Have your fun. Bash the staff and the team. But it's ok. We will be fine.
Some of you guys really dont get the point, do you? It is not the players on the team.
It is not the coordinators, and their play calling. It is the mind-set of the Head Coach.
When Butch went for the field-goal on 4th down from the 0ne foot line against Oklahoma,
he told both teams something.
To the Tennessee offense, he said I really dont think you guys, can score from this distance.
To the Oklahoma defense, he said I dont believe my team, can beat your team in this situation. We are going to play it safe (play not to lose).
Whether either team was actually aware of what they heard, doesnt matter. When the fourth quarter came, they could, and we could not. Same thing happened tonight.
Butch is a great, organizer, motivator, and recruiter. But does not have a Killer Instinct and cannot instill it into the team. He could very easily, end up like Mark Richt, with a successful program and a frustrated fan base.
When you are ahead and have the opportunity to score, or just suck the life from the other team, you play as if you are behind and must score.
Richard Petty (Stock Car Racing legend) was ask how he won so many races, he answered When something happened on the track and everyone else let up on the accelerator just a little bit I pushed down just a little bit He had some spectacular crashes, but he won over 200 races. He had that killer instinct.
Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian played Michigan State in 1966. Notre Dame was ranked #1, Michigan State #2. Notre Dame had the ball with a little over a minute left in the game and the score was tied 10 10. Parseghian elected to run the clock out, not trying to win, but settling for the tie. He coached for several more years, won a lot of games, even another National Championship, but carries that black mark to this day. He did not have that Killer Instinct.
If the Coaches have one overriding game strategy (that of beating the other team into the ground halfway through the game, so they know they cannot win or even come back late in the game.), then all their decisions will be based on that strategy.
If they are playing not to lose, then their strategy changes with the game, and their decisions get confusing as the game progresses, then the team cannot help, but to play down to the level, as dictated by the changing strategies, from the coaches.