‘By far’ most common Colorado penalty highlights biggest Buff weakness

“By far” the most common penalty assessed to the Colorado football program during the 2023 season, as BuffZone’s Brian Howell pointed out, is false starts; which account for 30% of the Buffs’ overall penalties.

“By far, the most common penalty for the Buffs has been false starts, accounting for 21 of those 69 flags,” Howell wrote. “The next-most common penalties are for unsportsmanlike conduct and holding (six each). The offensive line has accounted for a third of the penalties (23 of 69).”

As Howell points out, Kent State transfer OG Jack Bailey leads the pack, while fellow former Golden Flash Savion Washington, who missed the ASU and Stanford games, and Jackson State import Shedeur Sanders come in next.

“Right guard Jack Bailey is the individual with the most flags (eight), with tackle Savion Washington and quarterback Shedeur Sanders next (four each),” Howell prefaced before saying, “Three of Shedeur Sanders’ penalties were for intentional grounding. Overall, 35 different players have been penalized, in addition to nine penalties going against the team and not assigned to a particular player.”

Coach Prime promises most penalized Colorado football players have fixed penalty issues

To his credit, Coach Prime showed a great deal of faith in his most penalized players’ development and his coaching staff’s ability to help get those players over those hills while speaking to reporters during UCLA game week.

“We have addressed all of that and addressed the individuals that are consistently being penalized and how we’re gonna improve that from here on,” he said. “We have addressed it tremendously and you should see a tremendous improvement.”

With the offensive line proving to be the team’s kryptonite, and Sanders being overworked, it’s not shocking to see where the Buffs penalties come from. But it’s on everyone involved to put it behind them before the losses pile up in Pac-12 play and the issues bleed into other aspects of the locker room.