Football is, above all things, a team game. Yes, skill matters, but so does teamwork.  A team with individual stars but poor unity and teamwork often achieves less than expected, while a team without stars, but which plays together, and gives it's all every down of every game often achieves more than you would expect. I think we saw the former last year, and the latter in 2006.

Last year's team had plenty of star-power, but never seemed to have that much unity, and often seemed to underachieve when the going got tough. Some on here called out individual players for that, but to me it was a more a failure of team unity.  It wasn't like either the offense or the defense was playing as well as expected, so it seems unfair to blame any one player or players for it. It's a team game, and the blame for losses needs to be shared by the entire team.

In contrast to last year's team, consider the 2006 team. Most of us remember the egg that was laid against Bowling Green after the Dispatch article. The team could easily have thrown in the towel at that point, but instead, the players called a team meeting, and they became extremely united and focused, and they played together as a team the rest of the way. The offense did what it could. The defense did what it could. Together they won a game, then another, then another, and in the end they were the MAC East Champs. They never won by much, but they kept winning. Did they win because of talent, or because of teamwork. They had some players, no doubt about it. Two are still in the NFL - Cohen (who was a Junior) and Mitchell (who was a Sophomore), but it was their team effort that got them where they ended up. It was also their team effort that won back the fans, fans that were not behind the team at all after the Dispatch article.

This team has a similar job to do. Like 2006, I think there are some players on this team that will someday be in the NFL. They won't win this year with talent, though. They will win with teamwork. Also like 2006, this team has to win back the fans. There are still a lot of disgruntled fans, fans that were very disappointed with the play over the last 18 games or so. If this team shows on the field the heart, spirit, fight, unity and teamwork that has been apparent in the camp interviews and videos, I think they will win more games than most expect, and they will win back skeptical fans by battling every down of every game.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing this group on the field. Go Bobcats!