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Turnover scoreboard: Florida’s opportunistic defense powers its league-leading turnover margin
By Randy Capps
Published:
Florida may be limping into the SEC Championship Game on the heels of a 27-2 home loss to Florida State, but the Gators continue to dominate the league’s turnover scoreboard.
The team’s plus-10 turnover margin is the best in the league, powered by an SEC-high 24 takeaways. As it has for most of the season, LSU’s strong margin is boosted by taking care of the football with a league-low nine giveaways.
Alabama and Arkansas join the Tigers at plus-7, but arrived there in different ways. The Crimson Tide is second to Florida in takeaways with 23, while the Razorbacks have only committed 10 turnovers.
After a few weeks clawing its way up in turnover margin, Vanderbilt has slipped back to minus-8. Mississippi State isn’t much better at minus-5. Vandy is last in the league with 25 giveaways while Kentucky, Texas A&M and Ole Miss each have 22.
Here’s a look at the SEC’s turnover scoreboard through Week 13:
| Rank | School | Turn. Margin | Fum. Rec. | Int. | Total Lost |
| 1 | Florida | 10 | 10 | 14 | 14 |
| 2 | LSU | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | Alabama | 7 | 8 | 15 | 16 |
| 2 | Arkansas | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 5 | 8 | 12 | 15 |
| 6 | Auburn | 4 | 5 | 13 | 14 |
| 7 | Georgia | 3 | 10 | 11 | 18 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 3 | 7 | 8 | 12 |
| 9 | Mississippi | 0 | 7 | 15 | 22 |
| 10 | Missouri | -1 | 7 | 9 | 17 |
| 11 | Kentucky | -2 | 9 | 11 | 22 |
| 12 | Texas A&M | -4 | 7 | 11 | 22 |
| 13 | Mississippi State | -5 | 1 | 11 | 17 |
| 14 | Vanderbilt | -8 | 11 | 6 | 25 |
While their overall margin may be poor, the Commodores excel at fumble recoveries with a league-leading 11. That’s one better than both Florida and Georgia and two better than Kentucky.
The national average for recovery percentage is 47.2, and only Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Kentucky are at or above that figure. The Razorbacks lead the league at an even 50 percent.
Mississippi State continues a shockingly unlucky season with fumble recoveries. The Bulldogs are dead last nationally in recoveries (1) and recovery percentage (8.3). Talk about the ball never bouncing your way.
Maybe they’ll recover a handful of loose balls in their bowl game. They’re certainly due.
Auburn is also near the bottom with five recoveries while six other schools have seven fumble recoveries on the season.
Here’s a look at the fumble scoreboard, indicating a team’s fumble recoveries, its own fumbles, its opponents’ fumbles and the rate for recovering those opponent fumbles so far this season:
| Rank | School | Fum. Rec. | Fum. Lost | Opp. Fum. | Fum. Rec. % |
| 1 | Vanderbilt | 11 | 9 | 23 | 47.83 |
| 2 | Florida | 10 | 7 | 22 | 45.45 |
| 2 | Georgia | 10 | 10 | 21 | 47.62 |
| 4 | Kentucky | 9 | 6 | 19 | 47.37 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 8 | 3 | 20 | 40 |
| 5 | Alabama | 8 | 6 | 20 | 40 |
| 7 | Mississippi | 7 | 9 | 22 | 31.82 |
| 7 | Texas A&M | 7 | 8 | 21 | 33.33 |
| 7 | Missouri | 7 | 5 | 18 | 38.89 |
| 7 | LSU | 7 | 4 | 17 | 41.18 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 7 | 7 | 15 | 46.67 |
| 7 | Arkansas | 7 | 3 | 14 | 50 |
| 13 | Auburn | 5 | 5 | 19 | 26.32 |
| 14 | Mississippi State | 1 | 13 | 12 | 8.33 |
Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.
