Will Muschamp discusses South Carolina's penalty problems

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

There are a lot of categories South Carolina wants to lead in the SEC, or at least be in the top two of in terms of offense, defense, red zone efficiency or any other category that helps win football games.

What the Gamecocks don’t want is to be one of the teams picking up the most penalty yards, which they are through five games, although Will Muschamp doesn’t see a correlation between yellow laundry and winning games.

“We don’t tolerate undisciplined penalties and things that hurt your football team; a lack of composure,” he said. “But if you go back and look at it, and I am not going to sit there an research it, but penalty yardage has nothing to do with winning a championship.”

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The Gamecocks are currently second-worst in the league in penalty yards per game (74) and rank in the bottom half of the league in penalties (40) and penalty yards (370).

Tennessee and Vanderbilt, who are winless in four SEC games combined, are at the top of the league averaging 43 penalty yards per game, so there could be a point to Muschamp saying there’s a minimal correlation to winning and penalties.

The biggest problem for the Gamecocks have been personal foul penalties or unsportsmanlike fouls that the coaches are trying to find a balance with.

“I never want to hold back a player from his personality and who he is, but you can’t hurt your football team,” Muschamp said. “You can’t make silly decisions and lose your composure. To me, when you lose your composure, it affects you as a player.”

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Those kinds of penalties have been a season-long issue for South Carolina’s defense but it’s recently come to a head over the team’s last two games with the Gamecocks picking up five either personal foul or unsportsmanlike flags their last eight quarters of football.

It’s something they’ve had to tightrope through the first five games, trying to gain a mental edge while not affecting their own play or give the offense a free 15 yards.

“Our secondary, we like to get in people’s heads,” Jamyest Williams said. ‘They always going to react to it, and that’s what we want. We just can’t react to that.”

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The most recent exposure of it came when Rashad Fenton, who was getting called for unsportsmanlike conduct, was still jawing with the Missouri sideline Saturday right behind the referee.

The Gamecocks are working, TJ Brunson said, on making sure the talking only happens for a brief moment if it happens at all and guys go and get lined up for the next play.

Brunson did say teams are talking a lot more to South Carolina this year trying to bait them into dumb penalties but they have to do their best to ignore it.

“You cross that line when the play’s over with and you’re still talking,” Brunson said. “Really, I think, it’s all fun to talk and play with your opponent and get in his head but at the same time you have to get ready, lined up and get your call and play the game.”

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