Among quarterbacks with 145 attempts this season, Sam Leavitt leads the country with eight interceptions.
Ashton Daniels of Florida State and JJ Kohl of FIU have also thrown eight interceptions apiece. Auburn signal caller Byrum Brown is one off that pace with seven.
Brown and Leavitt duel on the Plains on Saturday. The winner might need to duplicate last week’s outing when both played turnover-free football in big wins.
“He did a really good job taking care of the football which is the quarterback’s number one job and was the biggest key to having success,” Auburn head coach Alex Golesh said of Brown.
Golesh’s next comment applies to Leavitt, too, although it’s in reference to Brown.
“I think he continues to get more comfortable with the guys around him,” he said. “He’s a vet. He’s kind of been there, done that. It’s obviously been an adjustment, right? He’s continued to learn and grow. He’s played better every week.”
Leavitt has completed 77% of his passes over the last four games. He hasn’t struggled significantly through the air since throwing interceptions on three consecutive drives in the first half against Louisiana Tech. Brown, meanwhile, threw three interceptions against Baylor in the season opener.
The turnover issues have been puzzling because both quarterbacks have played a ton of football, and much of it has been clean over the years.
Brown will make start No. 39 on Saturday. Leavitt has 27 under his belt. At USF, Brown once threw 252 consecutive passes without an interception and threw just seven interceptions over his final 473 attempts. Leavitt only threw nine interceptions in two seasons as the Sun Devil starter.
Perhaps last week was both turning the page. They just did it in different ways.
Leavitt is waiting more patiently in the pocket and throwing more accurately. Brown took off and ran 26 times.
Golesh, who has worked with Brown for four years, sees the similarities in both players, too.
“If you look at it from Day 1 or from Week 1 to now, (Leavitt)’s gotten more and more comfortable,” Golesh said. “And that’s natural. You’re in a system. It’s game seven. They’ve got a ton of new guys around him…and they’ve continued to get better. Huge challenge for us with the fact that he can certainly move in the pocket, out of the pocket, design run game. They do a good job with him.”
LSU has lost the turnover battle 3-1 in its two losses. The interceptions were a 1-1 wash at Ole Miss, but the two turnovers at Kentucky played a huge role in LSU’s loss.
Turnovers ignite crowds, change field position and impact the scoreboard. Auburn won the turnover battle 3-0 in an upset of Georgia last week.
“We talked about it last week, a huge key to winning football in general is not turning it over and creating turnovers,” Golesh said. “Playing really good football teams, that turnover margin, third down success, red zone success, those are the three biggest factors to winning.”
