Baylor Football is 3-1, But Bears Must Clean up One Area That's a Recipe for Disaster
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After re-watching the Baylor vs. Colorado game, it seemed that both teams were trying their hardest to see who could commit more penalties. Nineteen penalties between the two teams in this game isn't the kind of stat that you want to have four games into your season. The dead-ball penalties committed by the offense are the ones that sting the most.
DC Joe Klanderman's Defense: Disciplined and Determined
How Baylor has gotten away with as many penalties as they have and are somehow 3-1 is a testament to how truly reliable the defense has been this season. Not only has the defense been the less penalized side of the ball, they're arguably the biggest factor in the Bears' successes this season.
Focusing only on Baylor's home games this season, they've committed 29 penalties. It's not that the Bears are committing penalties as they are just a part of the game; no, that's not it. The issue is that so many of them (a dozen if I've counted right) have come from the offense and prior to the snap in the form of "false start" penalties.
Some Penalties are Admissable
Since the acknowledgement of the concept of "penalty" no team has completed a season without committing them. An offensive lineman getting a holding call to protect his quarterback, a defensive back getting the pass interference call as an alternative to letting the offensive receiver cleanly catch an assured touchdown pass, and even taking a delay of game penalty as an offense to provide the punter a more comfortable range; all of those are fair and calculated. There is no flowery language or mental gymnastics that can justify a false start penalty though, especially at home.
False Start Penalties at Home
With 5 against PVA&M, 3 against LA Tech, and 3 against Colorado, the Bears have committed at least 11 false start penalties alone. The offense is outpacing the defense at a rate of nearly 3:1 in terms of overall penalties committed. An average of more than 9 penalties a game at home can't continue, and something has to be done to remedy this poison before it ends up costing the Bears a game. And if Baylor can't get their timing down at home, in front of friendly fans, how are they going to fare when they play their first true road game against Arizona State this upcoming Saturday?
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Brad is a writer and contributes to the Baylor Bears on SI, with aspirations to share his own unique thoughts and perspectives with fans. Whether through the facts and figures of the past or the untold potential and triumphs of the future, sports have always been a large influence on Brad's storytelling and life overall. His inspiration to write began while watching sports when he first noticed the highs and lows of each game, each quarter, each play; there's a story in each of them worth telling, and he wanted to tell them.
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