As I watched the final seconds of Monday night’s College Football Playoff Championship game tick off and Ohio State claim the title, I was reminded of a simple truth that has not changed for as long as championship games have been held.
That truth is this: “The team that does what things got them to that point is that team that wins.”
Nick Saban said it this way last week leading up to the game Monday night: “I think the team that plays their game will win.”
Making this happen requires both a mental and physical mindset, and without both you will not succeed in winning this game.
And to be clear, we are talking about one game. We’re not talking about a season or career, we’re talking about a single game. But it’s a big game and for a championship.
Games that come with extra pressure.
Games that will be remembered forever.
Games that carry the promise of legacy.
The first part of this is the mental aspect.
A player playing in a championship game must be of the thought process that this game they are about to play is no different than every game they have played to get them to that championship.
Of course, we all understand that this final game is not the same and history will not look back on it or remember it like it would any other game—nor should it.
It’s for a championship!
With the extra attention that comes with playing in a high-level game means distractions in the days leading up to it.
More media interview requests.
More photographers and video cameras at your practices.
More things that aren’t part of the normal routine for that team.
For high school basketball and football teams, for example, it might mean taking a day to travel to the gym or arena where your championship game will be played for a special practice.
That might mean leaving school early or getting a day off from school to travel for an hour of practice, then traveling back to school.
Remember that Warsaw’s football team bused to Lucas Oil Stadium for practice on the Wednesday before the 5A championship game.
Only the coaches of these teams know whether or not their players are dealing with this properly.
The other part is the part that we all see—the execution of what they had worked on in the time leading up to the championship game.
Football teams that are built on running the ball, for example, need to run the ball and run it well to win.
Purdue basketball last year, for example, would have been dumb to get into the Final Four and say “we’re going to shoot 40 3-pointers instead of throwing the ball into our 7’4” tall, two-time national player of the year award winner Zach Edey down near the basket.”
Teams that make it to the championship by not making mistakes or missing shots or missing blocks or committing turnovers need to maintain that in the championship game.
The Lions are a good example of this.
Detroit’s offense took care of the ball and ran it often and well all season long. Being able to do that set up their highly effective passing game.
But in their game against Washington last weekend, they committed five turnovers. Partly because they got behind, and they changed their way of going about things.
Another example would be if a team, like Warsaw, that goes for it a lot on 4th and 2 gets to a championship game and punts in that situation instead.
The message that sends to the players of that team is that “this game is different, and we are treating it differently”. That has a massive impact on the confidence a team has when the heat of the moment is the hottest.
You don’t have to know a thing about sports to understand the concept that having confidence is the most valuable possession you can have.
That’s true in sports, business, relationships—virtually every aspect of life.