The most penalized teams in the SEC ranked ahead of Rivalry Week

The college football season has flown by us.

13 weeks of football have come and gone, leaving just one more regular season slate before conference championship week, bowl season and into 2024. So, before the regular season comes to a close, let’s take a look back at the penalty yardage statistics entering the most important slate of the season.

Here’s the SEC ranked by penalty yards per game through Week 12. All numbers via CFBStats.com:

1. Vanderbilt: 38.8 yards per game
2. Georgia: 39.5 yards per game
3. Florida: 44.4 yards per game
4. Auburn: 44.8 yards per game
5. Texas A&M: 45.7 yards per game
6. Alabama: 47.6 yards per game
7. LSU: 47.8 yards per game
8. Missouri: 50.5 yards per game
9. Arkansas: 54.2 yards per game
10. Kentucky: 57.2 yards per game
11. Mississippi State: 59.5 yards per game
12. South Carolina: 60 yards per game
13. Ole Miss: 64 yards per game
14. Tennessee: 65 yards per game

7 teams improved from Week 6’s number while 7 trended downwards. The teams that improved were Vanderbilt, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and, just barely, Ole Miss.

And here’s a look at penalty flags thrown per game per team on average so far. Please note The 3-way tie between Florida, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, as well as the 2-way tie at the end between South Carolina and Ole Miss.

1. Georgia: 4.2
2. Vanderbilt: 4.5
3. Auburn: 5.6
4. Alabama: 5.8
5. LSU: 6.2
6. Arkansas: 6.3
7. Florida: 6.5
8. Texas A&M: 6.5
9. Mississippi State: 6.5
10. Kentucky: 6.8
11. Missouri: 7.2
12. South Carolina: 7.5
13. Ole Miss: 7.5
14. Tennessee: 8

These stats paint a pretty telling picture of Tennessee, Ole Miss and South Carolina. The Vols especially seems to be in a league of their own, as they’ve been near the bottom of penalty numbers nearly all season.

On the other side of things, Georgia and Vanderbilt have consistently been in the top 3 or so. Alabama has had the most dramatic turnaround of any SEC team in terms of penalty numbers from the start of the year to now.

Does anything on this list surprise you?

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.