Nebraska’s Decade-Plus of Mind-Melting Turnovers

[Saunders]

Let’s go back to 2003 for a second. That’s the year Bo Pelini first arrived at Nebraska to fix the Huskers’ defense. Minus a GA stint at Iowa right after graduating from Ohio State, this was Pelini’s first job in the college ranks though he had worked under an impressive array of NFL coaches at that point.

His impact was immediate. Pelini’s 2003 defense finished the season 24th in rush defense, 11th in pass and total defense and second in scoring defense. But the thing everyone remembers about that season is the turnovers. The Huskers ranked second nationally in takeaways (47) and first in interceptions (32) and turnover margin per game (1.77). That wasn’t enough to save Frank Solich’s job, but it was enough to make Pelini something of the people’s choice to replace Solich despite the fact that Pelini had never been a head coach.

http://hailvarsity.com/news/football-news/nebraskas-mind-melting-turnovers/2016/06/

This is so huge, and it's the biggest thing holding us back. I saw a chart some time last year that showed the top 25 win percentage teams over the last 7 years (Pelini's tenure), and NU was the only team in that list with a negative turnover margin, and it was the worst in that department by a large margin.

 

[Saunders]

Reset the turnover odometer at the start of the 2004 season and since then Nebraska is -76 in turnovers (156 games, 12 seasons) which ranks 113th nationally. No Power 5 team has been worse. The Huskers’ -0.487 turnover margin per game ranks 112th. Washington State (-0.490, 113th) is the only Power 5 school that has been worse on a per-game basis.

WJW....

 

[Red Five]

Our turnover stats have been abysmal the last 10 years. Its amazing to me that we were able win as much as we did under Bo with how bad we were in the turnover department.

 

[Decked]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

 

[Enhance]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

More precision at the QB position would do wonders. I think the team threw 21 interceptions overall last year, most of those obviously from TA.

NU finished the season with 6 fumbles lost in 2015, which puts them in the Top 37 of teams, which isn't bad.

I think it just goes to show how important it is to have better ball security at the QB position.

 

[RedSavage]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

More precision at the QB position would do wonders. I think the team threw 21 interceptions overall last year, most of those obviously from TA.

NU finished the season with 6 fumbles lost in 2015, which puts them in the Top 37 of teams, which isn't bad.

I think it just goes to show how important it is to have better ball security at the QB position.

While I don't disagree with this, our defense has not come even remotely close to holding up their end of the deal either

 

[Enhance]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

More precision at the QB position would do wonders. I think the team threw 21 interceptions overall last year, most of those obviously from TA.

NU finished the season with 6 fumbles lost in 2015, which puts them in the Top 37 of teams, which isn't bad.

I think it just goes to show how important it is to have better ball security at the QB position.

While I don't disagree with this, our defense has not come even remotely close to holding up their end of the deal either

That's very true, though I would caution us from viewing our turnovers vs. the turnovers we get through the same lens.

The turnover ratio is a critical statistic, don't get me wrong. And we certainly need to do a better job defensively of forcing those mistakes. But, this program finished 123rd in the nation last year with 21 interceptions. I think it's more important we focus on limiting our mistakes offensively than trying to get the defense to make up for offensive woes.

 

[NUance]

I could understand a fair amount of turnovers when we ran an option offense. But it seems like we should have gotten better when we went away from the option.

 

[RedSavage]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

More precision at the QB position would do wonders. I think the team threw 21 interceptions overall last year, most of those obviously from TA.

NU finished the season with 6 fumbles lost in 2015, which puts them in the Top 37 of teams, which isn't bad.

I think it just goes to show how important it is to have better ball security at the QB position.

While I don't disagree with this, our defense has not come even remotely close to holding up their end of the deal either

That's very true, though I would caution us from viewing our turnovers vs. the turnovers we get through the same lens.

The turnover ratio is a critical statistic, don't get me wrong. And we certainly need to do a better job defensively of forcing those mistakes. But, this program finished 123rd in the nation last year with 21 interceptions. I think it's more important we focus on limiting our mistakes offensively than trying to get the defense to make up for offensive woes.

I definitely agree with that. Focus on what you have the most control over. A lot easier to limit your offensive mistakes than to force the other team to make them.

 

[RedDenver]

Reset the turnover odometer at the start of the 2004 season and since then Nebraska is -76 in turnovers (156 games, 12 seasons) which ranks 113th nationally. No Power 5 team has been worse. The Huskers’ -0.487 turnover margin per game ranks 112th. Washington State (-0.490, 113th) is the only Power 5 school that has been worse on a per-game basis.

WJW....

What does WJW mean?

 

[huKSer]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

I think that the QB with fumblitis was TMart due to him always trying to reach out the football to gain a half of a yard.

 

[huKSer]

Reset the turnover odometer at the start of the 2004 season and since then Nebraska is -76 in turnovers (156 games, 12 seasons) which ranks 113th nationally. No Power 5 team has been worse. The Huskers’ -0.487 turnover margin per game ranks 112th. Washington State (-0.490, 113th) is the only Power 5 school that has been worse on a per-game basis.

WJW....

What does WJW mean?

wow, just wow. Google is your friend

 

[Scratchtown]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

More precision at the QB position would do wonders. I think the team threw 21 interceptions overall last year, most of those obviously from TA.
NU finished the season with 6 fumbles lost in 2015, which puts them in the Top 37 of teams, which isn't bad.

I think it just goes to show how important it is to have better ball security at the QB position.

While I don't disagree with this, our defense has not come even remotely close to holding up their end of the deal either

That's very true, though I would caution us from viewing our turnovers vs. the turnovers we get through the same lens.
The turnover ratio is a critical statistic, don't get me wrong. And we certainly need to do a better job defensively of forcing those mistakes. But, this program finished 123rd in the nation last year with 21 interceptions. I think it's more important we focus on limiting our mistakes offensively than trying to get the defense to make up for offensive woes.

Why can't it be both? They are separate units.

 

[Enhance]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

More precision at the QB position would do wonders. I think the team threw 21 interceptions overall last year, most of those obviously from TA.
NU finished the season with 6 fumbles lost in 2015, which puts them in the Top 37 of teams, which isn't bad.

I think it just goes to show how important it is to have better ball security at the QB position.

While I don't disagree with this, our defense has not come even remotely close to holding up their end of the deal either

That's very true, though I would caution us from viewing our turnovers vs. the turnovers we get through the same lens.
The turnover ratio is a critical statistic, don't get me wrong. And we certainly need to do a better job defensively of forcing those mistakes. But, this program finished 123rd in the nation last year with 21 interceptions. I think it's more important we focus on limiting our mistakes offensively than trying to get the defense to make up for offensive woes.

Why can't it be both? They are separate units.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but that's what I was trying to say. In essence, we should look at offensive turnovers/defensive turnovers together, but also separately.

The turnover ratio is important because you want to see how well you're holding onto the ball and taking the ball away as a team. However, they also need to be analyzed as distinct variables, and we shouldn't view high offensive turnovers as meaning our defense needs to do a better job to make up for it.

In a perfect world, the defense creates a lot of opportunities and the offense limits their own mistakes. Unfortunately, like last year, we didn't create a lot of defensive turnovers and the offense turned the ball over way too much, which is a huge reason we saw 6 wins as opposed to 8-9.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Doesn't help having a run first QB the last few years. Obviously, if we want to win something of value this needs to be corrected.

I think that the QB with fumblitis was TMart due to him always trying to reach out the football to gain a half of a yard.

Martinez and Armstrong have the same instinct, whether running or passing, and it's what the NBA pundits call "hero ball."

You know you're an exciting player and you can make exciting things happen, but you never quite learn when it's smarter to tuck the ball and declare the play over.

Somehow the whole turnover issue on both sides of the ball goes to the same issue of fundamentals, discipline and desire. Especially since the turnover issue appears to parallel the spike in penalties.

Somebody with more discipline and desire can look up Nebraska's past decade of penalties.