- No text -

- No text -

We've talked at length about the ruthless and unethical ways through which Saban manages his roster like a serial killer. So I imagine it doesn't hurt that every single player on his roster knows he is a subpar performance away from getting bench for another denizen of Planet Krypton, and just a few bad breaks away from getting shuttled out of the program altogether and looking hard at associate's degrees in TV/VCR repair.

I think Saban's obsessive attention to the formal aspect of preparation--that it is always the same for everyone and doesn't change over the course of the 4 or 5 years you're on campus--really mitigates against letdowns. Energy levels may fluctuate depending on opponent, but execution is muscle-memory-deep. (It also probably doesn't hurt that internal competition between 5 stars means that you're one bad play away from being replaced by the high school All-American waiting in the wings for your spot.)

On this point, it's been said that in Osborne's heyday, every high school in Nebraska ran the University's offense. So every year, he just took the best 5 OL in the state, fed them beef for 3 years, and then rolled them out on the field for the last two years of their college careers to dominate. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Super competitive people have that ability to focus day in a day out at a much higher level than average/mediocre competitors.

Whether its Tom Brady & the Patriots pulling it off week in and week out for so many years in a row or Bama and their cult ... I believe the biggest difference is just a mental one that obsessive winners take on as a natural instinct.

I remember back in the '90s I used to shoot a lot of pool with an ND soccer player (Bill Lanza) that had played on the U21 national team. He was a pure goal scorer. He was absolutely deadly when attacking the goal. I played a game of 2v1 soccer with him once and he absolutely destroyed us winning something like 10-3 or 10-2. At the time it really opened my eyes to how focused and driven his competitiveness was. He always said that to be elite, in his natural form he had to win 2v1 competitions the majority of times. That was his standard. That was just his job. That's what he did.

When we would go shoot pool, over the years I learned from his feedback about being absolutely focused for perfection on every shot. It wasn't just that you made your shot, it was where you left the cue ball and how you reacted to making your shot and the image/confidence you gave off to your opponent. You had to walk a certain way. You had to stand a certain way and in a certain spot (opposite the opposing shooter) when it wasn't your turn.

Some people think they are competitive, but when you meet and get to know someone that's truly an elite competitor, you realize how much more work they put in day in and day out. Their level of focus and competitiveness is really different than what the average competitor does.

Hopefully, Brian Kelly and team were pissed off and really drove these points home this week. ND needs to coach these kids up, so that they embody that determination and focus day in and day out.

I keep thinking Thank God ND got out with a W last week. Survive. Re-Focus. Live to fight another day. ND's still in this, but its clear they have a lot of work to do to get to where they need to be this season.

Seems like they made Michigan a one-game seasons and tried to use Ball St. to figure out what they have, with sexy results.

E.g., I think it's entirely possible we didn't put much emphasis in camp on anything besides what was going to help us beat Michigan (e.g., so little intermediate passing, only heavily repping the gameplan-specific run plays, etc.). The thought being that if they got past michigan they could figure everything out against the next couple of teams on the schedule.

I think one of the big miscalculations they might've made was in overlooking the fact that coming off of an all-in first game like Michigan, their performance (as coaches, and for the players) was going to be well off-peak. That is, I don't think the plan involved trying out a terrible gameplan against Ball St., I think they probably ended up with a terrible gameplan against Ball St. because they maniacally focused on the Michigan gameplan.

A high-leverage gamble and there's a good chance it blows up in their faces (though even if it does the Michigan win is no small booby prize).

Just to see how they follow up last week's performance.
If they lose 41-13, I'm going to have to start to worry a little.
A good win would sure be nice.

--
"F--- everyone who isn't us."
#Team128