Things You May Not Have Known About Iowa Football: Installment III -- Last year a great one for turnover margin, but it didn't pay off

I'm on vacation. The Hlog, miraculously, keeps going. Maybe it needs an exorcist. Maybe I do.

I was looking at 2010 college football statistics, which is seldom a healthy thing. That was a line from a Bob Dylan song, I believe.

Nonetheless, I noticed Iowa was tied for seventh in the nation in turnover margin last season, so it was +13 over 13 games, or 1.00.  The Hawkeyes forced 24 turnovers while making just 11 over their 13 games. The 11 committed was the second-lowest total in the nation, behind only Wisconsin (9).

Usually, those kinds of numbers indicate you had a big season. Iowa was 8-5, and just 4-4 in the Big Ten.

The year before, when Iowa went 11-2, its turnover margin for the season was just +2. So are turnovers overrated?

Heck, no! Look at the nation's top 10 teams in turnover margin last season, and you see a common thread. They were winners. Here are the top 10 in that stat with their won-lost records:

1. Virginia Tech  11-3

2. Tulsa  10-3

3. Army  7-6

T4. Maryland  9-4

T4. Ohio State  12-1

6. Wisconsin  11-2

T7. Iowa  8-5

T7. Oklahoma  12-2

T7. Oregon  12-1

T7. Stanford  12-1

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, Hawkeye fans, but last year (all five losses were by one score) was a golden opportunity squandered. Your team didn't give the ball away. Yet, it gave something away, somewhere, to only go 4-4 in the Big Ten and slip to the Insight Bowl.