- NINE were "can't ignore it" penalties inc. False Starts, Defensive Offsides, Delay, and Procedurals
- 3 were part of the Bronco Mendenhall Anger Management and Sportsmanship Clinic
- One was the ineligible downfield on the 2 point conversion attempt
- One was a hold by Cunningham on a play to his side in the Pitt game
That means there essentially has been ONE penalty called during normal gameplay in two games.
Let that sink in.
That's 317 plays total (including XP, FGAs, KOs) with penalties on about 4.4% of total plays.
In comparison, past 2 seasons that rate was 8.4%.
In the past 2 seasons (a healthy data set at this point) the flags come out an average of 16.75 times per game, with a standard deviation of 3.62. So that means generally 13.1 - 20.3 flags hit the turf.
I've been aggregating data for almost 2 years, but graduate school and work has kept me from doing a ton of digging into all this. I'm really wanting to dig into the non-VT games and see if this pattern is true of the whole ACC.
You can say damn lies and statistics and interpret it a lot of ways, but the data says our favorite Big Game - the ACC Zebras - have been doing something very different for 8 quarters at least.
Comments
Yeah. I thought it was just me and homerism.
It's been noticeable.
I just rewatched the game and spotted that 51 yd pass..
They called holding against Stroman but they tackled 2 guys 9 yards behind LOS. One of them was tackled twice. Not called.
It was an amazing no call.
Yeah, that no call was huge because holding in the end zone is a safety. Instead, they complete a 51 yard pass.. I get that holding happens a ton, and usually doesn't get called, but that was the most blatant holding I've seen in a while. I'd like to believe the overturned catch later in that drive was a makeup call because I didn't see enough to overturn the call on the field.
I busted a blood vessel on that
holdtackle in the backfield no call.It's that they aren't calling anything on the interior line, or even downfield for two games. I've watched a ton of film and captured data from nearly 3 years worth of box scores/game reports and never seen a 'drought' like this. It's not shown up for other teams. Lots of PI and holding being called in other ACC games, even though the flags per game might be down a touch this year.
The calls are definitely there for the making - especially holding while O-Lines have tried to contain Settle / Walker.
As for the catch - it's like the dress color, everyone will have an opinion and I'm just thankful it went our way. Personally i think (as someone tweeted) Google Earth would've had a better camera quality. I don't know why the language "failed to complete" was used though - just really strange. Not impressed with the camera quality and angles past 2 weeks - we caught a good break last week when they happened to have a good shot of the knee down prior to the line. Camera quality and placement just seems way off this year.
ACC officiating has been terrible in all ACC games I've watched.
In the Miami Pitt game, there were two blocks in the back on Miami's last punt return that did not get called.
That half-Nelson hold that sprang Pickett on 4th down was obvious, yet not called.
This note from Andy Bitter's column:
If true, that's another lost 15-yard penalty that would have been huge for our offense.
Simulated snap count is defensive delay of game, not a 15 yarder. Still another missed call if true though.
I've seen it called as unsportsmanlike conduct in the NFL. Is it a lesser penalty in college?
Yes. It's just one of several ways a defense can incur a delay of game penalty.
Edit: found the exact rule. Rule 7, Article 5(a)(5):
http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR17updated.pdf
Yeah, we,'ve had it called on us at least once in the past couple of seasons.
Go back and look at Pitt #66 on Pitt's 2nd TD.
He was at least 6 yards downfield when the pass was thrown and was engaged with Mook Reynolds (who trying to get to the receiver who caught the ball - it's debatable he would have gotten there in time, but that's really a moot point).
The refs should be embarrassed for missing this blatant violation - but then calling this uncommon call later (albeit correctly) on VT's 2 pt attempt.
I would love to see the play where the deep pass didn't generate a PI again... My initial reaction was that it looked like obvious PI but as I remember the ball was under thrown and I'm thinking contact may have been considered incidental as wr was trying to come back...
The fact that no holding was called on UVas 51 yarder is horrible. My wife even saw it...