Tales of the Fighting Rodrigi: The Penalty Box | Beautiful Day for Football

While Sam McGuffie's performance on Saturday is being celebrated as the silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud of a season, an under-the-radar development may be the slow transformation of the Fighting Rodrigi into a team with a discipline problem. They racked up 79 penalty yards on Saturday, better than one yard in reverse for every two yards McGuffie moved them forward. I did some checking and this may be a sign of things to come.

Ranked by fewest penalty yards per game, Michigan from 2001-2007 was one of the most disciplined teams in the NCAA. Their average annual ranking during that period was about 14th. This included four top ten finishes: 2nd in 2005, 8th in 2003, 7th in 2002 and 5th in 2001. Only once -- during 2006 when they finished 38th -- did they ever stray outside the top 25 in this statistical category.

Rich Rodriguez coached West Virginia during that same period and the team's average ranking for fewest penalty yards during that period was 90th. The very best they ever did was 50th in 2007. Four times they were ranked 100th or lower. The per-game average for the seven seasons was just shy of 67 yards. Just in terms of yards lost due to penalties, West Virginia was easily one of the least disciplined teams in all of college football during the Rich Rodriguez era.

Right now, the Fighting Rodrigi are ranked 54th in fewest penalty yards per game -- this would be Michigan's worst ranking since at least 2001 and perhaps longer if it holds to the end of the season. But conversely, it would be the second best rating by a Rich Rodriguez coached team since before he took over at West Virginia.

And, ironically, West Virigina is today 27th best in the nation for fewest penalties. The Mountaineers are working on what could be -- by far -- their most disciplined, least penalized season since before they hired Rodriguez.

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