SEC Penalty Report: Week 13

Penalties continue to plague the SEC this season, as nine of the 11 teams in action in Week 13 committed at least five penalties during Saturday’s games.

Six SEC teams engaged in conference showdowns over the weekend, and there was an obvious disparity between the penalty numbers of the three winners and the three losers in those games. However, that disparity might not be how you picture it.

The three winners in SEC play — Arkansas, Mississippi State and Missouri — combined to commit a whopping 29 penalties for 203 yards in their three victories. The three losers — Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt — combined to commit just 14 penalties for 117 yards in losing efforts.

The penalties didn’t seem to hold back the SEC’s winners, and that actually falls in line with the trend established throughout the season.

Five more SEC teams stepped outside the conference for tune-ups in advance of rivalry week, but those programs remained just as sloppy regarding penalties. Those five teams — Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — each collected a victory in Week 13, but they also combined to commit 27 penalties for 258 yards, an average of more than five penalties for 50 yards per team.

Those numbers are not quite as egregious as the penalty numbers of the winners in SEC play, but they do further prove how little penalties can impact a game.

Here’s a full breakdown of every SEC team’s penalty numbers through 13 weeks this season: