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Message: [QUOTE="Lax Mouse, post: 5656374, member: 8158"] Last thoughts before the season opener today: Cuse has the talent and experience to win it all this year, regardless of some lineup questions and regardless of the question marks at the ssdm position. Watched a few game highlights from last year, and more than personnel, I think the factors that will determine if they go the distance this year are what I'm going to call the three C's: composure, consistency, and coaching. Composure: how many times last year did Cuse go off the rails when things got a little out of hand? Unnecessary and costly penalties, slides, and turnovers trying to force the issue. They took small holes and made them even bigger. With such a veteran team this year, they need to make sure they've established the mental toughness and patience to handle setbacks with maturity and poise and remember that they have the talent to come out on top. Consistency: This has been mentioned but how many times did the orange win a quarter by multiple goals just to lay an egg in the next? Or go dormant a whole game before making it competitive at the end. The team will need to stay focused and grounded for whole games. Both of these points tie into a larger theme of maturity this season, which you'd hope a veteran team will have, but leads me to the last factor. . . Coaching: Not a lot of work needed here in one sense as the talent level of this team can offset some deficiencies, but where I think these coaches will need to be the most active is helping to center the emotions, focus, and discipline of this team. At the end of the day the players are kids and young men - the coaches need to be aware of that and keep a pulse on it and step in to help the players grow and keep a level head. They will also need to show a better job adapting game plans if the team is stumped by an opponent. Again, there's enough talented players on this team to win any game on the schedule, how do the coaches help put those players in the best position to succeed? I've got a good feeling about this year - and excited to watch them take the field today! [/QUOTE]

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