2011 Football Review: Turnovers....

Taking a look at turnovers now, which is an interesting thing in the MAC this year.  Once again, looking at conference games only, we have already established that turnovers were way down in the MAC this year.  Interceptions were down 47%, and lost fumbles were down 24%.  Keep that perspective in mind when we say that....

BG's turnover ratio fell from -4 to -5 from 2010 to 2011.  Now, relative to our competition, BG's performance on turnover ratio went from 8th in the conference in 2010 to tied for 11th this year.

BG actually had 8 fewer turnovers in 2011 than they did in 2010.  In '10, BG had 9 fumbles and 13 INT, and in 'll in was 6 fumbles and 8 INT.  With 6 fumbles, BG was in a 3-way tie for 6th and 8 INTS was tied with four other teams for last.

I checked.  Only 2 of BG's turnovers came in the red zone, which is pretty typical.

Of course, turnovers are a two-way street.  BG's gained turnovers fell from 18 (t-6th) to 9 (t-10th) a drop steeper than the conference as a whole.  Interceptions fell from 7 to 4 and fumbles from 11 to 5.

One note:  this isn't quite as bad as we might have anticipated because it is conference games only, so, for example, that Wyoming debacle gets dropped out of the analysis.

But, in the end, the following things are true:

BG was worse, relative to the competition, in winning the turnover battle.   However, while BG was among the worst teams in the conference BOTH years in turning the ball over, the defense sunk to the offense's level in creating turnovers.

Coach Clawson talked about this in the year end presser...he said that the defense had to make plays.  Clearly, there is room for improvement on both sides of the ball, but I think most Falcon fans would have assumed that the turnover issue was only on the offensive side of the ball, and that isn't true.