MOBILE, Ala. - Michael Gordon struggled to come up with a moment in which Arkansas State’s offense had put its defense in a hole this season.
“No, not off the top,” the sophomore running back said Friday. “I can’t remember.”
Gordon wasn’t suffering memory loss following Friday’s practice at the University of South Alabama. Put simply, ASU hasn’t had many turnovers this season, let alone back-breaking ones, which is one of the reasons it won four consecutive games in November to earn a share of the Sun Belt Conference title.
ASU (7-5) has committed just 13 turnovers this season, tied for the fifth-fewest in the FBS, going into its game against Ball State (10-2) at 8 p.m. Sunday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Only twice this season - against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Georgia State - has ASU committed more than one turnover in a game, and the Red Wolves turned it over only eight times against conference opponents.
“Everyone makes an emphasis of it,” ASU quarterback Adam Kennedy said. “But, for whatever reason, it’s just really stuck with this team.”
The Cardinals forced 30 turnovers this season, which is tied for seventh nationally.Eleven Cardinals recovered fumbles, seven players had interceptions and they forced three or more turnovers six times - including in three of their final four games - to finish with a plus-13 turnover margin.
ASU interim Coach John Thompson and Ball State Coach Pete Lembo pointed to turnovers as a key factor in how things will unfold Sunday night.
Can ASU avoid giving the ball away in key moments like it has most of the season? Or will Ball State force a poor pass that gets intercepted or force a fumble?
“Something’s got to give,” Lembo said.
Gordon said the regularity with which Ball State has taken the ball away has been a talking point since the team learned of its bowl opponent three weeks ago.
Gordon doesn’t need any reminders about ball security. He hasn’t fumbled once in 106 carries this season. And even though Kennedy threw fewer passes when ASU shifted to a run-based offense in the middle of the season, he finished with only six interceptions, the least of any starting quarterback in the Sun Belt Conference.
“Without the ball, you can’t do anything,” Gordon said. “So, we all just lock in on ball security.”
Thompson, ASU’s defensive coordinator, has been appreciative of that trait, but he also looks at Ball State’s takeaway total with a bit of admiration.
“That’s a very big number,” Thompson said. “It says they’re in the right spot and they get a lot of people to the ball. That’s how you do that. You emphasize it.”
Lembo said that outside of one of college football’s most productive offenses, a ball-hawking defense is one of the biggest reasons the Cardinals are in a bowl game for the second consecutive year. Ball State forced 14 last year and more than doubled that total in 2013 thanks to what Lembo said was a strength and conditioning program that emphasizes explosion and a weekly routine in which such things are practiced.
Cornerback Jeffery Garrett, who has five interceptions this season, said it’s called the “turnover circuit.” For 20 minutes each Tuesday and Wednesday, they focus on forcing fumbles and intercepting passes.
“We focus on [getting] three a game,” Garrett said. “If we do that, we feel we’ll put ourselves in good position to win.”
If Garrett and the Cardinals manage three takeaways Sunday, it’d be more than ASU has given up in any one game this season. The possibility is there, Kennedy said, which is why he doesn’t think ASU can forget how well it’s done protecting the ball to this point.
“The guys really think about it on a weekly basis, and I think that’s the key,” Kennedy said. “It’s when you forget about it and start playing loose with it that things start happening”
Sports, Pages 21 on 01/04/2014