Michigan's Football Team Needs a Sports Psychologist

Michigan Needs a Sports Psychologist Michigan’s football team needs a sports psychologist. There should be one available in the university’s top ranked Psychology Department. Make the call! A sports psychologist can get into the heads of the athletes, overcome problems, instill confidence, enhance performance, and get them to handle pressure. Coaches can do it, but it’s too late with Team 134. Attitude, the “Tude,”Swagger, Arrogance, Cockiness, Smugness, Bluster, call it what you want, defines the great teams. Lose it and you become one of the mediocre patsies. Have it and you know you can pull out the game at the end. Think of John Elway, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, the Mannings, Alabama, and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders. Michigan had it. Michigan had it when it came from behind to beat Michigan State, and Michael Hart proclaimed Michigan State as “Little Brother.” Michigan lost it seven years ago in the Appalachian State game. Michigan has stopped believing in itself. The players practice hard. They’re physical. Their heart is into it. They just stopped believing. It’s not their fault they stopped believing. Michigan’s two kickers could hit almost every field goal in practice four years ago during Rich Rodriquez’s last year. They just couldn’t make a field goal during the game. They did not believe. Their lack of confidence became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Michigan’s offensive guards no longer believe they can block. They block in practice, but cannot block in a game because they know they can’t. Penn State; three muffed field goals, any one of which would have won the game. Penn State: 28 yards rushing on 30 attempts by two tailbacks. Michigan State: - 46 yards rushing. Nebraska: -21 yards rushing. Seven QB sacks in both games. They no longer believe. It's not their fault. They cannot carry out the plays called by Al Borges, the offensive coordinator. The opposing teams, even the fans in the stands, at home, and in the sports bars, know what’s coming – stuffed in the backfield. Brady Hoke said three years ago “This is Michigan; God’s sake.” Today’s Michigan football team is not the team Bo handed to Mo, who passed it on to Lloyd. Today’s Michigan team is not the one Brady wants it to be. Today’s Michigan team is not the one he remembers. That Michigan sent scores of linemen and defensive backs to the pros. This Michigan needs to send them to a sports psychologist. Brady Hoke and Al Borges, the OC, also need a sports psychologist. They are in a constant state of denial. The plays work on the chalkboard. Thus they should work as diagrammed in the game. They are in denial. They believe after Akron, UConn, Penn State, and Michigan State that Michigan can run the ball. They believe that Michigan can block. They believe that Michigan can play smash mouth football. That Michigan left the Big House six years ago. They believe because they are in denial. They believe because they are in denial of the spread offense. They believe that Denard Robinson last year and Devin Gardner this year can line up under center and run a pro set offense. They are in denial. Devin Gardner can neither run nor throw because the blockers can neither run block nor pass block. Gardner is also too banged up to run. No football player should take the punishment he’s received the past month. The running backs can’t run behind the line and don’t block. The kicker has regressed to where he was four years ago. The young tight ends have to be kept in the line as blockers. Soon it will spread to the defense. So much was expected of Team 134. It's not a lack of physicality. It's in their heads. A sports psychologist can work miracles with the minds of athletes. Also with the minds of coaches.