I was not a football coach \u2013 and I\u2019m sure that my football coach friends will say that I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about. But, after forty years of coaching, from cross country to track to wrestling; I do know performance. And I have a thought about the Ohio State versus Michigan football game that concluded in another Michigan win yesterday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know both teams \u201cwanted\u201d it. No one quit; every player, on both sides, tried to play to their maximum level. So there\u2019s something to consider: is it possible to play beyond your maximum, beyond yourself? What happens when each player all of a sudden feels the need to be a \u201csuper-hero\u201d? I can\u2019t tell you what the pressure is like at the Division I collegiate level, particularly now that millions of dollars ride on each player. I\u2019ve never had to coach on that level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I can tell you this:\u00a0\u00a0players have to be able to respond automatically to what\u2019s going on in front of them.\u00a0\u00a0Anything that makes them think, or \u201ctry\u201d too hard, is going to disrupt the flow of their game.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s so easy to tell an athlete to \u201ctry harder\u201d, when it is that act of trying that often disrupts their performance.\u00a0\u00a0And clearly, that was happening on the Ohio State offense. (Give the Defense kudos, they held Michigan to only 13.\u00a0\u00a0No one expected the Buckeyes to just score 10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michigan\u2019s coaches have found the secret.\u00a0\u00a0They can be primed, ready, pumped, without losing their \u201cautonomic responses\u201d that make football players great.\u00a0\u00a0The Wolverines weren\u2019t screaming mad, fighting a \u201cwar\u201d (as Ryan Day was quoted saying).\u00a0\u00a0They were playing their \u201cchampionship game\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s their biggest game this season, a decent team that\u2019s had a bad year.\u00a0\u00a0They had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.\u00a0\u00a0And they were playing to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And sometimes if you try to be Superman, you end up much less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Football is a game of muscle, of enforcing your will on someone else. But it\u2019s also a game of mental \u201cflow\u201d. We saw a flash of that at the end of the second quarter, when the Ohio State offense just played. But the rest of the game, from the coaches to the players, Ohio State\u2019s offense was playing hard not to lose. My coaching analogy is that they were trying to hold \u201cJell-O\u201d. The harder you hold it, the more leaks out of your hand, until, ultimately it\u2019s all gone. So you have to hold it gently; with control of emotion, strength, and focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe screaming and yelling, maybe coaches breaking chairs in locker rooms work for some athletes (I\u2019ve tried that). But what I really think is that there\u2019s too much hype, too much craziness, too much of, \u201cwe can\u2019t lose\u201d. Maybe we should walk it back a step, and make it another game; not Woody\u2019s Ten Year War, not Urban\u2019s magic, not Ryan Day\u2019s curse. At least, maybe that what Coach Day (if he\u2019s still the coach come next Thanksgiving \u2013 the game is that important to Buckeye fans) needs to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My best pre-game talk was simple: \u201cDo what you do. Don\u2019t be superman. You got us here, you\u2019ve won before. I don\u2019t need \u2018Super You\u2019 \u2013 I just need you\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ohio State\u2019s offense tried to be Super-Bucks. They only needed to be the team that won ten games before. Michigan had nothing to lose, nothing on the line but pride. It will be interested to see what lessons are learned \u2013 as Ohio State plays through the playoffs, and as both teams take the field in \u201cThe Big House\u201d next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I live in a \u201cHouse Divided\u201d. My family are Michigan fans, I am a moderate Buckeye fan. I truly hope that Coach Day figures this out, that Ohio State plays through the playoffs, and gets to a National Championship Game. He\u2019s proven he can win almost everything \u2013 that is \u2013 except this one game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As far as the fight after the game \u2013 I blame both coaches. Coach Moore of Michigan was so exultant, he didn\u2019t focus on his own kids. Coach Day was clearly in shock, already replaying in slow motion a game that went by way too fast for him. Neither looked to their primary duty, a job that doesn\u2019t end when time runs out. That duty is the behavior of their team, and the very foreseeable actions of both squads at the end of the game. You can\u2019t say it\u2019s a war, and then pretend it\u2019s not when time runs out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a movie called \u201cAny Given Sunday\u201d, about how every team has a chance at every game.\u00a0\u00a0Michigan gets it, Ohio State doesn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0But there’s always more football – and I hope my Bengals, having a \u201cMichigan like\u201d season, find their \u201cgiven Sunday\u201d this afternoon against Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"