In the week leading up to the Florida game, Coach Saban's main message was to not buy into or believe the hype. Florida would be ready to play and that LSU shouldn't be satisfied with its current success. I agree with the second part. I think he may have put a little too much stress on "not believing the hype." I agree with not being satisfied but, it seemed like the players bought into the "not believing the hype " philosophy so much that it made them play worse than they should have. LSU seemed very timid at the start of the game. Almost as if they didn't have any confidence in what they were doing. I didn't sense any aggression from LSU. Coach Saban is always talking about how he wants LSU to be a dominant team and to play like they expect to win every game. They certainly didn't play like a dominant team and sure as hell didn't play like they expected to win. I think that is because they started to actually believe the opposite of the hype. Maybe they started to believe that they weren't as good as advertised and therefore played that way. I'm sure the coaches constantly harped on the players telling the them that Florida could come in and beat them if they were not ready. They seemed to play as if they believed that Florida WOULD beat them. If a team has the mindset that they aren't as good as others say about them, that they aren't deserving of the recognition, and if they believe a team can come into their own stadium and beat them, then they are NOT a dominant team. How can a team EXPECT to win with that mindset? If a team doesn't believe that they are that good, they will NEVER be that good. To me LSU should see that ranking and hear what the media and everyone else says about them and believe it. NOT so much as to be satisfied however. But enough to realize that everyone else thinks what they already know, that they are that good. They should expect to win. They should believe that they are so good that no one can come into Tiger Stadium and beat them as well as going into someone else's stadium and beat them. Until they truely believe that, LSU will never get to where we all want to them be. That is why I don't like the "don't believe they hype philosophy." It is counter-productive to the "be a dominant team and expect to win philosophy." Which one do you think the Oklahomas, Miamis, Spurrier's Florida teams, Florida States, and Nebraskas of the College world believe more? For that matter, what philosophy does LSU's baseball team believe more, or the Lakers, or the Yankees? All of these teams win championships. See my point? With all that said, I believe LSU will bounce back. I believe LSU will believe. I believe LSU will get to where we all want them to go. I believe Coach Saban will lead them there. Do you believe? Your thoughts? :tigerhead :lsug: :geaux: :lsup: ldskule: :helmet: :lsug: :lsup: :lsug: :lsup: :geaux:
I agree somewhat with the "expect to win" philosophy, but the problem this week (I believe) was that the players did not give Florida enough respect before the game. They fully believed that there was NO way Florida could beat them, so they didn't feel they had to give it there all. Hopefully that loss will change that attitude.
Great points by both of you. Florida ALWAYS had that swagger when Spurrier was there, ESPECIALLY at home in the Swamp. You have to have that swagger and cockiness to be dominant, ESPECIALLY in your home stadium. I said all along leading up to the game that I hoped the LSU team would overlook, underestimate, and disrespect Florida like the LSU fans were doing. Miami did that for 3 quarters against us. No matter how bad the coaching is at UF you can never underestimate Florida's talent or desire to win when they have revenge on their minds and are backed into a corner. No doubt ya'll will bounce back, this type of loss happens to EVERY team but two each season. There are usually only two teams that have a perfect season. I don't think anyone will stop Oklahoma this year. Look at it this way, it's better to find and fix your weakness now than at the end of the season in the NC game.
I think Saban's thought process is completely different than most, especially the players and fans. Saban is always focused on the present ... most players, and us fans, seem to be looking back or ahead more than we should. Staying in the present is a learned behavior ... and we haven't mastered this yet. It's easy to focus on teams like UGA, and easy to overlook a struggling team like UF. Hopefully one day soon the players will completely buy into his system.
I use to always think, "While it's important to look at this one game at a time, the approach I take to the game will have no effect on it." I still believe that to an extent when it comes to the NFL, but when it comes to college, I don't think that way anymore. I think the media/fan frenzy that surrounded this team's 5-0 start had something to do with the overconfidence the team had. I believe that if most fans were able to keep this in the "let's focus on the next game" mindset, the players may not have fallen into that trap. Think about it, these players are still college students that have to go to classes with other students/fans, you don't think they were exposed to the hype? I think the fans have to exude the same attitude the team should take.
