BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana coach Bill Lynch uses statistics like everyone else. He can cite numbers to show progress – or illustrate the anomalies.

Guess which tack he’ll take this week after the Hoosiers committed four turnovers in a 27-14 loss to Illinois.

Yes, Lynch’s Hoosiers share the Big Ten lead with Iowa in turnover margin, but it certainly didn’t appear that way Saturday when Indiana saw two scoring chances vanish because players couldn’t hang on to the ball.

“You just emphasize it and drill it, and as an offense you explain that everyone on the offense is responsible for the ball whether it’s the quarterback or a blocker,” Lynch said Tuesday during his weekly news conference. “It’s a learned thing, it’s a habit, it’s fundamentals.”

Over the first four weeks of the season, Lynch has sometimes expressed concern about the Hoosiers’ propensity for fumbling.

Against Indiana State, the Hoosiers dropped the ball six times, yet lost only one. At Western Michigan, after Lynch spent the week harping on ball protection, Indiana fumbled two more times but recovered both.

In the Big Ten, as the Hoosiers know all too well, there’s less margin for error – as Illinois demonstrated Saturday.

The Hoosiers lost three of four fumbles, threw an interception in the end zone and had a punt blocked. And the numbers only told part of the story.

Two fumbles came deep in Illinois territory, costing the Hoosiers scoring chances. The third led to Illinois’ final touchdown, sealing the outcome, and the interception prevented any hope of a second straight comeback against the Illini (3-1, 1-0).

While the interception came when Indiana was pressed to save time late in the game, Lynch watched three of his most sure-handed athletes inexplicably put the ball on the ground.

Running back Marcus Thigpen’s fumble at the Illinois 33 led to an Illini field goal. Receiver Ray Fisher had the ball punched out after catching a short pass and racing to the Illinois 17 in the second quarter, prematurely ending a promising drive.

Then, early in the fourth quarter with Indiana still trailing just 20-14, receiver James Hardy caught a pass at the Indiana 27 and was stripped. The miscue set up the Illini’s final TD and forced Indiana to re-evaluate itself after losing a game in which it produced more yards, (397-386), more first downs (26-23) and a better third-down conversion rate than Illinois.

“I had a big fumble and I’ve never fumbled before,” Hardy said. “Looking back on it, it was a careless effort. I talked to Marcus about it and Ray about it, but it’s really everybody. We’re still young and still learning. So we’re trying to turn it into a positive and move on.”

Finding the answer may prove more elusive.

Indiana has now fumbled 13 times in four weeks yet survived its first three games – against two Mid-American Conference schools and a school from the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA – because it forced opponents into 11 turnovers.

Lynch, like most coaches, believes winning the turnover battle produces wins but believes the key component against traditionally stronger Big Ten programs is not committing mistakes.

The Hoosiers understand.

“That’s one of the keys to our whole season, not fumbling the ball,” Hardy said.