California may not have the best defense in the conference, but the Golden Bears can sure force teams to cough up the football.
function new_window(url,scrollbars,width,height,top,left)
{
link = window.open(url,"Link","toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars="+ scrollbars +",resizable=0,width="+ width +",height="+ height +",left="+ left +",top="+ top +"");
}
Coming into Saturday's contest against the Sun Devils, Cal is ranked fourth in the nation in turnover ratio, boasting a +15 margin in that category. The Golden Bears have taken away 26 balls while committing only 11 turnovers themselves. Cal head coach Jeff Tedford attributes that to their hard work in practice.
"We continually stress how important it is to secure the ball offensively and on defense turnovers are critical, and we need to try to strip the ball and get the ball out," he said. "It's something that we worked on from day one of camp, making sure everyone understands the importance of it from both sides of the ball."
Despite the great turnover ratio, it is no indication of where the Golden Bears stand defensively. They are currently allowing 387.9 yards per game, ranking them dead last in Pac-10 defense. That figure has partially accounted for the reason Cal started the year 3-0, but is now just 5-4 overall.
However, the Sun Devils are no stranger when it comes to the department of turnovers gained. ASU leads the Pac-10 with 30 forced turnovers. Unfortunately, they have given up 24 of their own, which is worst in the conference. The overall ratio of +6 still ranks them fifth, tied with UCLA.
"We have a turnover period every day where we work on stripping the ball and ball leverage, what we call protecting the football," ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said. "It's something you constantly work on, and obviously Cal does to."
The most impressive statistic behind Cal's turnover mark comes in the differential from last year. The Golden Bears ranked 114th out of 115 Division 1-A schools with a -17 margin in 2001, but this year rank fourth. On top of that, Cal will make teams pay for coughing up the football, as they have scored an unprecedented 91 points off of those turnovers. That's an average of 3.5 points per turnover.
ASU sophomore quarterback Andrew Walter is very aware of Cal's prowess after the football and knows he must protect it well come Saturday.
"I have to make my reads and not force the ball," he said. "I have to make every ball catchable so there is no chance for turnovers. We can't be sloppy with the football and the guys who handle it have to be very careful."
Freshman tailback Cornell Candidate said he didn't think Cal's turnover ratio would make the Sun Devils do anything different.
"It's not like we need to put a different emphasis on how we carry the ball or throw the ball, that's the fundamentals of football," he said. "It's a matter of us knowing they like to create a lot of turnovers…we just got to come out strong, once we do that, there's no team that's going to stop us."
One bright spot the Sun Devils can look at is Cal's inability to finish teams off in the second half. The Golden Bears have a +14 turnover ratio in the first 30 minutes, yet are just +1 coming out of the halftime locker room. With that margin, Cal has blown second half leads to previously ranked Air Force, current No. 5 Washington State and No. 10 USC.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
|
Related Stories |
