By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:23:48 +0000

@AGator

That flies in the face of the old adage many coaches share with their teams before games: “The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.”

But to each his own. I’ll stand by the numbers. Going back through five years of box scores, I saw quite a few bad teams upset good teams… and the good team usually lost the turnover battle on those occasions.

Thanks for reading,
John

By: AGator

AGator — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:18:05 +0000

I think turnovers are an effect of winning not the cause.

If a college team with a bad turnover ratio played a high school team with a good turnover ratio I think the ratios would reverse. The college team with butterfingers would dominate the turnover battle against a high school team. Same thing if you took a college team with a good turnover ratio and had them play an NFL team with butterfingers. The NFL team would likely win the turnover stats for the game.

Turnovers happen when teams play well. A good team gets to the opposing quarterback more quickly and has tighter pass coverage. This will cause more turnovers than a poor pass rush and poor pass coverage.

I suspect Arkansas is losing the turnover battle because they are getting outplayed not because they lack some special turnover skill.

Comments on: MrSEC.com Stat Analysis: Butterfingers And Bandits

By: John at MrSEC

By: AGator