Mailbag question: Turnovers

Mailbag question: Turnovers

Can all these turnovers be blamed on being "a young football team" or is there more to it? All I kept hearing after the game and on the radio was this team is young and will get better. Well of course we are doing a lot of assuming there aren't we -- or at least hoping!

Why have we turned the ball over so much the last three games? Is the competition better or is UM lacking something?

We cannot win games by turning the ball over like on Saturday, that is for sure.

What happened from the first several games where we had hardly any turnovers to now? It seems like we have 3-5 a game over the last 3 games.

Very frustrating

Linda T.

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Thanks for the question.

We are very frustrated as well because this scenario played out similarly last year as well. Football 101 states as a commandment that turnovers are the one thing that will lose ball games for you early and often, even with the other team doing nothing special.

The real problem is without some/many of those turnovers you refer to, this Michigan team could have possible won two more games and the fans, media, donors, the players and coaches themselves would/could feel better about themselves and the direction of the football program.

Some of the turnovers can be blamed on youth, especially the interceptions with two true freshmen quarterbacks. The fumbles are a different concern; C. Brown and B. Minor are both veterans and have been through the mill more than once.

The biggest difference that can account for the difference between the early season lack of fumbles and now, in our opinion, is the level of competition.

Michigan's early games, with the exception of Notre Dame, were against lesser opponents. Iowa, Michigan State, and Penn State are quality opponents all of which play superior defense.

Another obvious set of factors is fumbles and injuries, which seem to come in droves. Once the above wheel starts to gain speed, teams start to negatively focus on such problems and the result is typically ever a faster slide.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine