Turnover scoreboard: Ball security helps Kentucky get off to perfect start

Kentucky is off to a 2-0 start, including a SEC victory on the road against South Carolina last week.

Both wins came down to the final possession, and while it’s overly simplistic to suggest that turnovers were the most important factor in both of those victories, they certainly played a key role.

Last week, as South Carolina drove the ball into Wildcats territory in search of a go-ahead score, freshman corner Chris Westry picked off an errant pass from Perry Orth, and Kentucky was able to run out the clock to secure the win.

Alabama and Georgia join Kentucky atop the league’s turnover margin rankings after Week 2, and both of those teams are off to 2-0 starts as well. South Carolina is up there as well, thanks to four interceptions (three of which belong to Skai Moore).

Vanderbilt, now 0-2 on the season, is at the bottom of the turnover chart with a margin of minus-5. Auburn isn’t much better at minus-3, thanks largely to Jeremy Johnson’s five early-season interceptions.

Here’s a look at the SEC’s turnover scoreboard through Week 2.

If you’ve ever dropped a football, you know that there’s no science that can tell you where it might bounce. So, there’s an element of luck to fumble recoveries.

Of course, if defenders attack the ball, those teams will create more fumbles — and thus more chances to recover loose footballs.

The Crimson Tide has recovered all three of its opponents’ fumbles so far this season to lead the fumble chart, and just to illustrate my earlier point about the randomness of fumbles, Auburn has forced a SEC-high seven fumbles while recovering only one.

Meanwhile, LSU has played just one game this season, and the Tigers have neither committed nor forced any turnovers in 2015.

Here’s a look at the fumble scoreboard through two weeks, indicating a team’s fumbles, its opponents’ fumbles and the total number of loose ball recoveries so far these season: