Turnover Scoreboard: Landshark defense earns top turnover margin following loss

Georgia maintained the SEC’s best turnover margin after sitting out last week on a bye, but the Ole Miss Rebels and their “Landshark” defense pulled even with the Bulldogs following a heartbreaking loss to LSU in Death Valley. The Rebels matched the Dawgs’ plus-13 turnover margin after forcing four Tigers turnovers (two fumbles and two interceptions) in the loss.

The Rebels would be leading the SEC in turnover margin if not for quarterback Bo Wallace’s late-game interception to seal the deal for Ole Miss (sorry, Rebels fans).

Auburn also made a tremendous leap in turnover margin, improving from plus-four to plus-six after intercepting South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson three times in a 42-35 win. The Tigers were sixth in the conference in turnover margin but leapt to a tie for fourth with Missouri following the victory over the Gamecocks. Mizzou intercepted Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Johnny McCrary one time and did not commit a turnover of its own in a 24-14 win over the Commodores.

Seven SEC teams now have an even turnover margin or worse, including five teams with negative turnover margins. The team with the most giveaways in the SEC is Vanderbilt with 17, one more than Tennessee’s 16 turnovers this season. The Commodores are tied with Texas A&M for the worst turnover margin in the conference at minus-seven, although those teams reached such a poor margin in completely different ways. Vandy has the most giveaways, while A&M has the fewest takeaways with just six in eight games, including just two interceptions.

Here’s a look at the SEC’s turnover scoreboard through nine weeks:

There’s no science to covering loose fumbles, be it your own or an opponents. Luck and timing are as big of factors as anything else, and through nine weeks no team has been luckier in recovering loose balls than Georgia, which (not surprisingly) also owns the SEC’s best turnover margin.

Georgia has recovered 14 of 19 fumbles this season, a success rate of nearly 74 percent. LSU is not far behind, falling on 19 of 30 fumbles as the only other team to recover at least 60 percent of loose balls.

A whopping 10 teams have recovered at least 50 percent of loose fumbles this season, and 12 of 14 SEC teams have recovered at least 47 percent of loose balls. Ironically, the only teams without at least some success in recovering fumbles have been two of the top 5 teams in the land: Alabama and Auburn. The Tide has recovered just nine of 26 fumbles, and Auburn has been even worse in recovering just five of 22.

Kentucky has been the luckiest team when it comes to recovering its own fumbles. The Cats have coughed the ball up 16 times this season but have recovered 12 of those fumbles to avoid disaster time and time again. To contrast, Alabama has fumbled the ball 13 times and has only fallen on three of those loose balls, costing its offense on a number of possessions.

Auburn and Kentucky have both forced the most fumbles with 17 apiece, but neither has been particularly good at taking advantage of those opportunities. Auburn has recovered just three of the 17 fumbles its forced, and Kentucky has recovered only five of 17. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s defense has forced the fewest opponent fumbles with just nine in eight games, but the Gamecocks have also fallen on five of those loose balls, making the most of the few opportunities the defense provides them.

Here’s a look at the fumble scoreboard through nine weeks, indicating a team’s fumbles, its opponent’s 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.