Link: Alabama, Notre Dame Take Different Approach to Early Portions of Practice Schedule

RTR91

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When Brian Kelly and Nick Saban held their first of many press conferences in advance of the BCS National Championship game, Kelly joked that he would let Saban field a question about the teams' upcoming practice schedules first because of his title game experience.


Kelly, of course, had a plan of his own, and it differs significantly from Saban's.


Alabama, after 17 days of rest, will take the field today for its first practice since the SEC Championship. Notre Dame, which wrapped up its regular season Nov. 24, will hold its sixth.
 

runtheoption22

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Is their a limit to the amount of practices for the post season? If so, how many?
Although there is no specific limit on the number of practices teams may hold while preparing for a bowl game, standard NCAA rules apply for student-athletes’ participation in practice or other athletically related activities. Same as the regular season, these rules limit practice and other athletic activities to a maximum of four hours per day and 20 hours per week.
-- NCAA website
 

TexasRed

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I think I remember Saban talking about his bowl practice philosophy before. He mentioned that he used to drive the players pretty hard, but after a while decided that backing off and giving them time to rest was a better approach.
 

KrAzY3

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Basically, ND will have had 4 weeks of practices while Alabama will have had 3.
Is that counting the week of practice Alabama had before the Georgia game? I know that's not specifically prep for Notre Dame, but it seems like they'll basically have the same number of practices over the same period of time.
 

crimsonaudio

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IIRC, CNS uses a week (or so) to work on fundamentals (tackling, blocking, etc) then uses a second week to prepare just like a regular season game.
 

BamaGreek

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I have heard Saban say before that they plan on having 15 practices leading up to the game. I think that counts a few practice days they will have once they get to south Florida.
 

CRMSNtide

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Is that counting the week of practice Alabama had before the Georgia game? I know that's not specifically prep for Notre Dame, but it seems like they'll basically have the same number of practices over the same period of time.
Thats a pretty long lay off for ND with no championship game to play in.
I guess it's all in how you use the time though, they could be flat or may come out rested and prepared.

I'll trust Saban to be the expert on this, been in this situation in almost every season here lately.
 

jps1983

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I don't think there's an advantage one way or the other; as others have said, it's how you use the time and how the players prepare on their own. It also depends on how practice is run; one CNS practice is worth more than a week of lolly-gagging and walking around practice.
 

Rush

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I seem to recall CNS having had said recently that he has seen, in the past, a downside to starting practice too soon for e.g. a bowl game, in that the guys can lose some of their intensity / focus by the time the game rolls around.
 

bamaga

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I seem to recall CNS having had said recently that he has seen, in the past, a downside to starting practice too soon for e.g. a bowl game, in that the guys can lose some of their intensity / focus by the time the game rolls around.

He did say something like that. Players get tired of hearing the same thing for weeks. It gets stale and players kinda tune it out towards the end.
 

WalkaboutSean

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Saban has also said, "If there was a better way to prepare, we'd be doing it that way."

In other words, we'll prepare for Notre Dame like do will any other team. Saban believes in establishing a routine and sticking to it.
 

CRMSNtide

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I don't think their layoff is any different than what ours was last year. I also think I heard they will be having 15 practices as well in prep for the BCSNCG.
I like coming off the Georgia game experience with a shorter lay off, they haven't played a good team in a while, and have the longer lay off.
We come out knowing what it takes to win a big game like this.
 

BigEasyTider

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Regardless of individual coach preferences, I highly doubt Saban felt he had the option to do anything different in this case. Given how badly beaten up we were after the SECCG, I imagine he felt compelled to have the longest possible lay-off time.
 

Rush

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Regardless of individual coach preferences, I highly doubt Saban felt he had the option to do anything different in this case. Given how badly beaten up we were after the SECCG, I imagine he felt compelled to have the longest possible lay-off time.
Amen, brother.

Amen...
 

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