[Goose]

I think what the poster meant was that the sack (without the fumble) was going to give us the ball in the same 10 yard gain area in any case. The fumble netted us almost nothing, less than a yard at most.

Well, sure, except there wasn't any sack. Alfieri poked the ball out without bringing Daniels down. (around :49 seconds here: https://twitter.com/StanfordFball/status...2403057664).

Alfieri was right there and would have certainly completed a tackle if the ball hadn't come out. Here is a link to a photo. http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-...story.html that pretty clearly shows Alfieri about to wrap him up.  The PAC-12 replay (https://pac-12.com/videos/highlights-sta...bryce-love) makes it look more like Daniels just lost control of the ball, but since it is from the back side, one can't be sure that Alfieri didn't punch it. To me, it looked more like Daniels was trying to shift the ball away to prevent that and just lost control. However, it is clear he was toast in any case.

[Goose]

I think what the poster meant was that the sack (without the fumble) was going to give us the ball in the same 10 yard gain area in any case. The fumble netted us almost nothing, less than a yard at most.

Well, sure, except there wasn't any sack. Alfieri poked the ball out without bringing Daniels down. (around :49 seconds here: https://twitter.com/StanfordFball/status...2403057664).

Alfieri was right there and would have certainly completed a tackle if the ball hadn't come out. Here is a link to a photo. http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-...story.html that pretty clearly shows Alfieri about to wrap him up.  The PAC-12 replay (https://pac-12.com/videos/highlights-sta...bryce-love) makes it look more like Daniels just lost control of the ball, but since it is from the back side, one can't be sure that Alfieri didn't punch it. To me, it looked more like Daniels was trying to shift the ball away to prevent that and just lost control. However, it is clear he was toast in any case.