Turnovers, anyone?

Generally when you talk about good defenses, you are talking about units that force plenty of turnovers. The Wolfpack defense presents an interesting case--ranked number one in the nation in total defense after six games (diggin' it), the Pack defense has forced just five turnovers on the season (not so much diggin' it). Three of those turnovers were forced against Richmond in the season opener, and the other two came against Ohio State and Virginia Tech, respectively. What this means is that the Wolfpack has not forced a turnover in its last three games. What the hell is going on here? Is it bad luck? Or is the defense so good that it doesn't let the opposing offense stay on the field long enough to make a mistake?

The latter is not the case. Both Wake Forest and North Carolina had some lengthy scoring drives and moved the ball fairly well. Yet no mistakes. Both did a good job, and they deserve credit, but when you look at the season as a whole, it seems odd that there wasn't a turnover in there somewhere. To say the least, we are extremely fortunate to be 2-1 over the last three games. We've lost the turnover battle in five of six games this season, yet we've won three of them (of the five). A credit to the defense mostly, but also to an offense that has done a good job minimizing mistakes as the season has progressed. Jay Davis has gotten much more secure with the ball, that's for sure. TA McLendon hasn't been putting it on the carpet.

So will the trend continue for the Wolfpack and eventually catch up to them, or do they break through and force 4-5 turnovers in an upcoming game? If we do have a breakthrough game, I sure hope it comes against Miami this Saturday. Regardless of the turnover situation, the defense will keep us in the game.

At this point, the Pack can't afford much of anything in the way of errors. A large number of turnovers (like the number suffered against OSU) would likely be too much to overcome.