(09-30-2014 09:35 AM)adcorbett Wrote: (09-29-2014 05:09 PM)FloridaJag Wrote: (09-29-2014 04:37 PM)adcorbett Wrote: (09-29-2014 03:43 PM)FloridaJag Wrote: Plus Alabama struggled with Florida.
Struggled? For what, ten minutes? Due to turnovers. I'd hardly call the can they opened on the Gators a struggle.
More like 36 minutes. It was all tied up at 21 into third quarter. UF caused those fumbles.
It was not tied up at 21 "into" the third quarter. Alabama was up, and then committed another turnover, and Florida scored. Then Alabama came right back down and scored again, to go up for good. Florida scored on drives of 31 and 16, and on defense. No one watching that game, remotely thought Alabama in anyway was "struggling." The turnovers just kept the game from being a horrific blowout.
Turnovers are a part of the game. Florida scored on them and it is a fact that the game was close until the 3rd quarter.
Heck, there have been many, many games where team A rolls up 500 yards and team B can only manage 250, but team B wins because of turnovers and other big plays (kick returns, etc.).
Football is a game of big plays, or at least structured such that big plays can trump mundane, play-in play-out effectiveness. You can 'win' four plays out of five, but if those four plays are 8 yard gains and the fifth that the other team wins is a pick-6, you are behind 7-0 despite statistical domination.
Lots of sports are like that, e.g., in baseball team A can have twice as many hits as B but if those hits don't produce runs A can lose, in Soccer or Hockey one team can dominate ball or puck possession and have lots more shots on goal but if their shots don't go they can lose, etc.
In contrast, in a sport like basketball, moment by moment domination almost always translates into a lead on the scoreboard and that's because play translates into points quickly. It's basically impossible for one team to dominate statistically in any meaningful sense and still lose. That's a cool thing about basketball.