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Post by CanyonCoach on Oct 11, 2018 8:49:16 GMT -6
We have a non-conference game this week with a team that is in a similar position.
We are both guaranteed a play-off spot and both of us can lose out and it won't change our seed for the play-offs.
Neither team is deep and there are a couple of positions that neither of us can afford to have an injury.
We are going through the game plan with the kids this morning and one kid says about their QB- he isn't going to travel so he can be rested for their last conference game. That kid is their QB and leading rusher. Does that change our game plan? NOPE
We switch over to defense and a different kid says that their F/S is not playing either. He is leading their team in both interceptions and tackles- (kid looks like a beast on film, makes plays at LOS and is always in good position in coverage). Does that change our game plan? Nope
Our coaches start asking if we are going to rest anyone...Nope. The game is scheduled, it is a varsity competition, it is our last home game, it is senior night, and we play to win.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Oct 11, 2018 9:37:21 GMT -6
In my opinion - which is worth what you're paying for it... if I have no depth and there is literally no consequence to the game I'm going to have a short leash on my starters. It's senior night so I play the seniors but it's also a chance to give some mop up time to guys that have been working all year, especially if the other team is sitting their best guys.
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Post by tigerpride on Oct 11, 2018 10:04:18 GMT -6
This question gets raised around here quite often b/c week 10 is a non-district game (which does not affect playoffs). I start my starters for the last game and my opponents always do the same over the years. I hate to lose any momentum between the end of the season and playoffs. I would never sit a player because I feel like I would be robbing him of 10% of his football season. With that said, I may pull starters a bit earlier if it gets out of hand one way or another.
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Post by chi5hi on Oct 11, 2018 10:31:53 GMT -6
Let the kids play. Your starters have won the right to start because they're athletes who want to play. And...it's THEIR team, not yours!
That said, certainly play your youngsters if the opportunity presents itself. It gives the upcoming players experience and perhaps an interest in playing next year.
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Post by fantom on Oct 11, 2018 14:16:25 GMT -6
Let the kids play. Your starters have won the right to start because they're athletes who want to play. And...it's THEIR team, not yours! That said, certainly play your youngsters if the opportunity presents itself. It gives the upcoming players experience and perhaps an interest in playing next year. Players want to play.
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Post by dubber on Oct 11, 2018 18:00:36 GMT -6
We have a non-conference game this week with a team that is in a similar position.
We are both guaranteed a play-off spot and both of us can lose out and it won't change our seed for the play-offs.
Neither team is deep and there are a couple of positions that neither of us can afford to have an injury.
We are going through the game plan with the kids this morning and one kid says about their QB- he isn't going to travel so he can be rested for their last conference game. That kid is their QB and leading rusher. Does that change our game plan? NOPE
We switch over to defense and a different kid says that their F/S is not playing either. He is leading their team in both interceptions and tackles- (kid looks like a beast on film, makes plays at LOS and is always in good position in coverage). Does that change our game plan? Nope
Our coaches start asking if we are going to rest anyone...Nope. The game is scheduled, it is a varsity competition, it is our last home game, it is senior night, and we play to win.
Kids aren’t robots......they can’t turn it off and on If you all are rolling right now, I would keep it rolling. Plus, if they are resting their studs, then I would think heading into playoffs with a big win would be positive.
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Post by wingtol on Oct 12, 2018 5:52:31 GMT -6
Old guy rant....
I feel like when I played if you didn't go both ways, you stunk. Let alone if a coach said "You're not gonna play this week to rest" guys would have been so pissed you would have had problems.
I don't get the rest em for playoffs or whatever big game theory. You gonna rest a kid a game then lose in the first round of the playoffs, what's that accomplish? I would never take a game away from a kid to rest them.
Can't ever think of a game we didn't coach to win and play our guys. Went to back to back state games when I first started and never rested a kid. Been part of multiple playoff teams that made some nice runs. Never rested a kid. People watch too much TV now and think they are smarter than everyone else.
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Post by doitforthekids on Oct 12, 2018 6:07:09 GMT -6
Play your kids, play to win. If they really sit their studs on offense and defense then you should get up big quick and be able to pull your kids.
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 12, 2018 6:23:33 GMT -6
Old guy rant.... I feel like when I played if you didn't go both ways, you stunk. Let alone if a coach said "You're not gonna play this week to rest" guys would have been so pissed you would have had problems. I don't get the rest em for playoffs or whatever big game theory. You gonna rest a kid a game then lose in the first round of the playoffs, what's that accomplish? I would never take a game away from a kid to rest them. Can't ever think of a game we didn't coach to win and play our guys. Went to back to back state games when I first started and never rested a kid. Been part of multiple playoff teams that made some nice runs. Never rested a kid. People watch too much TV now and think they are smarter than everyone else. I wonder if part of this isn't because of the "championships or bust" mindset that seems to have crept into the sports world over the last 30 years or so. The idea that since the game won't affect playoffs etc and therefore is not important just seems counter to all the things those in the sports world seem to praise as the benefits of sports and yet for the last few decades we have slowly seen the concept of competition devalued and championships put on a pedestal.
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Post by rsmith627 on Oct 12, 2018 6:39:05 GMT -6
In the meantime, we're over here playing one of the best teams in the state and fighting for home field advantage in the playoffs ourselves.
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Post by CanyonCoach on Oct 12, 2018 8:31:01 GMT -6
In the meantime, we're over here playing one of the best teams in the state and fighting for home field advantage in the playoffs ourselves. Good Luck coach!
We had the come to Jesus meeting yesterday.... We play to win. Every play, every single play.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Oct 12, 2018 9:39:23 GMT -6
Along those lines - what if it's game 9 of the season and you're rolling. Your week 9 opponent is awful, all the projections say you're going to murder them (even the opponent's AD calls you and says his kids are terrified). Do you still roll with all your starters? For the whole game or do you pull them early?
That's what we're facing this week. HC is pulling up a bunch of jv kids to play and is sitting the varsity starters. I disagree with it but it's his program.
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Post by wingtol on Oct 12, 2018 12:41:19 GMT -6
Along those lines - what if it's game 9 of the season and you're rolling. Your week 9 opponent is awful, all the projections say you're going to murder them (even the opponent's AD calls you and says his kids are terrified). Do you still roll with all your starters? For the whole game or do you pull them early? That's what we're facing this week. HC is pulling up a bunch of jv kids to play and is sitting the varsity starters. I disagree with it but it's his program. Roll em out for at least a quarter. That's what we have done in the past. Work kids in as a mixed group, keep some decent OL out there but sub RB's etc. Can always agree to the running clock early if the coaches and ref's agree too. We've been the a$$ kickers in the past and this year we are on the other end. Not one team has not played starters till the half. And I can't fault them at all.
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Post by fantom on Oct 12, 2018 12:59:41 GMT -6
Old guy rant.... I feel like when I played if you didn't go both ways, you stunk. Let alone if a coach said "You're not gonna play this week to rest" guys would have been so pissed you would have had problems. I don't get the rest em for playoffs or whatever big game theory. You gonna rest a kid a game then lose in the first round of the playoffs, what's that accomplish? I would never take a game away from a kid to rest them. Can't ever think of a game we didn't coach to win and play our guys. Went to back to back state games when I first started and never rested a kid. Been part of multiple playoff teams that made some nice runs. Never rested a kid. People watch too much TV now and think they are smarter than everyone else. I wonder if part of this isn't because of the "championships or bust" mindset that seems to have crept into the sports world over the last 30 years or so. The idea that since the game won't affect playoffs etc and therefore is not important just seems counter to all the things those in the sports world seem to praise as the benefits of sports and yet for the last few decades we have slowly seen the concept of competition dev alued and championships put on a pedestal. . The idea of playing a game just to play a game seems lost.
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 12, 2018 18:15:33 GMT -6
I wonder if part of this isn't because of the "championships or bust" mindset that seems to have crept into the sports world over the last 30 years or so. The idea that since the game won't affect playoffs etc and therefore is not important just seems counter to all the things those in the sports world seem to praise as the benefits of sports and yet for the last few decades we have slowly seen the concept of competition dev alued and championships put on a pedestal. . The idea of playing a game just to play a game seems lost. I see this more and more at the elementary school level with the kids playing travel baseball. Everybody worried about "rings" for winning freaking 2 games in a weekend tournament with only 3 teams.
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Post by hunhdisciple on Oct 12, 2018 21:11:30 GMT -6
I wonder if part of this isn't because of the "championships or bust" mindset that seems to have crept into the sports world over the last 30 years or so. The idea that since the game won't affect playoffs etc and therefore is not important just seems counter to all the things those in the sports world seem to praise as the benefits of sports and yet for the last few decades we have slowly seen the concept of competition dev alued and championships put on a pedestal. . The idea of playing a game just to play a game seems lost. I think that started to go out the window when public schools were hiring and firing like they were in the GD SEC. When a bad stretch happens at the wrong time, those games suddenly impact your job and family. I fully admit it's still a game, but, it's also a job.
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Post by silkyice on Oct 12, 2018 22:02:54 GMT -6
Just don’t play a week 10 game. We don’t.
Last region game is game 9.
If you are in playoffs, two weeks to prepare. No worrying about pulling kids, getting hurt, etc.
If you aren’t in playoffs, start bball sooner and be done with your season.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2018 22:11:23 GMT -6
Old guy rant.... I feel like when I played if you didn't go both ways, you stunk. Let alone if a coach said "You're not gonna play this week to rest" guys would have been so pissed you would have had problems. I don't get the rest em for playoffs or whatever big game theory. You gonna rest a kid a game then lose in the first round of the playoffs, what's that accomplish? I would never take a game away from a kid to rest them. Can't ever think of a game we didn't coach to win and play our guys. Went to back to back state games when I first started and never rested a kid. Been part of multiple playoff teams that made some nice runs. Never rested a kid. People watch too much TV now and think they are smarter than everyone else. I wonder if part of this isn't because of the "championships or bust" mindset that seems to have crept into the sports world over the last 30 years or so. The idea that since the game won't affect playoffs etc and therefore is not important just seems counter to all the things those in the sports world seem to praise as the benefits of sports and yet for the last few decades we have slowly seen the concept of competition devalued and championships put on a pedestal. This is exactly what it is. It makes sense in the NFL when you have multi-million dollar professionals possibly risking their careers in "meaningless" games no one will remember, but now it's even trickled down to HS and colleges with top players sitting out "meaningless" bowl games to prepare for the draft. It's like we as a culture have reached the point where we really do feel that "second place is just first among the losers" and the only thing that matters is being #1, defined by being champions. I feel like this is a terrible place to be in, especially since we increasingly also apply it to life in other areas that don't even have playoffs, but that's a rant for another time. One of the cool things about football was that there used to be that every single game mattered, if not for postseason position than for pride itself since games were so scarce. You only get 10 regular season games a year of HS football and you only get those for 4 years. If you're lucky, you get some playoff games in there, too. Starters declaring that they aren't even going to travel so they can rest for the playoffs and coaches accepting that is just absurd for me. Unfortunately, if a kid does get an injury here, then parents will be pointing fingers and asking why he was even out there in a "meaningless game." Personally, I'd play the normal starters and try to put this game away early if at all possible, all while keeping a quick hook. I wouldn't "rest" anyone exactly, but I'd start pulling kids if there was a 21 point differential in the score or if they suffer even a very minor injury (twisted ankle, sprained finger, etc.).
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 13, 2018 5:00:52 GMT -6
. The idea of playing a game just to play a game seems lost. I think that started to go out the window when public schools were hiring and firing like they were in the GD SEC. When a bad stretch happens at the wrong time, those games suddenly impact your job and family. I fully admit it's still a game, but, it's also a job. I didn't necessarily take the phrase "playing a game to play a game" to mean that the games were unimportant. I interpreted more to mean that the focus always seems to be on "the next level" type of thinking now. For instance, in this thread, the OP is talking about an opponent not focusing on the upcoming game, but on the playoff games in the future (next level). It is prevalent enough that I have seen several coaches here on the site worried about getting players ready for "the next level". Hell, one of the more ignorant comments I see regarding sports is that it can give players an opportunity "on the next level" (where as studying and being academically responsible seems to always be forgotten as the first and best option) Point being, it seems the idea of playing a game to simply compete with another person,team,group is disappearing, and we are always searching for some type of reason for that game.
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Post by wingtol on Oct 15, 2018 18:30:59 GMT -6
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 15, 2018 18:48:20 GMT -6
I was a bit confused by the scheduling part. That is the solution though, if a game is "meaningless" don't schedule it. If you schedule it, it means something, so play the darn thing the way it should be played.
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Post by wingtol on Oct 15, 2018 18:59:45 GMT -6
I was a bit confused by the scheduling part. That is the solution though, if a game is "meaningless" don't schedule it. If you schedule it, it means something, so play the darn thing the way it should be played. Game was scheduled by district due to an odd amount of teams in their classes.
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Post by CanyonCoach on Oct 16, 2018 7:40:44 GMT -6
Just don’t play a week 10 game. We don’t. Last region game is game 9. If you are in playoffs, two weeks to prepare. No worrying about pulling kids, getting hurt, etc. If you aren’t in playoffs, start bball sooner and be done with your season. Our state imposes the schedule on us in our classification. We have 3 non-conference games- the first 2 weeks and then spattered throughout the season for various teams.
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