By: Nate Murphy (@bigmurph23)
Week One in the CFSL is a joyous occasion for all of us here in the league. The National Championship has come and gone, the off-season was long, and the recruiting period seemed to fly by. We have played the all-star games and we are now all ready. It all counts starting Monday. But there is a group of people in the league that don’t always love Week One.
If you ask many past and present ADs and coaches many of them (including the one writing this article) will tell you week one is the HARDEST week to prepare for. Sure, a team’s week one opponent may not be the toughest on their schedule. But even the game against the toughest team is easier to prepare for in my opinion.
So why is Week One the hardest to prepare for? Simple…data. More to the point, it’s the lack thereof. Coming from me, that may sound like an odd answer. I am not a data-driven article writer. I’m not the broadcaster who is the first to use data during a game. But when it comes to preparing for a game data is king. When prepping for games, especially Week 3 and after, having an idea of what your opponent wants to do makes your job just a little easier.
Game one all you have is a hunch. Sure, you look at what your opponent has done in the past. But that is with a different roster where even the slightest changes can drastically affect how a team schemes and plays. And it is more than likely a different playbook than seasons prior. So what is an AD’s strategy going into the season opener? Grind…and hope.
That sounds a little odd, hanging your hat on hope doesn’t sound like much of a plan. But that is, to a point, what you are doing. You are hoping that you have done enough, and seen enough, in your game prep to put together the best game plan.
There is so much to look at going into that first week. All you can do is work off of what you THINK your opponent is going to do. Do you think they are going to throw it 60 times a game? Okay, so what do I have to do to stop that? Well, what if they don’t, what if they go run heavy? Okay, what do I have to do to stop THAT!?! Then if you figure that out, well, there is another long list of what-ifs to tackle. The ADs that figure out the what-ifs the best, and maybe get a little lucky along the way, will find success in week one. Then let the data flow and the unknown become a little more known.
So I hope everyone enjoys Week One. Because just like life and a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get.
