Bowl Prep Philosophies Run the Gamut
December 25, 2014 07:30 PM | General
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| West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen watches his team get loose during Thursday's practice at Memphis University School in Memphis, Tenn. |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Talk to any college football coach about their personal philosophies on bowl game preparation and their answers will run the gamut.
Some believe it’s important to get most of their work done on campus and then polish up the game plan once they get down to the bowl site. Others believe in waiting until they arrive at the bowl site to get the heavy prep work done because they want to keep their guys interested and not peaking too soon.
Some want to keep the practices short, crisp and interesting; others will spend as much time as necessary to make sure their guys are getting the work that they need.
The more you talk to these guys, the more confusing it can be.
However, there is one common theme, no matter their personal philosophies or preferences: the guys playing have to want to play in the game.
That may sound strange but it’s true, just ask West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who fought a losing battle to motivate his team during the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl - a year after the Mountaineers emasculated Clemson in the 2012 Discover Orange Bowl. The guys on that 2012 team had their sights set on much bigger things before falling short and playing in a December bowl game against former Big East rival Syracuse in a snowstorm – the triple whammy.
“Bowl 101 is about wanting to play the game,” Holgorsen said last week. “We had an issue with that two years ago. I don’t think we’re going to have an issue with that this year.”
Playing in a traditional bowl game such as the Liberty Bowl certainly helps. And going up against an SEC team with the pedigree of Texas A&M is helpful, too.
“There is no question the SEC is everybody’s idea of a great league so when our kids hear SEC they get excited to prove that we’re just as good,” said associate head coach Joe DeForest.
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson has prepared teams for several bowl games now and he really likes the plan Holgorsen is using this year. Holgorsen’s early practices in Morgantown were aimed at getting his younger guys some work and letting his veteran players heal up following a grueling regular season. Then, when the older guys got back out on the field, it was good on good or ones against ones, particularly on the weekends.
“I’ve been on staffs where we grinded them,” said Gibson. “We had two-a-day practices going into the bowls where the kids were worn out. They were like ‘man, I thought bowl games were rewarding?’ I’ve been on staffs where we backed off a little bit and looked fresh in the game, but this is the best one I’ve ever been a part of for the fact that everybody talks about getting those younger guys work before the bowl game.
“Everybody talks about it,” Gibson continued, “but in reality those guys stand over on the side or they work on the scout team. This is the first time where we’ve had four practices where those guys were getting live reps, getting coached up and all that. I really liked how we did that. I think you’ll see us fresher and faster when we get to the bowl site.”
Secondary coach Brian Mitchell’s bowl game message to his guys has always been a simple one.
“Have a purpose,” he says. “Go into your bowl preparation with a purpose. Our purpose is we’re going to be the most excited team. We’re going to be the most physical team. Going into the situation it’s not team to relax and have vacation time.”
Offensive line coach Ron Crook says unknowns exist on a weekly basis and are amplified when teams get into bowl prep as other factors come into play.
“I’ve said this a thousand times – there hasn’t been a Friday practice yet that I’ve walked out of it and felt great,” he said. “There is always something where you say ‘boy we didn’t handle this well’ and then sometimes they go out and play lights out. We’ve had practices where it’s been ‘we handled this pretty well – we’ve got issues here - but for the most part they were pretty good’ and then they’ve gone out and played horrible. I don’t necessarily think there is a correlation to practicing well and playing well or poorly, but I do think the thing practicing well does is it gives you confidence to go in believing we are prepared well for this game – we are ready to play.”
No one on the staff is more qualified to talk about bowl-game prep than senior associate head coach Tom Bradley, who spent many years working alongside one of the masters at it, Joe Paterno, who won 66 percent of his bowl games during his long coaching career.
“I’ve been to a lot of bowl games during my career and there are times when you think you’re ready to go and you’re not, and vice versa,” said Bradley. “I don’t put much stock in how they look during warm-ups. Sometimes they look great and I think they are going to play great and we didn’t. There have been a couple of bowl games when we actually had to slow it down because we were ready too early.”
Bradley explains.
“There is a way you want to approach this thing right. I remember one time talking to (Paterno) and saying, ‘Coach, we’re ready too early.’ He said, ‘Well, why don’t you put something new in? We’re not going to use it but act like we are.’ The reason you do that is because you don’t want them to get bored.”
Bradley recalled Paterno once doing something completely out of character before Penn State’s great 1987 victory over Miami – one of the great bowl performances of all-time, by the way.
Paterno could sense his guys were peaking at the right time down in Tempe so he canceled the team’s final practice before the Fiesta Bowl.
“We had practice scheduled the day before the game and Coach Paterno walked in,” Bradley recalled. “I was sitting there by myself and he said, ‘Hey, is that thing fine?’ He had mentioned for me to do something and I finished it. ‘Yeah, we’re fine.’ He said, ‘Good, because we’re going to cancel practice today.’ We canceled the practice the day before the game because he said we were ready to play. My breakfast kind of came up in my mouth when he said that because I would have kind of liked to have gone out again, but there is a time when you have to know when your guys are ready to play.”
Because all coaches are creatures of habit, getting on a different schedule for a bowl game throws a wrench in their plans and that’s why they take extra precaution to make sure their bowl prep is very similar to what they do during a normal game week - the typical Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practices leading up to the game.
“We’re used to dealing with things a certain way and when you go to a bowl game things are different,” noted Bradley. “Kids get sick. There are issues. It’s different food and a different routine so you try as best as you can to keep them on a routine and yet they’re there to have a good time and they’re there to win a football game.”
Gibson said there are two things he always pays attention to whenever preparing his guys for bowl games.
“No. 1 is tackling because you have that month layoff, and the second thing is special teams,” he explained. “Offense-defense you can get good work – good on good – but it’s hard to simulate the rest of it. You don’t want to go live all the time with your guys to keep the tackling part of it because you want to get them to the game healthy.”
Holgorsen’s message to his team from the moment they learned that they were facing Texas A&M in the 2014 Liberty Bowl was to be excited to play the game.
Bradley concurs.
“Dana preaches that all of the time and I think that helps them to understand the importance of the game,” said Bradley. “I’ve always felt with all of the bowl games the key is being able to get caught up to the speed as fast as you can. By that I mean you’ve been hitting slow pitch (bowl game prep) and all of a sudden the fastballs are coming.”
Being excited to play certainly helps with the adjustment to the speed of the game.
“Sure, you’re there to have fun but the big thing is you are there to win the football game,” said Bradley. “The focus and the leadership from your older guys have to come into play. They have to understand why they’re there and once you get past that part then it’s getting caught up to speed as quickly as you can and surviving that first quarter.”
Added Gibson, “I was watching one of the college football shows and they were saying this team is not very excited to be playing in this bowl game. They wished they would have been playing (in another bowl game). Are you kidding me? It’s football,” he said. “Anytime you can play after Christmas or into January, that’s why you do it.”
Prep work in Memphis leading up to Monday afternoon’s game resumed earlier today.
Briefly: The team arrived earlier today and had its first on-site practice at Memphis University School … Friday’s schedule includes a player visit to St. Jude Hospital, defensive player/coaches news conference at the Embassy Suites, a team welcome party and a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game ... Be sure to check out our first Liberty Bowl Video Report, presented by Suddenlink, on Friday evening ... Saturday's report is sponsored by BrickStreet, Sunday's report is presented by United Bank and Monday's pregame report is sponsored by the West Virginia Lottery.
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