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So you think the referees have it out for your school?
Are you convinced some teams get away with more non-calls or phantom penalties than others?
Well, while we may not have the definitive proof you’re looking for, we do have some interesting penalty yardage data from the last five seasons.
Let’s take a look and see if we can find any significant trends:
SEC TEAM PENALTY YARDAGE, LAST 5 SEASONS
Source: cfbstats.com
| Team | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 490 | 369 | 467 | 520 | 562 | 2,408 |
| Arkansas | 831 | 593 | 528 | 461 | 581 | 2,994 |
| Auburn | 745 | 676 | 601 | 569 | 896 | 3,487 |
| Florida | 745 | 773 | 895 | 711 | 710 | 3,834 |
| Georgia | 545 | 664 | 749 | 617 | 527 | 3,102 |
| Kentucky | 597 | 482 | 496 | 593 | 604 | 2,772 |
| LSU | 603 | 702 | 753 | 732 | 595 | 3,385 |
| Mississippi St. | 559 | 567 | 538 | 515 | 513 | 2,692 |
| Missouri | 747* | 593* | 519 | 543 | 815 | 3,217 |
| Ole Miss | 613 | 692 | 480 | 541 | 549 | 2,875 |
| South Carolina | 583 | 632 | 526 | 543 | 606 | 2,890 |
| Tennessee | 573 | 561 | 630 | 455 | 444 | 2,663 |
| Texas A&M | 812* | 855* | 735 | 690 | 663 | 3,755 |
| Vanderbilt | 536 | 653 | 584 | 518 | 630 | 2,921 |
* – denotes penalty data from Big 12
Most penalty yards by season
2014: Auburn Tigers (896)
2013: LSU Tigers (732)
2012: Florida Gators (895)
2011: Florida Gators (773)
2010: Arkansas Razorbacks (831)
Most penalized programs in the last 5 years
1. Florida Gators: Not only did Will Muschamp coached teams struggle on offense, but apparently they struggled to stay out of trouble with the referees as well. As the league’s most consistent offenders in the last five years, Florida never dipped below 700 penalty yards in a season and led the league in penalty yardage in 2011 and 2012.
2. Texas A&M Aggies: While the SEC can’t take credit for the flags thrown on the Aggies in 2011 or 2012, they still check in as the second-most penalized team in the five-year period. It is worth noting that Kevin Sumlin appears to have the Aggies trending in the right direction in this category.
3. Auburn Tigers: We’re awarding a gold star to the 2014 Auburn Tigers for being the most penalized team in the league in the last five years, accumulating 896 penalty yards in 13 games last season. It was a drastic jump from the 569 yards that flags cost the Tigers during their 2013 run to the BCS national championship game in Gus Malzahn’s first season as head coach.
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
