Turnover scoreboard: Quarterback issues aside, unbeaten Florida tops SEC rankings
It hasn’t been the best week for the Florida Gators.
Quarterback Will Grier has been suspended for a year by the NCAA, putting the Gators’ offensive future in peril.
While Jim McElwain and his staff gets Treon Harris ready to play the quarterback position, Florida fans can take solace in their team’s strong start in the turnover rankings.
Florida is +8 in the rankings, two better than its opponent this week, LSU. I’ll spare you the usual cliche about how turnovers will decide the winner between the two unbeaten teams.
The Tigers rank highly because of a league-low 1 turnover, while Florida’s ranking is because of forcing an SEC-high 13 turnovers.
Mississippi, Auburn, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt anchor the standings with negative turnover margins.
The Rebels are 2nd in the league with 12 forced turnovers but lead the league in giveaways with 13. Alabama is close behind with 12 turnovers, which cancels out their 12 takeaways on the season.
Mississippi State and Vanderbilt are near the bottom of the rankings because both are tied for last with 5 takeaways.
Here’s a look at the SEC’s turnover scoreboard through Week 6:
Rank | Name | Turn. Margin | Fum. Rec. | Int. | Total Lost |
1 | Florida | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
2 | LSU | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
3 | Tennessee | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
4 | Texas A&M | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
4 | Arkansas | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
6 | Georgia | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
6 | Missouri | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
8 | Alabama | 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
8 | Kentucky | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
8 | South Carolina | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
11 | Mississippi | -1 | 3 | 9 | 13 |
11 | Auburn | -1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
13 | Mississippi State | -2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
14 | Vanderbilt | -6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
Florida also leads the way in the fumble rankings with 6 recoveries on the season. Texas A&M is in 2nd place with 5, while Auburn, Tennessee and Alabama all have 4.
Only Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M are recovering fumbles at a rate of 50 percent or better — which was the national average in 2014.
South Carolina, Mississippi State, LSU and Missouri, on the other hand, are under 25 percent on the season. Those numbers figure to creep closer to the 50 percent mark in the weeks ahead.
Here’s a look at the fumble scoreboard through three weeks, indicating a team’s fumble recoveries, its own fumbles, its opponents’ fumbles and the rate for recovering those opponent fumbles so far this season:
Rank | Name | Fumbles Rec. | Fumbles | Opp. Fum. | Fum. Rec. % |
1 | Florida | 6 | 2 | 11 | 54.55 |
2 | Texas A&M | 5 | 3 | 9 | 55.56 |
3 | Auburn | 4 | 2 | 11 | 36.36 |
3 | Tennessee | 4 | 3 | 9 | 44.44 |
3 | Alabama | 4 | 4 | 9 | 44.44 |
6 | Mississippi | 3 | 7 | 11 | 27.27 |
6 | Georgia | 3 | 5 | 10 | 30 |
6 | Vanderbilt | 3 | 3 | 9 | 33.33 |
6 | Kentucky | 3 | 1 | 7 | 42.86 |
6 | Arkansas | 3 | 2 | 6 | 50 |
11 | Missouri | 2 | 1 | 8 | 25 |
12 | South Carolina | 1 | 1 | 8 | 12.5 |
12 | Mississippi State | 1 | 7 | 7 | 14.29 |
12 | LSU | 1 | 1 | 6 | 16.67 |