Miami football leads ACC in turnover margin by wide amount

The Miami football team has committed nine turnovers and forced two in its two 2023 ACC games. The negative 3.5 turnover margin per game in ACC contests is the worst in conference games by a wide amount. Syracuse is second in the ACC in turnover margin with two forced the seven and committed in three ACC games.

The Orange are losing 1.67 turnovers per game more than their opponents. That is tied with Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have forced five turnovers and committed nine in three ACC Games. On the flip side, North Carolina leads the ACC with a plus eight or 2.67 per game turnover margin in conference games.

Half of the North Carolina turnover margin in ACC games came by forcing four turnovers and committing none in its 41-31 win over Miami on Saturday. The Miami football team obstructed any chance to defeat North Carolina with the four turnovers. Red zone turnovers were arguably the difference between Miami and North Carolina.

Running back Henry Parrish’s fumble inside the one-yard line with the Miami football trailing 7-0 in the first quarter was an early critical mistake. After taking over on their own 14 yardline, Tyler Van Dyke threw an interception on the first play of the drive in the third quarter. North Carolina gained possession on the Miami 23.

Three plays later on third and 20 at the Miami 33-yard line, Drake Maye threw a touchdown pass to Tez Walker to extend the North Carolina lead to 28-17. That was the second of three North Carolina TDs in the third quarter. Miami fumbled on its first drive of the second half and North Carolina recovered.

North Carolina took over on the Miami 41-yard line following the fumble caused by a bad snap. Miami forced a North Carolina punt after a five-play Tar Heels drive. That drive preceded the Van Dyke interception in the red zone. The bad snap is what set up the entire sequence and helped flip the field in favor of North Carolina.

Miami dominated Georgia Tech by most measurements last week. Five turnovers to two for Georgia Tech were a big difference in why the Yellow Jackets prevailed. Miami had three turnovers inside the Georgia Tech 30-yard line and at their own 25 in the 23-20 loss to the Yellow Jackets. Miami left too many potential points on the field.

Georgia Tech converted three of the Miami turnovers into 16 points. Take any of those off the board and the outcome should have been very different. Miami has to avoid turnovers with a difficult schedule in the second half of the season. That begins on Saturday versus Clemson who is fifth in the ACC averaging 32.2 points per game.