Seminole football team deserves encouragement rather than doubt

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October 09, 2011

As a longtime listener to sports radio, I guess I am prepared to hear the worst when the fans get on the line this week, and when the opinions start to flow in after this recent loss at Wake Forest by the Florida State University football team.

It was close, but the Seminoles could not pull off the miracle play that would have brought them a victory. Now the team is 2-3.

There are a lot of solutions offered about getting the running game started, harder hitting by the defenders, etc. The bottom line, from this corner, is that any team can win with any strategy, as long as the players believe that they can win and have the heart and spirit and leadership. Successful teams, running everything from a pure running game to the option to a pure passing game have taken championships. And there is, for sure, the element of luck.

We recall sitting in the Brown Derby restaurant and listening to the radio or tv, where the Seminoles, under Coach Darrell Mudra, had finally won a game and the whole restaurant erupted in wonder and applause. Mudra was a kind of coach-psychologist who sat up in the boxes to coach. He had been successful previously, but couldn’t seem to manage here.

What seems to be evident with the FSU team is that there is really no one who has stepped forth to provide the kind of leadership that may be necessary to win the rest of the games. It begins on the coaching staff and spills over from there. Perhaps it can’t be taught, but many teams seem to be able to turn their program around in the middle of poor seasons. This can be the first step in reconstructing a dynasty.

Red Grange, whom I once interviewed as a young reporter, used to say this: “I don’t care how complicated they make the game seem, it’s really based on two principles and those are blocking and tackling.” Grange, “the galloping Ghost” was named the best college football player of all time a few years ago by ESPN.

Those are the fundamentals. The best team in football right now, probably Alabama, has them down to a science. They don’t miss many tackles and their quarterback has all day to pick out receivers. Then, of course, there is a measure of deception, as the fake field goal against Arkansas tended to set the tone for the whole game. Alabama takes no prisoners. But in order to do this you need to be sound in the fundamentals.

Everybody recognizes the talent on the Seminole football team. Talent can take you just so far. Any tennis player knows that the basics apply. If you can’t serve the ball, you probably aren’t going to win a game, no matter how good you volley. The idea is practice, practice and more practice.

The leadership of the coaches is vital. During the civil war, there was a Northern general named McClellan whose greatness lay in training soldiers to march in file, and to be ready to fight. The problem was that he himself was the victim of his own fears. He had the numbers, the weapons, and the plan. He didn’t have whatever else it took. He build the Army into a working machine. But he didn’t know how to use it.

A plodder like Gen. Grant, who came back time and again, even after defeat, was the winner here.

And so we’ll continue to watch the Noles and think about training, leadership and what Red Grange said.