RotoWire.com, where you can find top college football betting promos, is breaking down the most penalized college football teams during the 2025 season, updating on a weekly basis for the most up-to-date stats, to see which teams are the most disciplined throughout the season. Using TeamRankings.com, we ranked teams based on a discipline score, which is found by taking Penalties per game + Penalty yards per game and dividing it by two. [(Penalties per game +penalty yards per game)/2]
2025's Most Penalized College Football Teams: Weekly Rankings & Analysis
Rank | Team | Discipline Score |
1 |
| 45.4 |
2 |
| 44.7 |
3 |
| 44.3 |
4 |
| 43.9 |
T5 |
| 41.5 |
T5 |
| 41.5 |
7 |
| 40.8 |
8 |
| 40.2 |
T9 |
| 40.1 |
T9 |
| 40.1 |
11 |
| 39.9 |
12 |
| 39.1 |
13 |
| 38.9 |
14 |
| 38.5 |
15 |
| 38.3 |
16 |
| 37.8 |
T17 |
| 37.5 |
T17 |
| 37.5 |
T19 |
| 37.4 |
T19 |
| 37.4 |
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (↓2)
Duke Blue Devils (↑1)
James Madison Dukes (↑1)
UCLA Bruins (↑5)
UNLV Rebels (↑2)
Missouri State Bears (↑20)
Tulane Green Wave (↑3)
Pittsburgh Panthers (↓4)
Georgia State Panthers (↓9)
Toledo Rockets (-)
Mississippi State Bulldogs (↓5)
UAB Blazers (↑3)
Appalachian State Mountaineers (↑8)
Bowling Green Falcons (↑4)
Texas A&M Aggies (↑4)
Virginia Tech Hokies (↑12)
Florida Atlantic Owls (↓4)
TCU Horned Frogs (-)This analysis comes from RotoWire.com, your source for top U.S. sportsbooks information.
Who Are America's Most-Penalized CFB Teams?
The nation's least disciplined team through nine weeks for penalties and penalty yards per game, according to TeamRankings.com data, is Sonny Crumbie's Louisiana Tech Bulldogs squad. They are 4-3 this year and 2-2 in Conference USA play.
Louisiana Tech has an overall discipline score of 45.4, because they have piled up the most average penalty yards per game (82.2) and are 132nd out of 136 FBS teams for penalties per game (8.5).
Those totals (and the Bulldogs' discipline score) put Louisiana Tech ahead of Wake Forest (44.7 score), Duke (44.3), James Madison (43.9), then UCLA and UNLV, who are tied for fifth at 41.5 each.
Out of those five, Wake Forest has committed the most infractions per game this year, at 8.8, while JMU (8.7), UCLA (8.4) and UNLV (8.3) were the next closest (Louisiana Tech excluded).
Bookmark RotoWire's Heisman Trophy odds as the season rolls along.
How America's Most Penalized Teams Have Performed This Year?
The 10 least disciplined teams in FBS by our metrics have a collective record of 51-22 (.699) this fall. 
Cincinnati (7-1) is the top-ranked team in our top 10, sitting at No. 17 in the Associated Press top 25 poll. At BetMGM, the Bearcats have +600 odds to win the Big 12 as of Oct. 27.
Programs such as JMU (6-1), UNLV (6-1), Tulane (6-1) and Pittsburgh (6-2) are also all bowl eligible already despite their tendency to pile up penalties.
Throw in Wake Forest (5-2) and 4-3 teams such as Louisiana Tech, Duke and Missouri State and you have the upper end of the CFB success board covered. UCLA (3-5) is the lone program in the top 10 with a sub-.500 record in 2025.
Consult our CFB futures odds page as well.
Q&A
Q: What are the most penalized college football teams in 2025?
A: Each week of the 2025 season, RotoWire updates its rankings of the most penalized college football teams using penalty data from TeamRankings.com. Teams are ranked by their discipline score, which combines both penalties per game and penalty yards per game for all games played. The teams with the highest scores are considered the most penalized and least disciplined.
Q: How is the discipline score calculated?
A: The discipline score is designed to balance both the frequency of penalties and their impact. The formula is: (Penalties per game + Penalty yards per game) / 2. This ensures that a team that commits a lot of penalties and/or racks up significant yardage losses, gets reflected properly in the ranking.
Q: Why do penalties matter in college football?
A: Penalties can change the outcome of games. They can stall offensive drives, extend opponents' possessions, and swing momentum. Teams that consistently rank among the most penalized often struggle in close games, while disciplined teams are more likely to avoid costly mistakes in high-pressure situations.
