Attrition!

Florida State's EJ Manual banged up in loss to #1 Oklahoma!

The word attrition means to have physical wear or the military strategy of wearing down the enemy by continual losses in personnel and material. Simply put, it means to leave the battle with less than you showed up with. That's what the game of football does to teams when they are playing against equally as talented opponents.


Last night #1 Oklahoma and #5 Florida State squared off in a battle royale for the ages. The Sooners would survive the war with a 23-13 victory in Tallahassee. However, the most important part of the score is the dash that separates the numbers. It's like looking at someone's obituary and the dash, in my opinion, represents the life and what they did with it. We'll on Saturday night the dash represented the level of play and the depth that it took for both teams to play for four quarters.

We saw attrition at it's fullest in Tallahassee on Saturday evening. I don't know if you paid attention to just how physical that game was but those boys were laying the wood. On both sides of the ball both the Sooners and Seminoles lost several key guys during the course of the game. However, the level of play never dropped off. The Noles lost EJ Manual, their starting quarterback, who I might add, is a 6'5" 240 lb remarkable physical specimen with unbelievable athletic ability. For a less talented team that would have been disaster but not for the Seminoles!

The next man up was a freshman, Clint Trickett who picked up the mic and kept right on flowing. He was throwing to backups as well because their top wide receiver Kenny Shaw went out after a monstrous hit in the end zone. The Sooners sustained multiple injuries as well. The key is, the level of play for both teams was never affected. In fact, it got better down the stretch!

What most people don't understand is that both Oklahoma(Mizzou) and Florida State(Clemson) have to be prepared to play again next week and every week thereafter regardless of how much attrition they sustain along the way. That's why every now and then you'll see a team lose to an opponent that they on paper shouldn't have lost to. The attrition of players catches up to teams over the course of the season. That's why it's so difficult to run the table.


So when asked about Boise State's worthiness, if you will, to be ranked in the top 5 and to be in the discussion of the national title, in my opinion is ridiculous. They are probably the only team within the top 25 that attrition doesn't effect at all. They are so much better than anyone that they'll play that the word attrition isn't even printed in the dictionaries in Idaho. They did house Georgia but took the week off to prepare for Toledo. In the game of football just like in life that dash has to mean something.

Well... we know going forward that the dash is significant when it comes to the other teams in the top 5; Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU and Florida State because they've all got go to war with ranked opponents several times before the season is over! Mark your calendars for November 5^th because LSU rolls into to Tuscaloosa for a showdown with the Tide! By that time of the season personnel will be depleted for all teams but they'll still be expected still to perform at a high level.

The most important thing to learn here is, make the dash count because you’ll always be judged by what you did with it!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport