“Because once you start doing that, then you have guys trying to do things that are out of character for what they need to do to be a successful football player.”

This quote came from the Harvard coach, Andrew Aurich, after Yale upset his team yesterday and deprived Harvard of an outright league title for the second straight year that Aurich has been the head coach at Harvard.

A part of me hears where he is coming from.  But, from my own playing experiences (soccer) decades ago in arch-rival and/or championship games, I think it’s human nature that the players are going to be psyched up the most going into those games.  

The issue, from my perspective, is really about what happens once the game is underway and the players have settled into the flow after the first couple of minutes.

The biggest difference, I think, between football and soccer in this regard is that the coaches have a much, much greater influence on the game itself because of the play calling in football.  

I have great confidence that the Buckeye players will perform at a level this coming Saturday that will put them in the best position to win.

And, because of last year’s CFP run, I have great confidence too that Ryan Day’s decision-making will put the team in the best position to win as well.