Do You Believe in The Self Fulfilling Prophecy

[DoubleAlum]

This will be looked upon as a bizarre thread and for that I apologize up front.

Our coaching staff has consistently held the belief that most football games come down to one or two plays, a turnover here or there, a crucial penalty. Lo and behold, so many of our games actually do come down to that.

What if our coaching staff preached a slightly different philosophy to their players? What if they constantly preached that if we execute properly, play penalty and turnover free and focus a little harder, we can BLOW OUT most teams that we play?

Wondering whether that would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's uncanny how many Gopher games seem to come down to a penalty, turnover or play. If we thought differently, would the results be different?

 

[mcgi0024]

When you lose to a bad team it comes down to more than a few plays.


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[DoubleAlum]

We need to visualize and believe that we can blow teams out before the game. Visualization is a powerful tool in most endeavors. Pro athletes talk about that in lots of sports. I hope Jerry starts getting these guys to visualize that they have the power to blow out teams like Purdue and Illinois, and not just squeak by. It might help.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

The Gopher offense was listless coming out of the huddle in the first half - no spark, no energy. That's usually a sign they aren't ready to play, don't have their heart in it - but why?

 

[LesBolstad]

Silly. When your talent level is in the bottom third of the league, you have to play that way. When JK was at NIU they blew teams out because they had an advantage in personnel. Ain't gonna happen in the BIG.

 

[DoubleAlum]

The Gopher offense was listless coming out of the huddle in the first half - no spark, no energy. That's usually a sign they aren't ready to play, don't have their heart in it - but why?

These games mean everything to these kids. Can't imagine them not having their heart in it. Maybe they were really nervous about keeping the streak alive. Maybe we imagine we see things that aren't there. As fans and witnesses, I imagine what we see can be influenced by how we're feeling and how the game is going. These kids are passionate about their team, their season and their coaches. I don't think it's fair to question their heart. It would be interesting to ask the players this question. I think they'd be shocked at the suggestion that their heart wasn't in it.

 

[DoubleAlum]

Silly. When your talent level is in the bottom third of the league, you have to play that way. When JK was at NIU they blew teams out because they had an advantage in personnel. Ain't gonna happen in the BIG.

I'd rather be silly and at least try it. It can't hurt to visualize big success. It can only help.

 

[BarnBoy]

I actually was joking to the guy next to me at the game that the game was going exactly to Jerry's script until the Cobb fumble. Jerry was like, "Yep, we weren't planning on that fumble. Had them right where we wanted them".

 

[tinyarch]

I'd rather be silly and at least try it. It can't hurt to visualize big success. It can only help.

Does the football team not use visualization techniques? I'd be surprised if they don't.

Quote Originally Posted by LesBolstad
Silly. When your talent level is in the bottom third of the league, you have to play that way. When JK was at NIU they blew teams out because they had an advantage in personnel. Ain't gonna happen in the BIG.

Kill and staff are very much aware that our athletic talent level is not at the elite level. They recognize that the only way we are going to win is by outworking our opponents and making less mistakes than they do. The margin for error is very small because our talent level is equal to Illinois and Purdue. We win because of better execution.

My guess is that the staff emphasizes visualization techniques to visualize precise execution. Today, however, we just simply didn't execute what the staff and the players envisioned in their minds.

 

[Derhey]

I believe positive or negative thoughts ultimately influence ones performance. Defiantly not in a benevolent being type of manner but I think that your body will follow what your mind initiates.

 

[EG#9]

Don't believe it's a self fulfilling prophecy, but this is the downside to the Kill/Limegrover philosophy we've seen though 3 and a half seasons. An offense that is not explosive and focuses on ball control (and bleeding the clock down in the huddle) to shorten games is not only going to keep games closer against "better" teams, but also give "worse" teams an opportunity to steal a win.

What is interesting is for the most part, the team has not been that effective in keeping games close as the vast majority of our B1G losses have been by more than 10 points. In fact, this is probably the first game you can point to (in conference play), that the Gophers had a real shot to win and failed to do so.