Turnovers are the achilles heel

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of WV football over the last decade.

I think ESPN ran a stat on the TV ticker Saturday stating since joining the BXII, WV has lost 9 games where it surrendered 3 or more turnovers. Man, 9 wins that slipped away due in large part or wholly to gifting the ball away. If this is true & accurate, that's a huge swing that vastly flips our profile of late.

I’ll take it a step further for anyone interested. Turnovers have absolutely held this program back from achieving even more extraordinary marks for a long, long time. Frustrating because these beat yourself big plays are instances where we had possession of the football and gave it away or didn’t protect it enough to prevent significant damage. It’s a fundamental, but apparently difficult aspect of the game to master.

To be fair, this is something that’s recurred through three different coaching regimes, and plagued all fans who have remained invested.

 

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2005
11-1 Sugar Bowl champs.
Hardly anything to gripe about, but two giveaways in the Hokies’ 34-17 decision included an untimely muffed punt that proved costly in the pursuit of what could've been a 12-0 season.

2006
11-2 Gator Bowl champs.
At No. 5 L'Ville: 3 turnovers in a 10-point loss including a dagger scoop & score following a Slaton fumble.
Vs USF: 5 turnovers in a 5-point loss. Slaton fumbled once at the USF one-yard line. G.Selvie had a scoop & score following a Pat White fumble.

2007
11-2 Fiesta champs.
At No. 18 USF: 6 turnovers in 8-point loss. First score of the game was a White pick 6 by Moffitt.
Vs Pitt: 5 fumbles cost a national championship appearance.

 

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2008
9-4 Meineke champs.
At ECU: 2 giveaways to 0 takeaways. White had the funky fumble laying the ball out for a 1st down attempt. Jock Sanders fumbled later that set up ECU for a TD and an insurmountable 17-3 lead.
Vs Cincy: against the future league champs who went on to the Orange Bowl, WVU was -2 turnovers in a 3-point OT loss. Also turned over twice on downs inside the UC 10.

2009
At Auburn: marquee matchup at famed SEC venue against then early unbeatens, WV gave it away 6 times and lost by 11. WV outgained AU, 509-400, but J.Brown threw 4 picks.

2010
Vs Syracuse: Geno threw three INTs in the first half in a 5-point loss. That showing marked the beginning of the end of the Bill Stewart era.
At UConn: in a game that decided the Big East & ultimately put UConn in the Fiesta Bowl, WV fumbled seven times, four of which the Huskies recovered in their 3-point OT win. Punctuating the end of the Stewart era, decided by then AD Oliver Luck, Stewart said: "You cannot win any games if you can't take care of the ball.”
Vs NC State in Champs Sports Bowl: ‘Eers fumbled four times & Geno threw one INT. Russell Wilson led NC State to just 52 more yards, but won the game by 16.

 

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2011
Vs No. 2 LSU: With a chance to make a national splash vs one of college football’s all-time best defenses – including on the Game Day & ABC primetime stage – WVU outgained LSU, 533 to 366, but LSU won the turnover battle, 4-0, and the game, 47-21.
At Syracuse: lost by 26 to an underdog; turnovers went WV 2 Cuse 0.
Vs L’Ville: lost turnover margin again, 2-1. A.Buie fumbled at our 15-yard line setting up at L’Ville FG. They won by 3.

2012
Despite a defense capable of nothing, 7-6 WV did take care of the ball all but twice.
Vs K-State: 0-2.
At OK State: 1-2.

2013
At OU: 4-4 even heat, but three WV fumbles foiled a real shot at a landmark victory in Norman. Sooners 16 WV 7 in a sloppy final.
At MD: 6 giveaways resulted in WV’s lone loss to the Terps in 10 meetings. 37-0 defeat is worst of Holgorsen’s career, he said last month.
At K-State: a halftime lead blown behind three turnovers to two.
Vs Texas: against Longhorns, who were 6-0 in league play, WV committed 5 turnovers in a 7-point OT home loss. Game ended on a devastating Paul Millard INT.
At Kansas: Jayhawks snapped a 27-game Big XII losing streak by beating WV behind a 2-1 turnover edge. 14 points resulted off turnovers in a 12-point Kansas win.
Vs Iowa State: with a bowl bid impossible by then, a 4-2 turnover disparity cost WV a Senior Night win in a 52-44 triple OT loss at home to a perennial league bottom dweller.

2014
More than individually worth naming. 29 total. -15 ratio. Last in conference in turnover margin. Ranked 119th nationally in the same category.

2015
Ranked No. 1 nationally through three games, turnover margin disparity seemed fixed. But against two P5 teams, WV has given the ball away seven times, including five crippling instances at undefeated OU, who was a 7-point favorite that won the game by 20. Prior Sooners wins over the ‘Eers were by 12 points, 9 & 1.