After the Oregon Ducks put a 59-20 shellacking on a demoralized Florida State Seminoles squad in the Rose Bowl, FSU QB Jameis Winston acted like he'd just taken part in a nail-biter rather than a historic blowout in the College Football Playoff's first-ever semifinal game.
"This game could have went either way, if you want to be -- if everybody in this room just wants to be real with themselves, this game could have went either way," Winston said, via ESPN.com. "We turned the ball over a lot. We beat ourself. Just be real with yourself right now. We beat ourself."
While most of that was obvious sourness from a defiant Winston, the 2013 Heisman winner touched on a point of emphasis that has paid extremely huge dividends for the Ducks - turnovers.
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The Seminoles turned the ball over five times in Pasadena, turning what would likely have been a normal beating into an absolute rout.
This isn't something new for the Ducks. Actually, the Rose Bowl was emblematic of the rule and not the exception for Oregon this season. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Ducks have scored 154 points off of turnovers this season, or nearly 11 points per game. That's the third-most in the FBS, sitting only being Louisiana Tech and TCU.
Furthermore, the Ducks average 5.1 points off of each turnover they force, second behind only Arizona State (5.3).
So, while Winston's bluster likely got the better of him, he's right about one thing - turnovers absoluted killed the Seminoles, just like they have for several Oregon Ducks opponents.
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