FSU football: 3 huge facts about Louisiana-Lafayette
By Kelvin Hunt
Defense Has Great Turnover Margin
Judging by the advanced defensive metrics, it’s obvious the defense is the strength of the team. One thing this Louisiana team excels at is takeaways.
They are +7 nationally in turnover margin, with 14 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries from eight forced fumbles.
They have 21 takeaways this season, which ties for No. 8 nationally. Louisiana has at least one takeaway in every game this season and seven games with at least two takeaways. That doesn’t bode well for an offense like FSU, who has at least one turnover in nine of their 10 games. However, forcing that many turnovers and only having a +7 margin means their offense has the propensity to turn it over too.
I don’t expect FSU to lose the game, but they need to find ways to clean up this lingering issue when and if they begin to face stiffer competition.
There’s always a luck component with takeaways, as evident with Louisiana recovering 7 of 8 fumbles.
However, a clean sheet against a defense that has the propensity to take the ball away would give FSU an added boost of confidence.
The one game FSU didn’t turn the ball over all game? Boston College and that game was over before the first quarter ended.