I'll go even farther than that. This is almost a perfect loss and it could win us a championship in a year or two.
It's one thing to talk about one game at a time, and how there won't be a letdown from a big game like PSU, and how all the media attention is "noise", but it's another thing entirely to understand it viscerally. These players have been playing with confidence. Now they'll have to learn how to play with a little less confidence and a whole lot more determination. They'll know that favorable press is bs when you're having one of those days where things aren't going right. They'll learn that the physical toll on your body actually is--or at least seems--worse when you lose, so you might as well win. They'll learn that "finding a way to win" is a whole heckuva lot different at home against an FCS opponent than it is down on the road against a top team. In short, all the wins have been great, but now is the time to take the next step and find the character of a winner.
And a couple of years from now, or maybe just a couple of games from now, the seniors will tell the underclassmen after a big win: "Yeah, this is great, rookie. Back to work." One of the beauties of PJ's system is that the older players mentor the younger.
And if I had any one message I could give to the team, it would be this: Discouraged? I've always loved that word because if you break it down, something becomes very clear. The previx "dis"--that means to take away. Do you know what that means? It means courage is your natural state--it's what you naturally have because it's who you truly are. You know how PJ always says the ball is the program? Well, that's half the truth, the outer exoteric half. The other half of the truth, the inner esoteric half is this: Courage is the program. Don't let anyone wrest it away from you, guard it with everything you've got, because it is who and what you really are. There will be another day to apply the lessons of today, but DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED!
