Last weekend was a pretty good weekend.
I got to the press box much later than I planned to — my apologies if I knocked you down running through Bevo Blvd. And the food definitely wasn’t on the same par as basketball’s, but all-in-all, sitting in that press box made for a great first home game.
From my high vantage point up in the stadium, it was easy to see the effort that the Texas Longhorns are putting in to move past the growing pains that naturally come with a new season and new starters.
But it was also glaringly obvious how problematic some of those growing pains are — especially the penalties.
I don’t know if there’s anything as frustrating as watching a team make an incredible drive and proceed to get sent back another several yards after that damned flag is thrown on the field.
Unfortunately for Texas fans, that happened to the Longhorns 12 times for 115 total yards lost. Texas came up victorious last week from the ashes of their Columbus hellscape, but it wasn’t efficient at all.
The same thing happened against Ohio State the week prior, with six penalties for a loss of 50 yards. There was a lot more wrong with the Longhorns’ performance, but the penalties played a huge part in stopping momentum and pushing Texas away from the end zone.
Several Texas penalties were incurred by All-American sophomore edge Colin Simmons, including being called offsides and roughing up San José’s redshirt senior passer, Walker Eget.
More were committed offensively, with illegal blocking calls and special teams receiving a roughing the kicker call, but Simmons, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian, is leading the nation in penalties with five over the last two games.
“I don’t think he thought after two games that would be what he’d be leading the country in,” Sarkisian said at Monday’s press conference.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan. If you know anything about the Cowboys, you know how horrifically god-awful they are about penalties.
They’ve actually been the worst in the league for the past five seasons when it comes to flags thrown, and I truly think it’s a part of why we haven’t won a single playoff game in so many years.
The real problem behind penalties is not a lack of fundamentals or mindfulness. It’s a lack of discipline, and that’s what makes it such a real problem. With a team full of youngsters, it’s not a surprise to see so many penalties on the field.
Now, it will be a mystery to see whether it continues this Saturday against UTEP. It’s pretty clear that the veterans on the team aren’t keen to let it slide.
“We’ve got to clean those up,” senior edge Ethan Burke said postgame. “And that starts with discipline, enforcing it in practice and not letting people get away with whatever’s going on.”
Sarkisian also hinted at steps being taken to enforce that discipline, although he didn’t go into much detail.
“But really, who suffers when you get a penalty? All of us. The team suffers. It’s not the individual that got the penalty, but we all serve the consequences for that,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not so much about the punishment of the one player; it’s the punishment of the team because we all feel the effects of those penalties when they occur.”
I’ll be back up in the press box again this weekend, hopefully early and hopefully munching on something other than Taco Deli. I’m of course interested in the Longhorns’ overall performance — but my eye is on those damned yellow flags.
