Everybody used to say it was the blocking and tackling. The ball is THE most important thing in the game. Let’s punch the ball, let’s strip the ball, let’s go after the ball. That’s something that’s now being taught more and more in this day and age. “Guys that just have a knack for creating that and have a knack for getting their hands on the ball. “When you’re out recruiting, you’ve got to look for guys that create turnovers,” Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott said. In fact, it starts in the recruiting process. For the programs within the Sun Belt, the foundation for success in the turnover game begins much earlier.

It’s a great indicator of how we have to play and what we have to do on each side of the ball respectively.”Ĭreating turnovers, however, isn’t just something that happens organically on Saturdays in the fall.

“They were something like 88-1 over a multi-year span when they won the double positives – when they created explosive plays and took care of the ball, they won the football game. “ did a study years ago when he was a graduate assistant at Texas looking at their on-field success,” said South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack, whose team ranks in the top-10 in the nation in both turnover margin and turnovers gained. That combination is what South Alabama offensive coordinator Major Applewhite calls the “double-positives.” “If you look at the two most important measuring instruments of winning football games – first and foremost is turnover margin and second is explosive plays.” “Absolutely critical,” said Arkansas State head coach Butch Jones. Just how important are turnovers to a team’s success? Coastal Carolina leads the nation in turnovers gained with 17, while Georgia State is second with 15 takeaways. A nation-leading seven of those squads are Sun Belt teams, including the top two in the FBS that category.

There are 27 FBS programs with 12 or more turnovers gained on the season.

No other single conference has more than four.

Eight of the nation’s top-30 teams in terms of turnover margin reside in the Sun Belt.

Whether it comes in the form of an interception or a fumble recovery, it’s an instant infusion of energy for one team and an acute moment of deflation for the other.Īnd entering Week 7 of the 2022 college football season, no conference does it better than the Sun Belt. Story Links NEW ORLEANS – There is perhaps no other type of play that can affect the momentum of a football game more than a turnover.

Takeaway vs turnover football