OK, gang, I introduced you to my SMH (stands for Shaking My Head) Index in my Monday morning column, an effort to tally the really grating fouls of each game. This combines my penchants for stat-geekiness and dark humor, but I expose a serious point here: The Herd commits too many stu … er, ill-advised fouls.
As I tallied the 5 games, I realized the offense was not given any “love” in my scoring system. After some soul-searching, I decided that penalties in the red zone were the most agonizing on the offensive side.
The scoring scale:
– 15 for all personal fouls, independent of all other scoring.
– 10 for any penalty resulting in a first down. That becomes 20 on third-down plays and 50 for fourth-down plays.
– 20 points “bonus” any such penalty in a drive ending in a touchdown. Yes, the bonus applies to each dumb penalty in the same drive.
– 15 points for fouls during kickoff and punt returns. Tack on a 10-point bonus of the penalty makes the offense start from inside the 15-yard line; or a 20-point bonus of your team has to start from inside its 10.
– 10 points for any offensive foul in the red zone. Make it 25 if the drive ends in a field goal, 40 if the drive ends up in no points.
As far as I know, 85 is the most points a single foul can deliver. Purdue’s Kawann Short turned the trick, committing a personal foul (15) on a fourth-day play resulting in a Marshall first down (50) in a drive that ended in a touchdown (20).
Alas, the Thundering Herd has exceeded its opponent’s score in four games and tied Ohio in a pretty clean contest. The itemized “boxscore”:
WVU game (Marshall 195, WVU 35)
For Marshall
Defense illegal use of hands — 30
Wilson personal foul — 15
Bazzie personal foul — 65
Illegal block on kickoff — 20
Okoroha personal foul face mask — 15
Bruhin holding in red zone — 25
Bruhin false start in red zone — 10
Aiken personal foul — 15
Total — 195
For WVU
Illegal block on punt — 20
Alston personal foul face mask — 15
Total — 35
Western Carolina game (Marshall 205, WCU 85)
For Marshall
Jeffries false start on 2nd-and-goal from WCU 7 — 25
Hunter roughing passer — 15
Okoroaha personal foul — 35
Taylor roughing passer — 55
Sparrow face mask — 35
Thomas pass interference — 40
Total — 205
For WCU
Pass interference — 20
False start in red zone — 10
Face mask — 45
Holding downfield — 10
Total — 85
Ohio game (Marshall 55, Ohio 55)
For Marshall
Baxter pass interference — 40
Dobson personal foul — 15
Total — 55
For Ohio
Personal foul — 25
Punt return penalty — 30
Total — 55
Rice game (Marshall 125, Rice 25)
For Marshall
Defensive holding Okoroha — 40
Face mask LeGrande — 55
Holding kickoff — 30
Total — 125
For Rice
False start at Marshall 1 — 25
Total — 25
Purdue game (Marshall 170, Purdue 155)
For Marshall
LeGrande personal foul — 45
Baxter — 40
Taylor offside — 10
Illegal block on punt — 25
Bruhin personal foul — 15
Bazzie personal foul — 35
Total — 170
For Purdue
Personal foul — 15
Personal foul — 15
Pass interference — 40
Roughing the passer — 85
Total — 155
If you waded this far, give yourself a medal of bravery… If you have comments or want to propose a tweak in this goofy system, drop me a line.