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No. 11 Blake Smolen
GVL

Turnovers have, could decide winner of GVSU vs Carson-Newman

By Matt Kuzawa GVL Sports Editor
12/1/2009

In football, the winner of the turnover battle tends to come out on top at the end of the game. This was the case in Grand Valley State University's win over the University of Minnesota-Duluth and will likely continue when Carson-Newman College visits Lubbers Stadium on Saturday.

With Carson-Newman’s offense running a triple-option attack, the Eagles are more susceptible to fumbling the ball because of the number of times the team pitches the ball to their running backs.

“Obviously sometimes you can hit them and cause fumbles in the option, and sometimes they just happen,” said GVSU head coach Chuck Martin, when asked about Carson-Newman’s 30 fumbles, with 17 of them lost to the opposing team.

Martin said even though the Lakers (12-1) will be praying all week the Eagles will cough up the ball on Saturday, they cannot bank on causing turnovers.

“We’ll certainly be praying that they turn it over some – that would be a huge benefit to us,” he said. “But you can’t sit there and say that we’re going to stop them by getting turnovers because a lot of times with the triple they happen or they do not happen.”

When Carson-Newman (11-2) played North Alabama in the second week of the regular season, they turned the ball over four times. The result was a 31-14 loss. In Saturday’s rematch between the two teams, Carson-Newman did not turn the ball over once.

Martin said the absence of turnovers was the difference, as Carson-Newman claimed a 24-21victory over North Alabama to set up the semifinal matchup against the Lakers.

GVSU was in a similar situation last week as four timely interceptions by the Laker defense proved crucial to both sides of the ball in their 24-10 win over Minnesota-Duluth in the semifinals.

“Obviously getting the interceptions was huge,” Martin said. “And converting points after the interceptions was huge.”

One in particular stood out to Martin. With GVSU leading by two touchdowns with 2:25 left in the game, Minnesota-Duluth was threatening to score. A touchdown would have pulled the Bulldogs within a score of the Lakers.

Minnesota-Duluth almost did just that finding an open receiver deep in the endzone. But instead, senior safety Jake McGuckin recovered and got to the ball just in time to pick the ball off, ending the Bulldogs’ hopes for a come-from-behind victory.

If it would have been any other player on GVSU’s defense, Martin said he would have turned away in angst at the soon-to-be touchdown.

“But with Jake (McGuckin), you never know with him,” he said. “I thought he might get back to bat it down, but when he caught it I was standing next to (defensive coordinator Matt) Mitchell, and very rarely do I smile or laugh, but it was such a good play it was almost comical.”

Martin said that uncanny ability to get back to the ball speaks to how good of a football player McGuckin is – something they see in practice every week, intercepting GVSU senior quarterback Brad Iciek.

“I kind of got a chuckle out of it like, that son of a gun did it again,” Martin said. “I’ve seen him do it before and there’s no one else on our football team that can make that play but him.”

Turnovers can kill a team’s hopes of winning, or provide an opportunity to cash in on the opposing team’s mistake. Last week both GVSU and Carson-Newman benefited from the latter, and now will face each other for a trip to Florence, Ala. in the semifinal game.

“Obviously we’re excited to be where we’re at right now but we don’t want to just end in the semifinals,” said junior safety Matt Bakker. “We just have to take it week by week and get better every week.”

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. at Lubbers Stadium in Allendale, and will be broadcast by ESPN.

All student tickets are free. Tickets are available at the 20/20 desk in the Kirkhof Center or at the Athletic Ticket Office in the Fieldhouse.

sports@lanthorn.com

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