[vhawk01]

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I've posted this before but I will say it again. I had a friend who used to play for OSU(2002-2004). He said that there was a portion of practice each week dedicated to Michigan. They would either watch UM film or practice against the scout team mimicking UM personnel. It didn't matter if OSU was facing Penn State in week 9 or Akron in week 1, they were still preparing for Michigan.

You can debate if this is skill or not, but it is definitely a different strategy. I never asked if they did it for any other team but I doubt they do.

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So the question is does this correlate with winning, losing or nothing?

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Just as a thought experiment I think this would correlate with winning. Assuming that OSU and Michigan are roughly equally skilled, which they usually are, the better prepared team and staff would be more likely to win the game than not. I know there are a lot of variables unaccounted for but being better prepared than your opponent can only increase the likelihood of success.

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I probably agree with you but I could throw about twenty sports cliches and metaphors and conventional wisdom at you that would directly contradict it. They will be too tight, they will be too amped up, they need to be loose, blah blah blah. This is why you gotta look out for narrative fallacy. Yeah, your story sounds great if you are trying to come up with a reason to get to the conclusion you want, and you might even be right but I could come up with just as convincing a story to come to a different conclusion.