Turnover Scoreboard: Despite sloppy finale UGA finishes with best turnover margin

The Georgia Bulldogs finished the regular season with the SEC’s best turnover margin at plus-15, six better than any other team in the conference. Ten of the SEC’s 14 teams finished the year with a positive turnover margin, and of the four that finished with a negative margin only Alabama won more than seven games in 2014.

Upon analyzing the final turnover scoreboard, it appears the teams with the best margins are not the ones that force the most turnovers, but rather the ones that commit the fewest. Georgia, Missouri and Kentucky boasted the three best turnover margins in the SEC (in that order), and they also committed the fewest turnovers of any teams in the conference (in the same order).

Likewise, Vanderbilt, which boasted the SEC’s worst turnover margin of minus-16, committed the most turnovers of anyone in the conference. The Commodores lost 29 giveaways in 2014, eight more than any other team in the conference.

Ironically, the same Georgia team with the fewest giveaways in the conference committed three turnovers in the red zone in last week’s loss to Georgia Tech, two of which came inside the 5 yard line. The Bulldogs also forced three turnovers in that game to keep its conference-leading turnover margin in-tact.

Ole Miss failed to force a turnover in Saturday’s loss to Mississippi State, snapping a streak of 34 straight games with a takeaway dating back to the 2012 season. The Rebels still finished the year with the SEC’s fourth-best turnover margin, tying Auburn for the SEC lead in interceptions with 19. Star cornerback Senquez Golson closed the season with an SEC-high nine interceptions by himself, more than Texas A&M and Vanderbilt’s entire teams had in 2014.

The Rebels’ turnover margin was ultimately hindered by 21 giveaways on offense, tied for the second-most in the SEC.

Here’s a look at the SEC’s turnover scoreboard through the end of the regular season:

When it came to falling on loose fumbles, no team was better in 2014 than the LSU Tigers. The Bayou Bengals were one of only two teams in the SEC to fall on at least 60 percent of loose balls (Georgia was the other), and that feat is even more impressive considering the Tigers’ offense fumbled the ball 22 times this season, second-most among SEC teams.

Eight teams in the conference recovered at least 50 percent of loose fumbles, but of those eight teams only three are ranked in this week’s Associated Press poll, indicating there isn’t much correlation between falling on loose fumbles and winning ballgames.

In fact, Alabama and Auburn have maintained the two worst fumble recovery rates in the SEC for much of the season, yet both are ranked in this week’s national polls with Alabama sitting at No. 1 in the AP rankings. The Tide recovered just 32 percent of loose fumbles this year, and Auburn recovered just 25 percent of loose footballs.

Florida forced the most opponent fumbles with 27, and Auburn actually ranked in the top 5 in the SEC in that category with 22 forced fumbles, although it only fell on five of them.

Here’s a look at the fumble scoreboard through 14 weeks, indicating a team’s fumbles, its opponents’ fumbles and the total number of loose ball recoveries in 2014:

Ethan Levine

A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.