Patrick Stevens The Washington Times - January 11, 2009, 12:26PM

January 10, oddly enough, is a rather magical day in the turnover history of both Maryland and Georgia Tech.

There’s a certain statistical serendipity that brought them together yesterday, and of course the Yellow Jackets added to that history with their 28 miscues.

SEE RELATED:

One lingering question from yesterday was when was the last time Maryland forced 28 turnovers in an ACC game. And it happened to occur in 1999. Against N.C. State.

Yep, it was on January 10. Exactly 10 years ago.

Funny how it works sometimes.

Anyway, here are the top turnover days for Maryland’s defense since the 1998-99 season (and, as always, I’ll toss the plea out that if anyone has some media guides from before the 1999-00 season they have no need for, feel free to drop me a line).

Date Opponent TOs Score
12/27/98 South Carolina St. 
35 W, 104-70 
11/30/02 Duquesne 35 W, 89-39
12/30/00 Md.-Eastern Shore 32 W, 105-53
1/10/99 N.C. State
 31 W, 94-48
11/22/99 Fairleigh Dickinson
 30 W, 104-45
11/27/02 The Citadel
 30 W, 97-49
12/19/98 vs. Princeton
 29 W, 81-58
11/23/04 
Mercer 28 W, 93-67
1/10/09 Georgia Tech
 28 W, 68-61

Meanwhile, I really, really think Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt needs to put in an urgent request to not play a conference game next Jan. 10.

Because it has been ugly every time the Yellow Jackets have been stuck playing on that date since Hewitt was hired earlier this decade.

Georgia Tech has four 28-turnover games under Hewitt. Three have come in Jan. 10 conference games.

Granted, the opponent in two of them (Duke) might have had just a teensy bit to do with things. And obviously, it’s coincidental. But it’s a little spooky, nonetheless.

Anyway, here’s the rundown of the 25-turnover games Hewitt has presided over in his nine seasons:

Date Opponent TOs Score
2/21/01 @Duke 29 L, 98-54
1/10/02 @Duke 29 L, 104-79
1/10/07 Duke 28 W, 74-63
1/10/09 @Maryland 28 L, 68-61
1/21/06 Clemson 27 L, 73-63
12/17/08 Georgia State
 27 W, 84-64
2/9/06 @Florida State
 26 L, 80-79
12/9/06 @Vanderbilt 25 L, 73-64

—- Patrick Stevens