“Gentlemen, this is a football”, Vintage Vince Lombardi.

I never really got this message other than getting back to basics. The message became real however when I read Pete Carroll’s new book. Winning Forever. He writes, “USC won fifty three straight games when we had a positive turnover ratio.” And he goes onto say that a mantra preached year round was, “Its about the ball”.
That is an impressive number that must be respected.

I decided to study this give away take away ratio , or turnover margin to see if it had a real correlation to winning.

Last years NFL leaders were the Packers with +24, Eagles +15, and Saints +11. All strong finishers last year with the Saints winning the Super Bowl.

In the BCS LSU was second in the nation in turnover margin in 2007, and Florida finished with turnover margins of +22 in 2008 and +5 in 2006 as they won two of the past three national title.

I guess gentlemen it really is about the ball!