Turnovers are a tasty treat for football teams
A GRIP ON SPORTS
It's said if you can learn something new every day, then you never really age. So what happens if what you learn is just a reoccurrence of something you learned long ago, but forgot? Does that mean you've reverted back to that earlier age? It's enough to make your head spin. Read on.
• Speaking of heads spinning, the differences in the three games I focused upon yesterday were enough to make the world look like an "Exorcist" out-take. Eastern Washington at Washington, USC and Stanford and Michigan State at Oregon all were great college football games – in totally different manners. The first featured all offense and no defense. The second pretty much was all defense and little in the way of offense. And the third? Two really good teams with both. But I digress, and I hate when that happens. We were talking about lessons learned – or relearned, to be more accurate. When I was really young (well, in my early 20s), I had a chance to golf with then-USC football coach John Robinson. It had something to do with my job, though I can't remember now what it was. But I do remember Robinson, an Oregon grad, talked about football. Duh. And he continually harped on one truism of the game, as he saw it. If you wanted to win, he said, you had to win the turnover battle. Even against teams that you were better than. The key number was two. Win the turnover battle by two or more, he stated, and the game was yours. I'm sure I wrote his words of wisdom down somewhere. And then filed them away in the back of my mind, only to be surprised when they popped out yesterday after USC had edged Stanford 13-10 in an early season national title elimination game. See, the Trojans won the turnover battle 2-0. They forced two and didn't give up any. But that wasn't why Robinson's pronouncement suddenly popped into my head. What hit me was I had just finished watched Eastern play pinball with the scoreboard at Husky Stadium but lose, 59-52. And, as a quick glance at the online stats showed, the Eagles had suffered two turnovers while forcing, yep, you guessed it, zero. A 2-0 turnover margin. But that still isn't why I was fixated on that number. It goes back to Friday night when I couldn't wrap my mind around Washington State's 24-13 loss to Nevada. The Cougars were better. But they lost. How? OK, you know. The forced turnover numbers were Nevada 2, WSU 0. Three key games this weekend, three games in which the better team lost – and yes, it looked to me as if Eastern is a better team than UW – and the turnover battle went to the winners, 2-0. Coincidence? I'm sure John Robinson, if we were playing golf again today, would say no. He would just point at the numbers, nod his head and look up just in time to see me hit another drive out-of-bounds.
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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe is not out of bounds when he writes this morning Cougar fans are a bit flummoxed by the 0-2 start. I'm not sure anyone saw that coming. Jacob also has a morning post with Pac-12 links. ... The weirdest thing I saw while watching football much of the day yesterday? No, it was not Memphis giving UCLA all it could handle or Oregon State almost blowing a big lead in the Islands. It was USC athletic director Pat Haden on the sidelines doing what every Pac-12 football fan wished they could do: Have an in-game conversation with the officials (pictured). It was a bit odd. And, of course, it triggered the typical overreaction all over the country. ... It was all part of what we learned over the weekend. And remember, turnover margin.
• EWU: The Eagles fumbled the ball away twice, though it was the second one that hurt the most in the seven-point loss. Vernon Adams, who once-upon-a-time would have been recruited by Pac-12 schools before they decided all quarterbacks had to be at least 6-foot-2, showed once again he's the most dynamic quarterback on the West Coast not named Marcus Mariota. Adams' most impressive attribute yesterday was the accuracy of his passes, either on the run or from the pocket. Jim Allen was in Husky Stadium and put together a complete package, what with a game story, a sidebar on Adams and a notebook. ... There were a couple of highly ranked FCS schools facing Big Sky middle-of-the-pack teams yesterday and, as one would expect, the stars shined. North Dakota State, three-time defending FCS champions, defeated Weber State 24-7 while Southeastern Louisiana handled Southern Utah 41-14. ... California destroyed Sacramento State 55-14 and Utah State defeated Idaho State 40-20. ... Portland State got past Western Oregon, 45-38, Montana handled Central Washington with ease, 48-14, and Montana State and UC Davis also won over Division II foes. ... Cal Poly won as a former Cougar makes his first start on the defensive line.
• Idaho: The Vandals got a full game in and almost were able to earn their first victory. Instead, host Louisiana-Monroe, the Sun Belt favorites, scored with a second left and won 38-31. John Blanchette has more in this blog post.
• Whitworth: The Pirates kicked off the Rod Sandberg era Saturday with a dominating 63-10 victory over visiting Lewis & Clark. Tom Clouse has the story and Tyler Tjomsland adds a photo gallery on a beautiful day in the Pine Bowl.
• Chiefs: The preseason continues on, with Spokane dropping a 5-1 decision to Tri-City in Kennewick.
• Preps: After a pretty sad Friday night for the Greater Spokane League, Shadle Park took to the Albi turf yesterday and throttled Fife, 63-14. Greg Lee has that story. ... Mt. Spokane also opened its season yesterday. The Wildcats shut out West Valley (Yakima) in Seattle, 24-0.
• Golf: Jim Meehan delves into an area of golf that isn't always highlighted, the amateur ranks, with this column today on Beth Wrigley, the nine-time defending SAWGA champion.
• Seahawks: The Hawks are not complacent, according to Pete Carroll. ... They also aren't standing pat, as they waived a wide receiver yesterday, presumably to make room on the roster for another cornerback. ... Rookie tackle Justin Britt was challenged so much in practice, the game seemed a bit easier.
• Mariners: I tried to watch the entire M's game last night – after it finally got started following a long rain delay – but I failed. I did see Kyle Seager's two-run home run to tie it, but I missed his single that drove in another run in the 4-2 victory. Seager (pictured scoring a late run) loves hitting in Arlington and the M's love being 1 1/2 games up in the second wild-card chase. ... Mike Zunino can hit home runs. The rest of his hitting needs work. ... Everyone, it seems, ranks major league teams.
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• Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. No, we're not hyping the drags. We're just saying it's the first day of a new week and the final day of the weekend. It should be nice. Enjoy it. Until later ...
