What's left to play for since they have dropped the last two games?

You nailed it when you wrote 'Pride'.

 

A chance to feel a win again
Makes everything so much better

 

Yep, if they aren’t up for the games, they need to find somewhere else to play. Someone else said earlier” hate losing more than liking winning” is more important and I believe that.

 

If the roles were reversed, LSU and FSU would be obsessed with beating us and ruining our season if theirs were already lost.

 

Pride is mainly about pre-game and the first quarter or so. If your team is "what they all expected" and the opposition is playing better, then you slide into "rationalization" territory. It is human nature.

 

Playing with pride is about desire and effort, not results.

 

Rationalization allows you to play "hard" and yet without much effort. Then you wash, rinse, and repeat. But yes, IF there are players who hate losing more than they like winning, they can get the rest out of their pity party. We shall see which manifests. But for us, it feels more like bad communication than meh motivation. If that is the case, then the next step towards redemption is a "players only" meeting where nothing is left on the table and if necessary, a players "manifesto" brought to the coaches. What they would be saying is that they would rather take the coaches' ire by rocking a rocky boat than "stay the course" on the Titanic after it struck an iceberg.

 

Something I wish more of these kids believed instead of “opting out” of their last game.