Does mental really matter?

[vollygirl]

Yes, it matters.

I heard an interview with Tom Herman before the season started. When asked how he mentally prepares his team to overlook all the preseason hype he said, (paraphrasing) "this team hasn't done anything yet, last year's team only lost one game and beat FSU in a bowl game. THIS team is 0-0.

I personally think it would help this Tennessee team if they enter tomorrow's game with that kind of mindset. THIS team has never lost to Florida, they are 3-0, at home, and can do what 11 other teams couldn't.

They are as prepared physically as they are gonna be for tomorrow. It is vital for them to be prepared mentally in the next 32 hours.

Some or all of you probably could have said this better than I just did, but I hope you get my point.

Perfectly stated imo.

 

[DocVOLiday]

If the mental aspect of the game doesnt matter, why does it help a team to play at home?

Home cooking of course


Jk

 

[Fijivol72]

Yes it matters. Tn has something to prove to themselves and fl believes no matter what they have Tn number. Golf would be a great analogy. If you are playing someone you've never beaten and you are up but get a bad break guess what goes through your mind? Here we go again, plus the choke factor. Never fails, just ask Sergio.

 

[SeniorDrill]

If you are saying that because we lost 11 in a row that has no affect on this years game i agree. But The mental aspect is a massive part of every sport.

How your mentality is during each and every play affects the effort you put in. If you let yourself get down any time something bad happens thats going to affect your level of play. If the other team gets a TD and you get pissed off and fired up thats going to affect your play. Staying focused.

Its all mental.

That's the main point. The steak means nothing as far as this game is concerned. At the time of the game with the adrenalin pumping, there is never the thought we're gonna lose. The mental downer comes when you lose.

 

[sjt18]

We keep hearing the mantra Tennessee is not capable of beating Florida? Is that even relevant? I don't think a whole team's (coaches and players) mentality has anything to do with losing a football game. Notice I didn't say winning.

It goes to Butch's 1 on 1 depiction of a football game. One play does not win or lose a football game even though we like to think it does. A game is won with the body of work during the time it is played of the winning team.

I just do not believe that when it gets down to the final minutes that any player on our team is thinking, God, we are going to lose again if they are on the playing field.

With that being said, let's blow this game wide open!!!

Sorry to be so blunt but you're 100% wrong. Expecting to win and hoping to win are very different attitudes when making a play under pressure that turns a game. Believing you'll win yields confidence. Hoping to win.... yields chokes.

IMHO, Jones' "hope" to win the UF game last year and playing it conservative at the end infected the players who made critical mistakes late. If he believed they were going to win... then he would have thrown over the top of their D when he caught them ignoring even the possibility that they might do anything but run.

There was a point after Jones started trying to run the clock out (which was way too early) when UF sent their CB on a corner blitz. Maybe he thought he had S help over the top but the S came up on the snap too. The WR was wide open with nothing but green. The CB blitz wasn't disguised. The S was playing around 12 yds from the LOS. The game would have been over. Instead, UT ran into the teeth of the UF D and punted.

If you believe you're going to win... you know that throwing with a D selling out to stop the run isn't nearly as risky as giving them the ball back and hoping they don't figure out how to score.

 

[alaVOL]

Sorry to be so blunt but you're 100% wrong. Expecting to win and hoping to win are very different attitudes when making a play under pressure that turns a game. Believing you'll win yields confidence. Hoping to win.... yields chokes.

Truth.:good!:

 

[sjt18]

That's the main point. The steak means nothing as far as this game is concerned. At the time of the game with the adrenalin pumping, there is never the thought we're gonna lose. The mental downer comes when you lose.

I'm not sure if you played. But that's not true and it isn't even when the mental aspect becomes critical. My HS team won 31 games in the 3 years I played against 5 losses. We were under the lower cutoff (around 650) for the class we played in by about 200 students. We were less talented than our opponent at least half the time.

Three of our losses were in my Jr year. Those were the only 3 games in my career when the entire team didn't expect to win to the point of being shocked when we lost.... Something on the order of the shock you'd experience if the sun didn't rise.

We didn't hope to win or think we were going to win. We KNEW we were going to win.

Because of that, we made plays when we needed plays to win. We dominated guys who were just as talented as we were. We trusted each other in ways that are difficult to describe.

 

[sjt18]

UT won the ASU game because they expected to win. ASU outplayed the Vols for most of that game.

 

[bignewt]

More mental than the pro game. Emotion and momentum rule the day in a college game. To say otherwise is foolish.

 

[LittleVol]

We keep hearing the mantra Tennessee is not capable of beating Florida? Is that even relevant? I don't think a whole team's (coaches and players) mentality has anything to do with losing a football game. Notice I didn't say winning.

It goes to Butch's 1 on 1 depiction of a football game. One play does not win or lose a football game even though we like to think it does. A game is won with the body of work during the time it is played of the winning team.

I just do not believe that when it gets down to the final minutes that any player on our team is thinking, God, we are going to lose again if they are on the playing field.

With that being said, let's blow this game wide open!!!

From as early as Pee Wee football, your taught Football is 80% mental and 20% physical.