BOULDER — Disgruntled Colorado fans can look at last year’s 3-9 campaign and point to a lot of tangibles: lack of speed, lack of talent, lack of health, lack of depth. Yet underlying it all is a tangible that’s within their control and has nothing to do with the other-colored jerseys across from them.
A lack of discipline.
Colorado finished last in the Big 12 and 116th of the 120 major-college teams in the country in penalty yards per game with 75.58. Only Arizona State (9.25) and Texas Tech (9.23) had more penalties per game than Colorado (8.92).
It should be noted that of the bottom 10 teams in penalties, only Southern Mississippi (7-6), Texas Tech (9-4) and Oklahoma (8-5) had winning records.
“That killed us last year,” senior captain Scotty McKnight said after Thursday’s practice.
Offense was the biggest culprit. The defense committed 26 penalties — including two pass interference calls — and special teams had a surprising 10.
But the type of penalties the offense committed drives coaches and quarterbacks into conversational profanity. Of Colorado’s 107 penalties — in its 1990 national championship season, it committed 63 — 32 were false starts. That included three in a row against Texas, a 38-14 debacle that in no small part was because of 20 penalties for 140 yards.
“It has to do with experience, a lack of confidence and a lack of assertiveness,” coach Dan Hawkins said.
It also had to do with a lack of cohesiveness. Because of injuries and consistency, left tackle Nate Solder was the only offensive lineman who started every game at the same spot. The line had eight different starters.
The staff also changed the quarterback’s signals that offseason. The carryover should help this year.
“A lot of it was inexperience and nerves,” McKnight said. “Guys are young. A lot of those guys hadn’t had a lot of starts under their belts. When you have a guy coming at you who’s ready to split the (center-guard) gap and he’s jumping and it’s loud, guys were getting itchy to get out, especially on pass plays.”
Some penalties will forever haunt. There were the holding penalties that nullified Darrell Scott’s 27-yard run and Anthony Wright’s 56-yard reception against Toledo. There was the offside on third-and-2 at the Colorado 12 that produced a first down and a Kansas State TD in a 20-6 loss. There were the eight false starts against Texas.
However, the deadliest yellow trail came at Iowa State.
It’s first-and-goal at the Iowa State 9. Colorado trails, 17-3, in the third quarter. Freshman tackle Bryce Givens is called for a 15-yard personal foul. Givens, um, disagrees. Tweet! Fifteen yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“He said the magic word,” McKnight said, “a couple times.”
Suddenly, it’s first-and-goal from the 39, resulting in a missed field goal.
“Bryce is an intense player,” McKnight said. “I love that guy. I love playing with him. It’s almost like old-school football. Sometimes when you play a game as emotional as football, emotion gets the best of you. He was young. That mistake won’t happen again with him.”
If it happens to anyone, they’re running — even in practice. Hawkins put his foot down. He has either football operation guys or paid referees throwing flags every practice.
Only four are allowed — offense, defense and special teams — all day. Any more, and players run 100-yard gassers. On one two-a-day, they ran seven. Sprint 700 yards after a practice in August and see if you’ll wait for the ball to get hiked next time.
“It’s not, ‘Oh, you can’t do that next time’ or ‘That can’t happen again,’ ” offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau said. “We had to do something. We’ve been a lot better in camp.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
