Tony's Take is presented by West Virginia Tourism

I once spent an hour talking with two coaches who won a bunch of college football games. Actually they combined to win 436 games, or to properly place their achievements in context, they won a game every single Saturday for more than eight consecutive years. 
 
Bo Schembechler and Don Nehlen knew how to win; they also knew why they lost. 
 
It was the legendary Michigan coach, Schembechler, who offered up the best pearl of wisdom that night when it came to success or failure. 
 
He told a story about a particular season in Ann Arbor that was very un-Bo-like. The Wolverines struggled because Schembechler had failed to properly communicate to his senior class its responsibility to lead on and off the field. 
 
Everything in the Michigan camp was puppy dogs and rainbows until adversity hit. Once the obstacles arrived, the Wolverines couldn't get out of their own way. Rather than coming together to solve the problem, the finger pointing began and the result was a maize and gold mess.
 
Schembechler knew why it happened and vowed it would never happen again. From that point, he taught seniors what he expected and the responsibilities they had for the rest of the team.  It became as important as any page in the Michigan play book. 
 
Nehlen, who had coached at Michigan, before arriving in Morgantown, did not forget that lesson. "You're only as good as your senior class" became his mantra. 
 
Eight games into this 2017 season, the puppy dogs and rainbows have been packed away for the Mountaineers. The dream of playing in the Big 12 Championship on the first Saturday of December is likely over. Suddenly, there are a series of very large logs blocking the path they'll be traveling over the next four weeks.  
 
The question is how the seniors will guide the underclassman along this challenging route? 
 
Will they fracture or will their bond become even stronger? 
 
There are still tremendous opportunities that await this team, opportunities that can make this a very good season. How it all ends will be determined in large part by how the seniors lead. 
 
Hopefully, the sage words from Bo and Don will be heard again.  It's all about the seniors and their time to lead is now.