Just browsing through the stats for the 2008 season, looking at the differences between Ohio State and That Team Up North. I found this one….it kinda bears looking at.
Turnovers
| FUMBLES | Ohio State | Opponent | TTUN |
Opponent | ||
| YSU | 1 | 1 | Utah | 2 | 2 | |
| Ohio | 1 | 1 | Miami | 0 | 1 | |
| USC | 1 | 0 | N Dame | 4 | 0 | |
| Troy | 0 | 0 | Wisky | 3 | 2 | |
| Minn | 1 | 2 | Ill | 2 | 0 | |
| Wisky | 1 | 1 | Toledo | 0 | 1 | |
| Purdue | 0 | 1 | PSU | 1 | 1 | |
| MSU | 0 | 3 | MSU | 1 | 3 | |
| PSU | 1 | 0 | Purdue | 1 | 1 | |
| NW | 0 | 2 | Minn | 1 | 0 | |
| Ill | 1 | 1 | NW | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTAL | 7 | 12 | TOTAL | 16 | 11 | |
| INT | Ohio State | Opponent | TTUN | Opponent | ||
| YSU | 0 | 0 | Utah | 1 | 1 | |
| Ohio | 0 | 4 | Miami | 0 | 0 | |
| USC | 2 | 1 | N Dame | 2 | 2 | |
| Troy | 1 | 2 | Wisky | 2 | 2 | |
| Minn | 0 | 1 | Ill | 0 | 0 | |
| Wisky | 1 | 1 | Toledo | 3 | 0 | |
| Purdue | 0 | 1 | PSU | 0 | 0 | |
| MSU | 0 | 2 | MSU | 3 | 0 | |
| PSU | 1 | 0 | Purdue | 0 | 0 | |
| NW | 0 | 1 | Minn | 0 | 1 | |
| Ill | 0 | 1 | NW | 1 | 2 | |
| TOTAL | 5 | 14 | TOTAL | 12 | 8 |
- Total turnovers – Ohio State 12, TTUN 28
- Opponents turnovers – Ohio State 26, TTUN 19
Any coach will tell you….if you win the turnover battle, you win almost always win the game. This is certainly the case with both teams in The Rivalry.
TTUN has been dreadful at the turnover ratio, and they do not have much ambition when it comes to picking off passes. Take for example this;
On September 27th, with 10:27 seconds left in the 4th quarter, TTUN intercepted a Wisconsin pass and returned it 70 yards for a TD. The next time they would intercept a pass, it was on November 8th, when they picked one off against Minnesota with 7:16 to play in the game.
It took them over 6 full games to intercept another pass. 363 minutes and 11 seconds of football had been played between those picks. In real time, it was 42 days between interceptions.
Yeah, that’s pretty bad.
Another stat where you can see the difference between these two teams….In 11 games this year, Ohio State has turned the ball over a total of 12 times. That Team Up North turned the ball over a total of 12 times in their non-conference games.
If the Wolverines have any chance at this game, they have to end their consistent pattern of turning the ball over. And they also have to learn how to steal the ball from us. Without winning the turnover battle, I don’t see a chance in hell for TTUN to pull off an upset.
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