FanPost

Penalties/Points Allowed

After the Dawgs faced Auburn and, once again, struggled to limit the number of penalties committed, I decided to look at some stats and see if there was any correlation between the number of points given up and penalties committed.  I start this off by reminding everyone that Richt decided to start disciplining the team for penalties around the time of the Vanderbilt game (perhaps just before the Tennessee game).  Starting with the Vanderbilt game, penalties began to decrease.  After the Vandy game, our defense then gave up three straight 38+ point performances.  There was then a public outcry for the defense to step up, the defense had an "enough is enough" meeting and vowed to play with more passion.  The penalties come back.  Here are how the numbers themselves panned out:

In seven games with nine penalties or more, we gave up a total of 123 points, averaging out to 17.57 ppg.  In four games with eight penalties or less, we gave up a total of 139 points, averaging out to 34.75 ppg.  The games with eight penalties or less were to Vanderbilt, LSU, Florida, and Kentucky.

I realize relative offensive prowess of our opponents influences the amount of points given up, but I did think it was interesting that as soon as we began to limit our penalties with any sort of consistency, our points allowed skyrocketed.  As soon as our defense catches flack and decides to play with passion again, the penalties go back up and our points allowed goes back down.  Any thoughts?

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