the psychological part of the game is what interests me most.
most people look at components and stats to validate quality. that's obviously one way to do it and it works. something it has to be reconciled against, if what i'm offering holds water, is the mindset.
madden, who many attribute as a clown and one of the better color commentators only was in my opinion one of the most brilliant minds about this game. he has a ton of one line nuggets that actually hold meaning... one of them was "emotion will carry you through the first quarter, and then reality sets in".
i'm thinking there is truth to that, but i also think the most important aspect is missed and especially by fans- it is NOT missed by the better coaches, but fans who are centered on match ups miss it all the time- it is:
"you're NOT competing against your opponent nearly as much as you're competing against yourselves".
in terms of 'roster'- "shallower" teams have their 11 man unit take the field- and if they're seasoned and well practiced, IF they play at the top of their game it will be apparent. it DOES matter the quality, but not as much as the cohesion matters. They encounter issues, however, when the chemistry of those original 11 is altered due to injury or attitude. an aside, it's my opinion this attitude seeps into a program for good or bad, and impacts it in such a way staffs and regimes don't matter much. this is the case with UT.
Freakin' Saban has this command element that is more akin to a program manager than a coach... Spurrier or the man-child Kiffin are traditional coaches. either approach works so long as the teams are prepared its my opinion, but, the 'suit up go to work' while 'demanding excellence' is more sustainable. Chicken or the egg, I guess, but- Saban doesn't really have to 'pump' his team. they just suit up and go to work. All others in the SEC at least must ride this emotional charge WHICH IS UNSUSTAINABLE. They're going to be sporadic from week to week.
if this was war instead of football, i'd want the saban approach. those are the professionals- your SF or SOF. for a one-time conflict, though, a decently trained and highly charged group is just as deadly as the professionals... they just won't last as long as a rule. and when it turns to battles instead of fight, the professionals win almost always.
tennessee will have to play at the very top of their game and make no mistakes or mis-ques to hang with florida just idling along. weirder things have happened, but this oughta be a 24-10 affair with UT making the late TD in trash time. It's painful to acknowledge that. if UF wasn't coming off of bama, it would likely be a 45-3 affair.
if nothing else, UT has announced Milton will return- and all UF really needs to do is drop a safety back 20yds and set up for the pick on every play- likely making 3 or 4 before Milton gets caught, flat-footed (he's always flat footed in the pocket), and gets cleaned out putting the better QB in....