Cougars need to overturn turnovers

PULLMAN – Football’s numbers sometimes deceive, but they rarely lie.

Take those associated with the turnover ratio.

A positive number is, well, positive.

A negative number is, well, a loss.

“Year in and year out, in most cases, those that are plus in the turnover column are usually the teams that are winning,” said veteran coach Dennis Erickson, struggling through a 2-3 season at Arizona State.

Erickson’s Sun Devils were 10-3 last year. Ask him the biggest difference between then and now and he doesn’t hesitate.

“We’re not getting turnovers and we’re turning it over too much,” he said.

The Sun Devils’ minus-2 turnover ratio for their three losses (and minus-4 for the season) pales in comparison to Washington State’s.

The Cougars (1-5, 0-3 Pac-10) are last in the NCAA’s Bowl Subdivision statistics in turnover ratio at minus-14, tied with a 2-4 Wyoming team.

Now WSU heads to Corvallis, where Oregon State (2-3, 1-1) is plus-2 this season.

It was the turnover-free Beavers who ruined WSU’s ratio last year, intercepting Alex Brink six times and forcing eight total Cougars turnovers en route to an easy 52-17 win in Pullman.

Take that game out of the equation and WSU’s 2007 ratio was plus-6.

This year’s team would just like to be even.

“Turnovers are always a big deal. We are last in the conference by a long, long ways,” WSU’s first-year head coach Paul Wulff said. “We can’t turn the ball over. We’re not in the position as a team right now to be able to survive multiple turnovers.”

“When you turn the ball over and haven’t been able to get turnovers, that’s the Achilles’ heel,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. “You’re going to find with most teams in college that’s the case. If you turn the ball over and lose the turnover margin by one or two, you’re going to fight an uphill battle.”

If you’re going to make mistakes – WSU has, throwing 13 interceptions and losing six fumbles – you have to force miscues, which has not been a Cougars strength – two fumble recoveries and three interceptions.

“In my opinion, you’re not going to get (turnovers) until the core of the (defense’s) leadership emerges and it comes from within,” said WSU co-defensive coordinator Jody Sears.

“A coach can coach and coach until he’s blue in the face, but until somebody in the ranks takes over and says, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get the freakin’ ball,’ it won’t happen. … I don’t know if they realize how important, how really important, it is yet.”

It’s not as if Sears and the defensive staff don’t talk the talk. Cries of, “Rip it out!” and “Get the ball!” echo through practice each day. They also walk the walk in the form of drills designed specifically to increase ball awareness.

“We do several drills doing those type of things,” Wulff said. “We work on it on defense to strip the ball, but we want to secure the tackle first before we strip the ball. That’s been a more important issue for us right now, to make sure we have a secure tackle.”

Sears sees the needed leadership emerging – he cites the vocal sideline demeanor last Saturday at UCLA as an example – and he thinks the Cougars will improve on takeaways as they mature, growing into an understanding of the importance of gaining extra possessions.

“Once you understand your responsibilities, your fits, where you are supposed to be, it allows you to play faster, it allows you to play without having to worry about anything and then the turnovers will come,” Sears said.

Erickson, whom Sears played for at WSU, doesn’t know why takeaways come and go.

“We haven’t created the turnovers that we did a year ago,” he said. “We haven’t gotten the interceptions that we did a year ago, for whatever reason. Whether we’re not in the right place at the right time or we’re not knocking the ball out, we’re just not getting them.”

So if they aren’t coming your way, you have to take better care of the ball.

“You always have to worry about ball security,” said WSU offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy, who calls the Cougars’ plays. “You always want to weigh out the risk and reward. You always have to do that as a coach. You want to be aggressive, you want to take some chances, but you have to weigh out the risk and reward.”

“Ball security – we talk about that all the time,” Wulff said.

Last Saturday the Cougars had one turnover, an interception that turned into a UCLA score.

“We’ve thrown several interceptions,” Wulff said. “Now this last week we had the one.

“It got us to a minus-1 for the game. Unfortunately, it was one of our better days.”

Notes

Another day, another injury. Backup center and long snapper Chris Prummer had his right leg in a soft cast Wednesday after suffering an injury Tuesday. He won’t be ready for Saturday. If starting center Kenny Alfred has to sit, guard Andrew Roxas, who played center for the only time in his life against UCLA last year, would fill in. … Linebacker Cory Evans has finally been cleared after a hamstring kept him out a couple of weeks. He was running with the starters. … Tackle Steven Ayers suited up, but his neck and shoulder injury kept him from contact.