Miami, Tennessee, USC among college football’s dirtiest programs
· Yahoo Sports
Games are won and lost on the scoreboard, but that doesn’t mean some programs aren’t reckless during their wins.
The Action Network compiled a list of the most dirtiest teams in college football, down to the cleanest programs. The ‘dirty score’ goes from 0 to 100, and it tracks penalties in each game played from 2020 to 2025.
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The ‘dirty score’ tracks four unique stats: penalty yards per game, penalties per game, penalties first downs per game, and penalties per play.
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College football’s dirtiest programs since 2020
A Tennessee football yells his frustrations after Tennessee loses during a NCAA football game between Tennessee and Georgia at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 13, 2025. Credit: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect (Reuters)Since 2020, the UAB Blazers are the dirtiest college football team, per The Action Network. UAB has a perfect ‘100’ score. Rounding out the most dirtiest teams in CFB are Toledo, New Mexico, Pitt, and Utah State.
Some notable programs listed toward the bottom of the list are Miami (6th), North Carolina (7th), Tennessee (9th), and USC (11th).
For comparison, the Blazers commit almost eight penalties per game, have over 70 yards of penalties, have over one penalty on first down every game, and have 0.060 penalties per play on average. That all totals up for UAB being the dirtiest team in college football.
College football’s cleanest programs since 2020
Michigan fans cheer on against Ohio State during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. Credit: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect (Reuters)While there are some dirty teams since 2020, there are also some very clean programs. When it comes to not committing penalties, the cleanest team in college football is Army with a 0.74 dirty score. Army commits less than four penalties per game, just under 33 penalty yards per game, 1.18 penalties committed on first down, and 0.030 penalties per play.
Rounding out the cleanest programs in college football are Air Force, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota.
A few other premier college football teams that are clean are Northwestern (7th), Penn State (10th), Kansas State (12th), Wisconsin (14th), and Indiana (15th).
Where some of college football’s premier programs rank
Oct 3, 2020; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia football players pray before the start of an NCAA college football game between Georgia and Auburn in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Mandatory Credit: Joshua L. Jones-USA TODAY NETWORK Credit: USA TODAY Sports (Reuters)You might wonder where your team is located on this list and how many penalties they commit each game. Here are some more premier programs and where they are listed on the ‘dirty score’ list. Remember, the lower (1-2-3..) the dirtier the program is.
- Texas A&M (17th)
- Michigan State (26th)
- Texas (32nd)
- Florida State (34th)
- Alabama (37th)
- Oklahoma (42nd)
- Florida (64th)
- Oregon (65th)
- LSU (71st)
- Texas Tech (91st)
- Nebraska (99th)
- Clemson (106th)
- Ohio State (111th)
- Georgia (120th)
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