Michigan’s name tends to live in the spotlight, and not always for reasons tied to the box score. But a recent look at discipline across college football put the Wolverines in a much different category: one of the cleanest programs in the sport from 2020 through 2025.
The Action Network built what it calls a “dirty score” to measure how undisciplined a team was over that span. The formula blends penalty yards per game, penalties per game, first downs surrendered on penalties, and penalties per play. The scale runs from 0 to 100, with 100 labeled the dirtiest.
Michigan’s score came in at 2.94, which placed it behind only three teams. Army and Air Force finished as the top two programs in the rankings, with Iowa right ahead of Michigan in third.
That finish lines up with the kind of football Michigan played during its best stretch in this window. The Wolverines’ run from 2021 through 2023 included a national championship, while 2020, 2024, and 2025 were far less successful on the field. Even so, the numbers show a team that stayed disciplined.
Michigan averaged 4.35 penalties per game for just under 40 penalty yards per game. Its 0.030 penalties per play figure was low enough to put the Wolverines in elite company.
That kind of ranking also invites the usual side glance toward the rivals most eager to point fingers. Ohio State checked in at 111th on the dirty score list, landing in the same neighborhood as Northern Illinois, Oklahoma State, and Ball State. In other words, if the Buckeyes have had issues from 2020 to 2025, they haven’t been about flag after flag.
Michigan State landed much higher on the dirtier end of the spectrum, just outside the top 25. The Spartans finished 26th with a dirty score of 81.62 after averaging nearly 6.5 penalties per game and 58.58 penalty yards per game. That span covers the Mel Tucker and Jonathan Smith eras at head coach.
The ranking also notes that things could shift with Pat Fitzgerald in charge. Michigan State was listed as the seventh cleanest program from 2020-2025, though Fitzgerald was not the coach for the full stretch. Discipline has long been one of his calling cards.
Iowa ultimately took the Big Ten crown in this category, which fits the hard-nosed reputation it has built. Michigan, though, wasn’t far behind. For a program that has spent plenty of time under a microscope over the last five years, the on-field discipline numbers tell a different story.
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