It’s third down and six at the LSU 13-yard line in Athens, Ga., as the Tigers look for a key stop against Bulldog senior quarterback Aaron Murray in the second quarter of a shootout Southeastern Conference matchup.
Instead, a pass interference call in the end zone on sophomore cornerback Jalen Mills gave the Bulldogs a free first down, and they would punch it in for six points two plays later en route to a 44-41 victory.
It’s a characteristic of the LSU program that has continued on into 2013: the Tigers commit their fair share of penalties.
“You have to challenge yourself,” said redshirt freshman right tackle Jerald Hawkins. “There’s a lot of pressure, but you have to take a lot of responsibility for yourself to make sure that you keep composed so you don’t hurt the team. You know what you did wrong, you know that you hurt the team, so you have to take responsibility for your mistakes.”
Through five games in 2013, LSU leads the SEC in penalties committed with 38, five more than the next highest team — Texas A&M.
The Tigers have lost 298 yards because of flying yellow flags, with an average of 59.6 yards game.
With the exception of 2009, the Tigers have ranked in the top five in the SEC in terms of penalty yards accumulated per contest every year since 2007, with the squad ranking worst in the SEC in 2007 with 62.9 penalty yards per game.
“It’s just mental things with penalties,” said junior safety Ronald Martin. “Everybody knows what’s right and what’s wrong, so we try to do the right thing at all times. All we have to do is keep communicating better and understanding the game better, and we’ll cut down on the penalties.”
The issue, though, is flags continue to fly, and little improvement is being made as of late.
This could pose a problem as the Tigers continue trudging through the meat of their SEC schedule, with Mississippi State, Florida and Ole Miss on the slate for the next three weeks.
In two SEC games in 2013, the Tigers have committed 15 penalties for 125 yards, or 62.5 yards per game. With the way the conference has played out in the past, more than 60 yards either given or taken away from a squad can be the difference in any game.
“Every Friday, we go over the penalties that we had in the previous game to make sure that we don’t mess up again the next week,” said senior linebacker Lamin Barrow. “Myself, I had a personal foul, and I was sick to my stomach as soon as they threw the flag because I knew that was a chance for our team to get off the field. You never want to be that guy who’s getting called out in the team meeting on Monday.”
The Tigers are averaging 7.8 yards per penalty this season, meaning a solid portion of yellow flags are because of false starts by the offensive line.
When the team travels to Starkville and Oxford over the next three weeks, the offensive line will be using a new plan to keep itself in check.
In the loud atmosphere in Athens, several offensive linemen began using hand signals to coordinate snap counts and blocking assignments. According to sophomore offensive guard Trai Turner, the group will be fully implementing hand signals against Mississippi State.
Cutting down on false starts could save offensive drives for LSU on the road, which could prove integral moving forward.
“It was very important because you can’t communicate verbally [in that atmosphere], so you have to use hand signals, so that kind of made it easier for us,” said junior offensive lineman La’el Collins. “Those penalties get you beat. Those are just mental things, and those are things we can control. It’s just a focus thing.”
“There’s a lot of pressure, but you have to take a lot of responsibility for yourself to make sure that you keep composed so you don’t hurt the team. You know what you did wrong, you know that you hurt the team, so you have to take responsibility for your mistakes.”
2013: 59.6
2012: 57.9
2011: 50.1
2010: 46.4
2009: 48.7
2008: 49.9
2007: 62.9