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Post by hunhdisciple on Sept 21, 2015 21:22:53 GMT -6
For everybody here, it's just one simple question: When can you tell what the outcome is going to be on game day? Or, at least, how your team will perform for the game?
I ask this question, because people ask me just about every day what's going to happen on Friday, and some weeks I don't know. 3 weeks ago we absolutely pooped the bed and scraped by. Last week we were dialed in and just absolutely destroyed them.
The bed pooping sort of came as a surprise. The kids weren't up or down during the week, so I just assumed it would be business as usual. But last week, I would have bet every single dollar I had on the fact that we would have a running clock, and we did.
For me, I feel like I can get a feeling pretty well by the middle of Wednesday, if not earlier. We don't usually have a good/great Monday and Tuesday, followed by a bad Wednesday. We can, however, pick things up on Wednesday and turn the week around after a slow or sloppy start. If we've had a really good week, and our pregame is absolutely dialed in, I tend to find some family members and kind of give them a smirk and nod, and that's when they know it's going to be a good night.
I've been around people who have been surprised that our awful week of practice led to an awful game, and I always wondered how they didn't catch it.
Maybe I'm the only person who pays attention to things like that, but I'd love to know some of the more experienced and wiser guys opinions and thoughts on this.
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Post by carookie on Sept 21, 2015 21:39:05 GMT -6
I would say about half of the HS matchups I've been a part of have been such obvious mismatches that I could tell who would win before hand. The other half are close enough where you can't really tell until your are in it.
You never want to have bad practices, but a subpar practice here and there won't have as big of an impact on that week's individual game as most think (unless you are installing a lot of new things that players aren't getting). For the most part you are what you consistently are throughout the season; and if your team is drastically different week to week I would be concerned.
That being written, whenever someone (AD, another teacher, etc) asks me what's gonna happen Friday I just tell them, "the kids have been working hard, hopefully we win. but the other team is practing too so it should be a good game." or something of that ilk.
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Post by fantom on Sept 21, 2015 21:40:28 GMT -6
You can't tell. I've seen great games follow totally horrible weeks of practice and laid an egg after a great practice week. There's no telling what you'll get on game day.
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Post by agap on Sept 21, 2015 21:51:43 GMT -6
I agree with fantom. I've seen a great week of practice and we didn't play well at all on Friday. Other times we had a bad week of practice and we played great.
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Post by hunhdisciple on Sept 21, 2015 21:54:45 GMT -6
I honestly have to say that I don't remember any time in my 6 years where we have had a week of practice and then played the opposite. But, I'm not counting a handful of games where we would have won if we just brought our JV team.
When we practice bad, we play bad. I've never seen our kids struggle against the scout O, and then go out and be able to stop it. Maybe our guys are just weird compared to what everyone else works with. (I already knew that though.)
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Post by coachbdud on Sept 21, 2015 23:32:23 GMT -6
you can never really tell
the worst defense we have played, was actually our worst performance offensively
we shouldve racked up 60 points and get a bunch of kids easy stats, and we had to fight just to score 4 TDs
with HS kids, you can never under estimate the power of momentum and attitude
i fully believe that "being flat" is a real thing
when we play flat to start we suck
i have discovered, the quality of practice during the week has absolutely nothing to do with how we play on friday night... sounds weird but it is true
more to do with the current mood of the kids on that drive
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 22, 2015 6:22:24 GMT -6
When you figure out the 'teenager' answer, write the book, I'll promote it, and then we can both retire to Bermuda and not have to deal with them any more.
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Post by Wingtman on Sept 22, 2015 8:59:45 GMT -6
Agree. My QB was a stud all week in practice. Made great reads, called great check with me's. Game day? Laid an egg. Couldnt get out of his own way. Made terrible choices. He's a junior, who's made 8 varsity starts at that point. We go as he goes.
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Post by olinedude on Sept 22, 2015 9:31:41 GMT -6
I can never tell until right after pre-game on Friday nights. If I feel good like we're about to play well and win, we are going to suck and get our teeth kicked in. I'm almost always wrong about how they are going play.
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Post by coachphillip on Sept 22, 2015 9:38:40 GMT -6
They're kids. Every time I think I know how they're going to do, it's trouble lol. Kid seems focused and on top of it, he ends up putting too much pressure on himself and screws up the whole game. Kid seems loose and relaxed, he's too laid back to realize how off his reads are. RB seems cool and calm, he's actually depressed his girlfriend left him for your wide receiver. I'll never know how they'll do.
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Post by dubber on Sept 22, 2015 11:40:17 GMT -6
Sometimes your most daunting opponent is your quarterback's girlfriend.
She can mess things up more than a D-1 bound 3 technique.
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Post by indian1 on Sept 22, 2015 11:58:52 GMT -6
When the scoreboard says Quarter #4 Time 0:00
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Post by eaglemountie on Sept 22, 2015 18:27:44 GMT -6
No clue... And I think about that more than anyone I'm sure...
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 22, 2015 18:44:40 GMT -6
Sometimes your most daunting opponent is your quarterback's girlfriend. She can mess things up more than a D-1 bound 3 technique. As my old coach used to say, ' That stuff is undefeated.' |
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Post by rsmith627 on Sept 22, 2015 19:57:22 GMT -6
I coach JV this year and we play on Thursdays. I usually have a pretty good feel by the end of the practice on Tuesday how it's going to go on Thursday. This week we looked sharp. We should dominate if we don't come out flat and play down to the opponent's level like we have on occasion this year. Some of our kids expect teams to lay down because of who we are, when they should be expecting their best shot every week.
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Post by mariner42 on Sept 22, 2015 21:53:33 GMT -6
I coach JV this year and we play on Thursdays. I usually have a pretty good feel by the end of the practice on Tuesday how it's going to go on Thursday. This week we looked sharp. We should dominate if we don't come out flat and play down to the opponent's level like we have on occasion this year. Some of our kids expect teams to lay down because of who we are, when they should be expecting their best shot every week. Coaching JV is going to be the death of me. Sophomores are f***ing basket cases. |
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Post by 33coach on Sept 22, 2015 21:58:36 GMT -6
Sometimes your most daunting opponent is your quarterback's girlfriend. She can mess things up more than a D-1 bound 3 technique. I have that problem with my starting left backer. He's more worried about who his girl is hanging out with then if the flow is away or to. |
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Post by coachphillip on Sept 23, 2015 7:34:33 GMT -6
Sometimes your most daunting opponent is your quarterback's girlfriend. She can mess things up more than a D-1 bound 3 technique. I have that problem with my starting left backer. He's more worried about who his girl is hanging out with then if the flow is away or to. Last year we were playing a rival school. We talked about how much they love to throw flat routes to start the game on the freshman level so we were going to bait it and pick off the opening pass. Tuesday practice is about to start and I walk up to my freshman OLB before stretches and I say, "We know what the plan is off the bat this week, right?" "YES, COACH! GET HER BACK!" ... "Wtf? No, blitz and pick!" "Oh yeah. That too." Thank god I only dealt with frosh/soph half the time. That being said, at least my underclassmen weren't getting girls pregnant.  |
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 23, 2015 10:45:58 GMT -6
I coach JV this year and we play on Thursdays. I usually have a pretty good feel by the end of the practice on Tuesday how it's going to go on Thursday. This week we looked sharp. We should dominate if we don't come out flat and play down to the opponent's level like we have on occasion this year. Some of our kids expect teams to lay down because of who we are, when they should be expecting their best shot every week. Coaching JV is going to be the death of me. Sophomores are f***ing basket cases. We don't call it "JV Hades" for nothing |
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Post by fcboiler87 on Sept 23, 2015 10:54:24 GMT -6
I've given up trying to figure it out. Of course I always push for great practices, focus, etc. But it seems like how we practice is barely related to how we play in the game. We do have a bunch of "Gamers" who think they'll just turn it on Friday night and be good to go. Sometimes I think we're like that as a team. We haven't had many real poor practices but we've had bad weeks and been fine and then we've had real good days and seemingly meant nothing. I'll never stop pushing to have excellent days and great focus, but some days they just don't have it. We usually come out and start well. The only thing I've noticed is we play better when we win the toss so we can elect to receive. That's where our juice comes from for sure.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Sept 23, 2015 12:44:55 GMT -6
You can't tell. I've seen great games follow totally horrible weeks of practice and laid an egg after a great practice week. There's no telling what you'll get on game day. Same here. Game week 1 of this year- solid practices and we won 56-0. Game week 2 - had 1 bad practice on Thursday no less...we won 64-0. Can't tell IMO. I think it's more of a "rest assured" deal for me- I want to put my head on the pillow Thursday night knowing we left no rock unturned, locked and loaded with a full clip for Friday night. |
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Post by dytmook on Sept 23, 2015 14:43:00 GMT -6
Well I pretty much called it during warm ups Friday. It sucked
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Post by dubber on Sept 23, 2015 19:06:05 GMT -6
Sometimes your most daunting opponent is your quarterback's girlfriend. She can mess things up more than a D-1 bound 3 technique. I have that problem with my starting left backer. He's more worried about who his girl is hanging out with then if the flow is away or to.
If there isn't any flow, then you've got real problems.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 23, 2015 19:11:27 GMT -6
Assuming we're all talking about playing a team that will give us a game, not The Sisters of the Poor:
When your practice week sucks donkey, then you'll play like it. If you have a good week then you'll have a chance.
I'm a "The hay's in the barn" kind of coach when we walk off the field on Thursday. If I end up being nervous/worried on Friday night then I blame myself for not doing my job Monday-Thursday. I believe that what you see on Friday night is what you coach.
There ain't no magic wand that makes this game click.
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Post by fantom on Sept 23, 2015 19:12:17 GMT -6
I have that problem with my starting left backer. He's more worried about who his girl is hanging out with then if the flow is away or to.
If there isn't any flow, then you've got real problems.
If we're talking urination you're right. |
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