In the "Best option pitch of 2014" thread, there was a commentary on the ball security on pitches and runs this year. Out of curiosity, I pulled together the data on it to test the validity, starting with turnovers per game and type in 2014:
vs. Wofford - Zero Turnovers.
vs. Tulane - One INT, one strip sack fumble of JT, one fumble attributed to Zenon (couldn't find the video to see if it was a pitch. May have been based on lost yardage).
vs. Ga. State - Zero Turnovers.
vs. VPI - One fumble on a bad pitch by JT.
vs. Miami - Zero Turnovers.
vs. Duke - Two INT's, one rushing fumble by Laskey.
vs. UNC - One fumble attributed to JT (couldn't find the video to see if it was a pitch. May have been based on lost yardage).
vs. Pitt - One rushing fumble by Days.
vs. UVA - One INT.
vs. NCSU - One rushing fumble by Days, the infamous Nealy fumble recovery fumble.
vs. Clemson - One dropped pitch by Zenon (hit him in the hands), one rushing fumble by Laskey.
vs. UGA - One pileup forward progress stopped fumble called on JT, one sack fumble by JT.
vs. FSU - One INT.
vs. Miss St. - One INT.
This gives a total of six INT's and 12 total fumbles. One fumble was on defense, so a total of 11 fumbles. Of those 11:
2 were strip sacks
5 were rushing fumbles (including the UGA goal line fumble)
4 were pitch fumbles (including the ones that had no video)
For previous years (I didn't break out fumble types)
2013 - 13 INT's, 11 fumbles (3 fumbles vs. UVA)
2012 - 8 INT's, 13 fumbles (3 fumbles vs. PC and MTSU)
2011 - 8 INT's, 11 fumbles
2010 - 7 INT's, 20 fumbles (3 fumbles vs. uga and AF)
2009 - 6 INT's, 12 fumbles (3 fumbles vs. FSU)
2008 - 7 INT's, 20 fumbles (3 fumbles vs. BC)
So, there has been significant improvement in ball security since the rough years of 2008-2010. However, the counting numbers indicate that 2014 was almost dead on par with 2011-2013. And, there are no particular trends in the INT numbers (2013 excluded for Vad Lee reasons), which leads me to believe that they are not particularly significant to the discussion. So, what is the catch?
To try and figure out why we looked better to the eye test, I looked at total fumbles including those that were recovered:
Total fumbles - Lost Fumbles (Data Source -
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/team/255/index.html)
2014: 20 total - 12 lost
2013: 28 total - 11 lost
2012: 31 total - 13 lost
2011: 31 total - 11 lost
2010: 37 total - 20 lost
2009: 34 total - 12 lost
2008: 36 total - 20 lost
In short, in 2014 we put the ball on the ground approximately 40% less than the 2008-2013 fumble average and 30% less than 2013, the previous low total fumble year, even though the number of lost fumbles has been relatively stagnant over the past 3 years. Also, we had zero three fumble games and zero games with more than one lost bad pitch. I would suggest that is why the team looked better on the pitch even when the overall numbers of fumbles are unchanged.
Thoughts?