I think ASU got themselves a winner. Graham is a guy we should have hired in 2008. He doesn't seem to agree with Sark about penalties. This destroys another doog myth that all Pac 12 teams are heavily penalized.
Nowhere has their improvement under Graham been more dramatic than in the area of discipline. Arizona State went from last in the nation in 2011 with 1,037 penalty yards to ninth with just 454 in '12, his first season. This year, the Sun Devils have given up just 302 yards in penalties, the fourth-fewest in the FBS. To get his team to cut down on infractions, Graham gave his players the what and the why.
The what: "I talked to our players, 'Do you know the mechanics of how the seven-man crew officiate a game, who's looking at what?'" Graham said. "They didn't have a clue."
So Graham brought in officials to talk to his players, and he put his own spin on the lesson. He broke the meetings down by position groups, having the different refs of a game crew meet with the players they most closely observe. "The umpire, he sits in the offensive line room and he goes through [with] the guys what constitutes a chop block, what is he looking for [when he calls] holding on a perimeter run, what's he looking for [when he calls] holding on a pass play," Graham said.
The why: "Our fans, they actually pay money to watch you play, and you should represent their values with how they want you to play," Graham said he told his team. "Fans don't like 15-yard penalties."
But besides playing smart for the fans, Graham wanted to drive the message home that penalties were costing Arizona State on the scoreboard. The Sun Devils could gain an advantage, he told them, by fully grasping the rulebook and how it's enforced. "If you and I are playing backgammon, and I know the rules and you don't, I'm going to beat you." Read More:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20131122/todd-graham-arizona-state/#ixzz2lQmyLPtL
