Each ACC program has now played at least 3 games this season. Not all teams have played an equal amount of “quality opponents,” but there’s enough data to paint a legitimate picture in certain aspects of the game.

Such as penalties. We’re 1/4th of the way through the regular season and some teams have started well while others have failed miserably in that regard.

So, who’s done well at staying out of penalty trouble and who has not? Earlier in the preseason we ran a piece going over exactly that across the past 5 seasons, so let’s take a relook at the totals and compare for the start of 2023.

Here’s the ACC ranked by penalty yards per game through Week 3:

  1. Georgia Tech: 21.7 yards per game
  2. Duke: 28.3 yards per game
  3. Clemson: 30 yards per game
  4. NC State: 40 yards per game
  5. Virginia: 45.3 yards per game
  6. Virginia Tech: 46.3 yards per game
  7. Wake Forest: 46.7 yards per game
  8. Louisville: 51 yards per game
  9. Florida State: 51.3 yards per game
  10. North Carolina: 52 yards per game
  11. Pitt: 54 yards per game
  12. Miami: 69.7 yards per game
  13. Syracuse: 79 yards per game
  14. Boston College: 111 yards per game

And here’s a look at penalty flags thrown per game per team:

  1. Georgia Tech: 1.7
  2. Clemson: 3.3
  3. Duke: 4
  4. Wake Forest: 4.3
  5. Virginia Tech: 4.7
  6. NC State: 5
  7. Florida State: 5
  8. Virginia: 5.7
  9. North Carolina: 5.7
  10. Louisville: 6.7
  11. Pitt: 7
  12. Miami: 7.7
  13. Syracuse: 8.3
  14. Boston College: 12.7

There are a few things to take from this. For one, Boston College is all alone at the bottom of not only the conference, but the country with an average of 111 penalty yards per game thus far. That’s dreadful.

On the other end of the spectrum, Georgia Tech has one of the best marks in the country in this regard. They have the fewest penalty flags thrown per game thus far and sit only behind Iowa in lowest average penalty yardage per game.

Not bad, Yellow Jackets.