vs Army - 3:38 Q1 - Offsides - 5 yards

vs Army - 1:01 Q3 - Offensive Holding - 10 yards

vs Army - 3:52 Q4 - False Start - 5 yards

vs Wake Forest - 9:49 Q1 - Personal Foul - 7 yards

vs Wake Forest - 13:29 Q3 - Offsides - 5 yards

vs Texas - 2:12 Q2 - False Start - 5 yards

vs Baylor - 3:12 Q2 - Offsides - 5 yards

That's every penalty Rice has committed so far this year. That list may seem shorter than you'd expect from a team that's played four games, and that's because it really is. The Owls are the least penalized team in C-USA, and it isn't even close:

Not only is Rice the least penalized team in the conference, the Owls have the lowest penalties per game of any team in FBS football.

But on the back half of the chart is Louisiana Tech, who's 6.0 penalties per game rank 55th in the nation. But the Bulldogs also weren't helped out by the types of fouls they committed. Tech averaged 9.1 yards per penalty, compared to only 6.0 by the Owls:

That 6.0 yards per penalty by Rice is the second lowest in the nation. So not only do the Owls avoid penalties, when a flag is thrown, the yardage lost tends to be minor.

Rice's ability to avoid penalties is especially impressive considering that the Owls have faced a gauntlet of a schedule so far, playing (SP+ ranked) #70 Army, #40 Wake Forest, #19 Texas, and #25 Baylor. Conventional wisdom says that teams in Rice's position often commit penalties like holding in an attempt to slow down the opponent's playmakers. But either the Owls were able to fight back this temptation, or they are very good at hiding it.

Granted, the Owls lost all four of these match-ups. But even though Rice's opponent was favored by at least 20 points in each game, two ended with the Owls only down a single score.

Rice, a team ranked #122, has been able to stay in these games due to their lack of penalties. And luckily for the Owls, their schedule gets a lot easier from here:

Tech definitely has the talent to handily beat Rice, even on the road. But the Bulldogs will need to avoid shooting themselves in the foot with unnecessary penalties, because we can be pretty sure Rice won't do the same.

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Nathan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to check out @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.