Sloppy Football

The AP story refers to the Texas-OU game as "sloppy" and Mack B referred to it as a defensive struggle like the SEC.

Let's compare a couple of marquee games:

Plays / Turnovers/ Pen Yds:
Game A: 131 / 6 / 173
Game B: 151 / 8 / 228
Game C: 131 / 4 / 108
Game D: 111 / 2 / 109

Game A is the classic Alabama / South Carolina game, B is the Horns / Sooners, and C is Razorbacks / Gators. Game D is the Florida / LSU game from Oct 10.

I won't dispute that the grade of SEC ball overall is superior to the Big 12 this year, I don't even think that's up for debate. What I do want to draw attention to is the number of plays in a game. the OU-Texas game had 15% higher number of plays. There were more opportunities for penalties and turnovers. Texas-OU had 40 more snaps in their game than Florida - LSU from the prior week.

I would propose that the pace of play in the OU-TX game led to a higher rate of penalties and turnovers, and that respect of the foes defense and control freakish nature of the coaches led to a slower pace in the SEC games referenced.

Was the game a little sloppy, you bet. I would say it kept me on the edge of my seat, but that's not true. I was standing the entire time.