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If you've been reading the ESPN Pac-12 blog lately -- which you should, it's pretty great -- you probably noticed Kevin Gemmell's multiple posts on turnovers. Breaking it down by division, Gemmell took a closer look at points scored and allowed off turnovers. The numbers for WSU are very interesting and possibly telling.
The series concluded on Thursday with Gemmell's preventing points after turnovers post, Pac-12 North style. The quick takeaway is WSU with its 35 turnovers committed, was worse at protecting the ball than any of the other North schools. Cal was second with 28 turnovers while Washington committed just 16 turnovers, less than half of WSU's total. More turnovers leads to more points after turnovers where WSU was the worst with 120 points allowed. That's a staggering number when you consider Stanford allowed just 15 points after turnovers. Oregon, Stanford and Washington combined to turn the ball over 53 times, yet allowed just 107 points off those turnovers. WSU wasn't very good at preventing turnovers or limiting the damage when they did happen.
For fun -- and because overall counting numbers don't always tell the correct story -- I took the data from Gemmell's posts and combined it with total play counts to create a table showing how frequently the Pac-12 teams committed and forced turnovers and how many points were scored as a result.
|
Team |
Plays per TO committed |
Points allowed per TO |
Plays per TO forced |
Points scored per TO |
|
Arizona |
60.1 |
3.3 |
45.0 |
3.9 |
|
ASU |
56.2 |
2.3 |
28.5 |
4.4 |
|
Colorado |
34.5 |
4.5 |
44.0 |
3.4 |
|
UCLA |
68.4 |
3.9 |
38.1 |
3.6 |
|
USC |
50.2 |
3.6 |
42.8 |
2.8 |
|
Utah |
31.9 |
2.9 |
55.4 |
3.9 |
|
California |
29.2 |
3.5 |
69.1 |
2.9 |
|
Oregon |
58.8 |
3.2 |
35.9 |
4.2 |
|
OSU |
36.4 |
2.8 |
31.9 |
3.7 |
|
Stanford |
49.9 |
0.8 |
52.1 |
4.0 |
|
Washington |
56.5 |
2.1 |
44.1 |
4.3 |
|
WSU |
25.0 |
3.4 |
33.5 |
3.7 |
If you click around the table, you can see how WSU fared and oh my, the Cougars terrible at preventing turnovers. WSU turned the ball over once every 25 offensive plays. That's Pac-12 referee level of horrible. That's the series finale of Dexter bad. Basically, that's an awful number and I wish I could unsee it.
Half the Pac-12 turned the ball over once every 50 offensive plays or more, twice WSU's mark. The Cougars were slightly below average at preventing points per turnover, which becomes a bigger problem when you turn the ball over so frequently. Stanford was insanely good at limiting the damage, allowing just 0.8 points per turnover.
Defensively, WSU did a good job forcing turnovers, with their 1:33.5 mark the third best in the conference. They were middle of the road in taking advantage of those turnovers, however. The good news with these numbers, WSU has a lot of room to improve next season.
Football:
Preventing points after turnovers: Pac-12 North Division - ESPN
But the following stats should give you a snapshot of how teams fared when trying to stop an opponent from cashing in on a turnover.
Spring breakout player: Washington State Cougars Vince Mayle - ESPN
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