The Trojans are forcing fumbles at an impressive pace this season.

It’s the recovery part that’s a little troubling.

Through seven games in 2009, the USC defense has forced 17 fumbles, but it has only recovered six. The 44 percent recovery rate is lowest among the last eight seasons, as the Trojans have been recovering around 50 percent of forced fumbles since 2002. For some reason, the rate in ’09 just isn’t up to par.

“That’s worth lots of points per game if we could get just a few more fumble recoveries,” Coach Carroll said.

One positive is that through seven games this season, the Trojans have already matched their entire total of forced fumbles in 2008. And they’re on pace to have roughly the same number of forced fumbles as the previous several seasons (2002-07).

“Now it’s about recovering those fumbles,” Carroll said.

Take a look at the USC defense’s ratio of fumbles recovered to fumbles forced since 2002:

Season    FR-FF      % recovered
2009        7-16          44        (**thru 7 games)
2008        10-16        63        (13 games)
2007        16-31        52        (13 games)
2006        11-23        48        (13 games)
2005        16-35        46        (13 games)
2004        16-33        48        (13 games)
2003        20-35        57        (13 games)
2002        19-36        53        (13 games)