Heading into the final phase

[Mama_Bull]

Free article from Corey Dowlar at southflorida.247sports.com:

Heading into the final phase

Corey Dowlar

86 minutes ago

The dog days of fall camp are behind the South Florida Bulls now.

South Florida's opener with Notre Dame is less than a week away.Head coach Skip Holtz and company now focus their vision from the rear-view mirror of two-a-days and scrimmages to what is directly in front of them – a 3:30 p.m. date with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday.

“Game week, it is finally here,†Holtz began. “We have been talking about getting into phase five for a long time. Finishing up the scrimmage on Friday and bringing them up and giving them the opportunity to watch it and to sit down and really talk about that this signifies the end of phase four and it starts to get into the season.â€

That’s not to say they won’t forget what they’ve done and learned.

Going to Vero Beach, working on the recently renovated practice fields, and of course the summer weight lifting program have all laid the foundation. On Saturday, construction begins.

“Everything we have done is to build for a season,†Holtz said. “Everything we have done has been to prepare for a 12-game season. Now all of the sudden, we are in a 1-0 mentality. We are into game week at this point. It has been a long time coming. The clock is down to six days and it is ticking. I think this team is really excited for the opportunities that are in front of us right now. I think they are really excited about it.â€

But the challenge is not to get too excited too fast.

The opportunity to play in South Bend at one of the most tradition-rich programs in the history of college football will certainly run through the players’ minds. There’s no reason it shouldn’t.

The point Coach Holtz and his staff have to drive home is that the game isn’t played during this week, it happens between the white lines on Saturday.

“Sometimes when you get this excited about this something, you have to really turn and make sure that you almost put your emotions aside for a little bit right now,†Holtz explained. “You can’t spend it all week emotionally getting ready for this game. If you do, you are going to end up tired, fatigued by the end of the week. You can’t build your emotions like that. What we have to do is make sure that we control what we can control right now and that is what we are doing in our preparation, what we are doing on our day off tomorrow and the way we come out and practice on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and the focus we have on Friday and Saturday getting ready for the game.â€

By the same token, however, Holtz believes the veteran players on his team will know how to do this already. Having played in big games before, and for that matter big environments, they understand how it works.

And that helps put the Bulls head coach at ease, at least a little bit.

“Right now, I like the maturity and the experience of this football team and the way that they are handling everything and the way that they have handled this situation,†said Holtz. “I think everybody is ready to get started.â€

http://southflorida.247sports.com/Article/Heading-into-the-final-phase-37341

[BDYZR]

I just hope I get some sleep this week.

'CAUSE I'M SO FRIGGIN' HYPED I'M ABOUT TO EXPLODE!

GO BULLS!

[usf97]

So is it time for Europe yet?

[Jihme]

I just hope I get some sleep this week.

'CAUSE I'M SO FRIGGIN' HYPED I'M ABOUT TO EXPLODE!

GO BULLS!

THIS!!!!