24 turnovers created
When Patterson arrived with Matt Wells in December of 2018, he said that his aggressive, attacking scheme would lead to turnovers in bunches. So far, that hasn’t been the case.
Last year, the Red Raiders were last in the conference in turnovers created per game at 1.0. Their 10 takeaways were tied with Kansas for the fewest in the league but KU played one fewer game than Tech did meaning that no team in the conference was worse at taking the ball away than the Red Raiders.
That was a drop of six takeaways from the year prior, albeit in two fewer games. Still, taking the football away is something Tech must do on a more consistent basis if the defense is going to compliment the offense this year.
Patterson talks frequently about how he isn’t concerned with giving up yards between the 20s and that he’s willing to risk being burned in order to be aggressive because he believes that taking the ball away is the key to success in the Big 12.
But so far, we haven’t seen that philosophy pay many dividends. Will 2021 be the year that changes? Only time will tell.
A great goal for Tech to aim for would be 24 takeaways on the season. That would shake out to two per game which is the type of number that can swing games in a team’s favor.
Though we all hate to think about imitating Baylor in anything other than perhaps men’s basketball success, Tech should try to follow the Bear’s blueprint from 2019 when they led the Big 12 with 30 takeaways, ten more than any other team. That allowed a team that was otherwise rather pedestrian, especially on offense, to reach the Big 12 Championship Game.
This year, Tech has a lot of work to do if it wants to play in the league title game. But to get even close to that goal, taking the football away from opponents has to become more of a way of life for Patterson’s defense.