Let's get mental ... mental....
Published: 10/31/2008 10:08 AM
Last Modified: 10/31/2008 10:08 AM
How much of football is physical and how much is mental?
When Oklahoma was struggling to run the ball, it looked pretty physical.
The Sooners blockers were getting overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage, sometimes by smaller men, sometimes by inferior football players. Future first-round draft picks were getting whipped by former walk-ons. Not every time, but enough to make a potentially great offense one-dimensional.
But maybe it wasn't physical. Maybe it was more mental that anything. Just listen to OU running back Chris Brown.
"We always talk about being physical, but more than you know, you've got to be mentally ready," he said.
He was speaking mostly for himself, and how he hadn't been running with the same fearless strength and power that he had the past two seasons. An offseason knee injury, he said, changed the way he ran – not because of the knee, but because of the knee's affect on his mind.
"It's confidence," he said. "Sometimes when you're coming off, you're kind of timid on it, you don't want to run between the tackles because you think somebody's going to fall on you or something. There's all types of stuff running through your head."
So, everyone got mad and played better against Kansas and Kansas State. How?
Some quality time spent within the confines of one's own mind? A little yoga, incense and soft chanting? The complete works of Stuart Smalley, Jack Handy and Dr. Phil?
Actually, it probably comes down to simplifying the game plan. Brown estimated the Sooners had 4-6 running plays in the game play for teams from the Sunflower State. Previously, he said, there were "a lot more." Streamlining what was working, tossing out what wasn't, playing to his players' strengths and away from their weaknesses, said offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, made getting yards on the ground easier.
And once the success started coming, it was all about self-confidence.
"More than you know," Brown said. "You wouldn't think just running the ball you'd have to be mentally ready, but you do. There's so many assignments you've got to have in your head. You've got know what your guys up front are doing for you. You've got to know what backdoor cuts to make. When Matt Clapp or Brody (Eldridge) is blocking on the edge for you, you've got know how to read that."
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
