Bruins not cashing in on turnovers

Last week against Colorado, the UCLA defense forced a season-high four turnovers. The offense repaid the favor with a measly three points off those turnovers.

Even when the offense gets some much-needed help, it can’t necessarily find the end zone.

Below is a look at all of UCLA’s drives that started with a turnover this year, categorized by different outcomes against each opponent. The arrow lengths indicate where the drive started and where it ended, each labeled with the final play (where applicable). turnover-drive-chart-real

The Bruins have forced 18 turnovers this season (at least one in every game other than Arizona). They’ve only scored four touchdowns off those turnovers. They haven’t had a touchdown drive off a turnover longer than 22 yards. Their longest scoring drive off a turnover was a 70-yard drive against Stanford, which stalled in the red zone and ended with a 27-yard field goal from J.J. Molson. It’s the only time this season that UCLA scored off a turnover after starting that drive in its own territory.

UCLA averages 22.1 yards per drive following a turnover.

When it comes to scoring off turnovers, UCLA is one of the worst in the Pac-12. The Bruins average 2.2 points per turnover forced, second lowest in the conference. Only USC is worse. Oregon, Stanford and Washington make up the top three in points per turnover. Despite Oregon and Stanford’s abilities to convert efficiently, they cannot compete with UW’s ability to both force turnovers and cash in on them. The UW defense has 22 turnovers, which trails only Utah in the conference, while the offense came away with 79 points.

A run down of how teams stack up in terms points per turnover: points-per-turnover