SEC turnover scoreboard: Florida defense continues to carry bumbling offense

In order to understand just how bad the Florida Gators offense is, you have to appreciate how much the defense has done to keep the team afloat in 2014.

The Gators (3-1, 2-1) have been as inconsistent and disappointing as any team in the conference in trying to overcome last year’s 4-8 debacle, but you can’t blame the defense for the rocky start to the current season. Florida leads the SEC in turnover margin again this week, having forced 15 turnovers in four games to compensate for the seven committed by its offense. It forced three turnovers in an ugly 10-9 win over Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday, but the offense committed three turnovers of its own to keep the margin at +8.

Nevertheless, the Gators have still forced the most turnovers in the SEC despite playing one (or two) fewer games than everyone else in the conference (thanks to that rainout against Idaho). The defense has been impressive all season long, doing everything in its power to set a putrid offense up with as many short fields as possible. It hasn’t helped the offense much to this point, but just imagine where Florida might be today without its stellar defense.

Only four teams in the conference have a negative turnover margin thus far in 2014, but two of those teams — Texas A&M and Alabama — are ranked in this week’s AP Top 25. It seems peculiar for teams of that caliber to keep the same company as a team like Vanderbilt, but it is also a testament to just how good the Tide and the Aggies truly are in overcoming those adversities to open with a combined 9-2 record this season.

Once a fumble hits the ground, it is essentially a 50-50 proposition as to who will recover the loose ball. Some teams just get lucky, recovering more than their fair share of fumbles, while others can never seem to catch a break at the bottom of a pile.

Woeful Vanderbilt actually leads the SEC in fumbles forced this season, but once the Commodores’ own fumbles on offense are taken into account they rank just seventh in the conference in recoveries, proving great defensive play does not always mean a team is destined to steal a possession.

Florida leads the SEC in recovery percentage at 77 percent, having recovered 10 of 13 fumbles this season. The Gators’ ratio of three fumbles to 10 opponent fumbles is far among the best in the conference, so perhaps its just good karma that Florida has fallen on so many loose balls.

Three of the SEC’s best teams rank in the bottom three in the conference in recovery percentage in Mississippi State, Auburn and Alabama, but like with Florida on the other end of the spectrum, many expect those teams to gradually move toward the mean as the season continues.

No one has coughed the ball up more than LSU this season, which has committed 12 fumbles in five games, but the Tigers are third in recovery rate at 65 percent. We’ll see if the Bayou Bengals can keep luck on their side as they aim to recover from an 0-2 start in the grueling SEC West.

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.