Clemson and Alabama

I think most of ya'll know who I was pulling for last night.  I've spent most of my life booing Alabama but in the last few years I have grown to appreciate their disciplined execution and consistent level of excellence.  Because of this I've become a reluctant fan.  I like watching excellence. 

So, what happened Monday night?  I'm no football scholar but what I saw was a team that wasn't prepared which is so surprising when that team is Alabama.  Preparation is what has built the dominance that they have had in college football the last 10-12 years.

Clemson was good but not 44-16 good.  Clemson was 20/32 passing.  135 total yards of rushing.  Neither of those stats is impressive.  Alabama had very similar stats.  22/34 passing and 148 yards of rushing.  Here is the difference.  Alabama had 2 very poorly executed plays resulting in interceptions leading to touchdowns by Clemson at key moments.  Alabama also had 2 fumbles although they recovered both of them.  That's 4 fumbles/interceptions compared to 0 for Clemson.  Clemson had 240 yards on 3rd down plays.  When Alabama had Clemson 3rd and long, they consistently gave up big plays.  Not just enough yards for 1st downs but long yards.  15+ yards.  And, most of those were clearly very bad execution.  Missed coverage where the defense was in the wrong place.  Mental errors.  Only a couple plays were won with outright physical overpowering.  Most were bad execution on the part of Alabama.  My college coach would often say "it's ok to make physical errors. Those happen.  It's the mental errors that you can't make.  There is no excuse for those."  Oh, and then there was the fake field goal.  Another bad mental mistake.  Who knows what they were thinking on that play.   

Clemson came prepared.  They are known to be a bit more showy.  They dance a bit more.  But, last night, they won because they came prepared.  They executed.  They didn't beat themselves.  They made very few mistakes.  No dumb penalties.  No blown coverage on pass plays.  They got beat on some plays but they rarely beat themselves       

Take away?  Past records don't matter today.  If you aren't prepared for today, it doesn't matter how good you've been in the past, you will lose.  The flip side is that with preparation, you can do just about anything.  As Sweeney (Clemson coach) said afterward "If we can do it, you can do it!"

So, today, are we Alabama with a great track record but maybe not much preparation today?  Or, are we Clemson, with some track record and a passion to rise up and willing to put in the preparation necessary to win?                   

Discipline eats talent for breakfast

When I was 7 years old I played my first organized baseball.  You've already read about how that year began with me kicking and screaming going to registration.  I didn't learn the full story of how that season ended till many years later.  I had been selected to the all-star team my first season.  My parents didn't tell me because they already had summer plans and the all-star schedule conflicted so they told the coach I couldn't join the team and they didn't tell me so I wouldn't be disappointed.  The next 13 years our summer plans worked around baseball.

I made the all-star team every year of little league, then I made the high school team, practicing with the varsity team as an underclassman (2 practices every day).  Then I made a Metro-Atlanta High School All-Star team.  Then I made a very real discovery.  Discipline beats talent.  I had more talent than most of the guys on that team BUT, most of the guys on the team had more discipline than I did. As a little league player we all tried the same but talent usually won.  As we got into high school, the guys that were committed started working out and training outside of practice.  And those guys that I used to beat with my talent began beating me with their discipline.  Today, I rarely see a major league ball player display talent beyond what I had.  BUT, they have the discipline to do what's needed that I didn't have.

I see the same thing in leadership of teams.  Some people have leadership talent that gets them on the team, in the game and even winning some.  It's the leaders with discipline that continue to add capacity and win over time.

Talent can win games.  Discipline wins championships and creates dynasties.

This is good news for all of us.  Talent is really difficult to obtain if you don't have it naturally.  Anybody can apply disciplined behavior today.  Some people are "natural" leaders.  The rest of us can become leaders through disciplined behavior.  Just as I experienced with baseball, often the natural talent shines early on BUT the disciplined behavior wins over time.