Seven Year Review – SEC West Turnover Margin
Football is now just months away and we intend to take you all the way to kickoff and beyond here at MWN and today we continue looking at the “Seven Year Review”. In the SYR we will look back at different stats and trends among the SEC West teams, ranking each team accordingly showing you trends and numbers, which should give you an idea what to possibly expect from teams this year within each category. We will also see how the Bulldogs have fared in these categories and what they need to do to move up the charts.
Today we look at turnover margin the seven year review amongst SEC West teams. Turnover margin is a statistic used in sports to determine whether a team is turning the ball over more than it is receiving turnovers from the it’s opponent. A turnover occurs when the offensive team gives up the ball accidentally to the other team before their possession is complete. This particular statistic is used in many sports but most prominently in football. Calculating the turnover margin requires subtracting the amount of times a team has turned the ball over in a game from the amount of times the opposing team has turned it over.
Turnover margin isn’t the end all be all in stats, but it goes a long way in the success of a football team during a season. There are exceptions to the rule such as Wisconsin in 2014 who won 10-games with a (-9) Turnover Margin or (TOM). But – most teams that possess winning records typically have a near zero or positive turnover margin.
Here is the seven year trend in the SEC when talking about TOM.
Again as we have seen through this study, there is Alabama and LSU at the top – producing far more turnovers than giving up the football. Mississippi State checks in at number three and this stat alone is a big reason why the Bulldogs have won the games they are supposed to on their schedule and been competitive in others. If you go back through Mullen’s tenure, look at the big losses and you will find a negative turnover ratio or margin.
Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss come in fourth through sixth with the Aggies of Texas A&M bringing up the rear. The Aggies are another outlier when talking about turnover margin, because they have traditionally given the ball away far more than they take it from their opponent; but, the Aggies still continue to produce very good results on the field in terms of wins and losses.
For Mississippi State to stay in the upper half of the SEC West this year they must again take the football away and do their best to not turn over the pigskin, especially in critical scoring situations or backed up in their own red-zone.