The decision in the game is still going to be a quick one, judging the particular situation you’re in. But you’ve got the input of your entire stuff ahead of time to help you make the decision. Guys who are successful at many different places aren’t just lucky, prepare meticulously and know what they’re doing when the time comes! Of course, everyone still makes mistakes.

We also did a mock game every Friday practice to go voer every special team and substitution. It culminated w/ running the FG team on at the last second to kick a game winner. Perhaps I should have Coach Denny Douds forward the script to Les Miles at LSU (yes, he is still there).

Cal stacked up the line on first down, nullifying Toby Gerhart on first down and putting Stanford in long-to-go positions. Cal was also able to fake out the quarterback with coverages and fronts so that he anticipated pressure that wasn’t there, throwing the ball early and not stepping into it to overthrow open receivers.

On offense, Cal rode its horse 40 times, but that was not a surprise. Stanford had no defensive answer though.

Stanford also out-schemed itself. Inexplicably, Stanford seemed intent on showing off its ability to throw the ball, even to the point of failure – including their last drive when they threw the game-ending interception instead of running the best power back in the country. Absolute madness, born in the gameplanning process and fledged on the field.

What happened in the Cal-Stanford game that makes you believe Stanford was demonstrably out-schemed?

Not being snarky but I did not see the game, only the score.

Your point is technically valid, but also sophomoric. No one is saying that having a preliminary meeting going over the “what-ifs” of a football game is going to be the difference between a losing season and a top-ten team. The point is to avoid a situation like LSU’s, where the gameplan was either not practiced or horrifically botched.

Also, coaches that plan two days ahead probably find a lot of stuff in their gameplan they realize they shouldn’t have wasted Tuesday and Wednesday on, and throw it out, which further limits the chance of calling a doomed play (like Jim Harbaugh did on Saturday against Cal, flat-out blowing the game for an outschemed Stanford team that had miraculously played itself into position to win.)

Saban was certainly lame in Miami, although I’m inclined to only blame him for 75% of it because the Dolphins franchise was such a mess until the Parcells hire.

You are vastly underestimating Nick Saban’s ability to coach. I’ve heard plenty of poor things about him as a person but even I will not doubt his coaching ability. The defense he runs at the college level is unprecedented as far as complexity and it usually runs smooth as silk with him.

There aren’t any Florida International’s, North Texas’s, or Tennessee-Chattanooga’s in the N.F.L.

Saban isn’t successful because he knows more about football than other coaches, or because he has a meeting to discuss how his team will handle all the various situations that might occur during the course of the game. Every coach goes over the possible options with his staff, whether in a formal meeting or not. Saban wins for the same reason other coaches win- he usually has better players than the guy on the other sideline.

I think that some readers of this might not appreciate that there is not as much specificity or rigidity as might be implied. I think the point is to be sure to address all the aspects of the game that might come up and begin to nail down those that can be nailed down ahead of time. But everything is adaptable once the game starts.

You want to have a good idea what plays you think will work in special situations. but that list comes with assumptions which may no longer prove valid when the situations arise. Mismatches may not develop as expected or may pop up elsewhere.

I’ve seen some of the best regarded defensive coaches think they had a real shot at a shutout going into a big game, yet end up giving up over 40 points in a shootout. Stuff happens and plans need adaptation.