I've read several posts like this

Orange Blooded [2196]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 4913

Joined: 1/20/03

Yep, on paper they look like they should win. But this year

Feb 4, 2016, 12:39 AM

proved to me a few things:

1. TEAM is NOT cliche or overrated. A group of great athletes a team does not make.
2. Dedication and heart are the X factor.
3. The QB is even more important than I used to believe. The difference between a loaded team with a good QB and a talented team with an elite QB is not really even measurable.
4. Disciplined athletes perform at a higher level than even more talented, but less disciplined, athletes.

Dabo is getting BOTH great athletes and great people, as he said. Great people put team over individual pursuits. Great people cooperate and commit to the grand plan. Great people sacrifice. Great people are more coachable and less distracted with unhealthy habits. I could go on.

I think Dabo is very good about meeting his needs, too. When reading the Nolan Turner story, he said he needed a Nolan in the meeting rooms. He needed the kind of leadership, gratitude, commitment, etc. that he knew Nolan would bring to the table. Dabo sees the big picture. He is so very good at being several steps ahead on things. This has been part of his plan because he "saw it" much earlier than others.

He clearly sees Nolan as a leader. Eric MacLain was a HUGE factor this past year in his leadership, for example. The whole team culture of winning needs all of these things.

FSU has shown itself over the past few years as a compromising program. They compromised ethics in how they handled Winston and other players. That does affect a program. They can't just plug in elite players and expect to cover up/make up weaknesses created by damaging consequences.

Will FSU continue to win? Yes, talent alone will take you to a certain point. Coaching will too. But I am convinced that, while talent is critical to winning, it absolutely is not the end-all, be-all. There are consequences to undisciplined behavior. It happened to Spurrier. So Clowney was truly a once-in-a-generation athlete. But what exactly was his impact? What it should have been? No. Because of a lack of overall program discipline.

It is because of Dabo's approach to committing to the "whole" of the player, plus "the Watson factor," that we were so good this past year. We only have Watson just a little while longer. But Dabo's quest to build a solid foundation and fortress will hopefully continue to bring in other special QBs (although there is only one Watson) that can help lead us to some more championship seasons.

I don't know what type of factor you could add to an X-star player (fill in the number) to account for character, but I do believe is is a very real and impactful factor. That is why I think we continue to be able to line up toe-to-toe with perhaps even more talented teams.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

> with them in the next few years won't be getting any
> easier.

Couple of things to respond to that....

1) Not truly sold on FSU's systems or coaching, on either side of the ball. While I am distinctly sold on Jimbo as a "QB whisperer" - he managed to make Everett Golson look serviceable for most of the year, and really cut down his usual turnover bonanza to almost nothing - I also don't like his offensive system. It's clunky, complex, complicated, and requires a lot of college guys to make a lot of very complicated reads and decisions and all be on the same page together. That rarely happens - they had one really great year out of Winston, the year they won the title - and the remainder of the time the offense runs like big-block V-8 engine that badly needs a tune-up, sputtering and choking and often cutting off for no reason whatsoever. On the other side of the ball, Charles Kelly really hasn't gotten as much out of a group as talented as Alabama's as you'd expect...they showed up for the Clemson game; for the rest of the season they looked lethargic and uninspired. Houston embarassed them to close the season in the Peach Bowl.

To me, if you want to really be successful in college, you do something simple enough kids can rep it at a high pace. FSU doesn't, and while they make a lot of sales headway marketing their systems as "NFL prep", the bottom line is running these pro-style systems hampers them at the college level a lot of times.

2) ALSO, not really sold on the culture at FSU. There's an entitled - that might be a mild term for the way FSU players are treated - outlaw culture that's taken root in FSU, and it percolates down through every level of that team. There's an absence of accountability, work ethic, and oftentimes, even decency. The team rarely seems to play to its actual talent level and "plays down" to the competition far too much, and time after time, you see a bunch of lazy guys on the field not getting after it. They're still formidable when they show up to play - that game against us was a heavyweight deathmatch - but way too often they seem to just be in cruise control. They lost games to vastly inferior opponents in GT and Houston this past year and that was the norm for Bobby Bowden's teams as well.

Just my .02 worth.

We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

only legitimate class rankings are 2-5 years out.

Absolute Biblical Truth here.

That's largely false. There's a direct correlation b/t

Might be ranked higher, but I wouldn't trade classes.

Re: Might be ranked higher, but I wouldn't trade classes.

YES, "I think that our lower ranked guys are hidden gems"!

Yep, on paper they look like they should win. But this year

+1...***

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

not so much about when they commit

Re: not so much about when they commit

Re: not so much about when they commit

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better.*** GOOD!

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

We just had

How could you possibly know that?

Re: I've read several posts... reality check, please?

Re: I've read several posts... reality check, please?

Why? Last I checked, y'all won the natty 3 seasons ago,

Re: Why? Last I checked, y'all won the natty 3 seasons ago,

Re: I've read several posts... reality check, please?

Maybe Uncle Bill took a sick day from math?***

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

I'd match our team up against anybody***

When does FSU get The Recruiting Ranking Trophy?

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

Re: We got a great class. FSU's was better. Games

TigerBoard POTD