Okay, it’s my second. My first was wondering how long it’s been since we could accurately refer to the venue as the Gator Bowl. But I digress.
I’d like to think that this will be a game where everybody manages to stay the hell out of Todd Gurley’s way and let him tote Georgia to a win, but seeing as 2013 can be characterized as the Year of Living Generously, it should be no surprise that this Georgia fan’s mind worries about turnovers, among other things.
The pleasant surprise is, for once this season, that the Dawgs are actually playing a team worse in the turnover margin department than they are.
The Bulldogs are minus-six in turnover margin, 13th in the SEC and tied for 97th in the nation. Nebraska is even worse — the Huskers are minus-12, tied for 119th in the nation.
The problem isn’t so much giving the ball away a lot as it is forcing turnovers. Nebraska has come up with only three fumble recoveries this season in the run-oriented Big Ten, and has 16 turnovers.
Georgia has only six interceptions in the pass-happy SEC and has 14 turnovers gained.
In games against D-1 opponents, Georgia is 2-4 in games in which it had a negative turnover margin. (I assume you can do the math on what that means when the Dawgs didn’t lose the turnover battle.)
Nebraska’s story is more interesting. The Cornhuskers are 4-3 in similar games, but those games were their last seven straight of the season. Nebraska is a whopping minus-17 in turnover margin over that stretch. Wowzer.
Those are two trends that give me some hope, but we’ll see.