We asked MTSU head football coach Rick Stockstill what he told his team when its record stood at 3 and 6 and its odds of evening the record and becoming bowl-eligible were low. (The team rallied to win its final three games and received an invitation to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., where it lost to Miami University of Ohio.)

“I said, ‘You’ve got an obligation to this football program, to this University, and to these fans.  You signed the scholarship, and giving up is never written in that scholarship.  You’ve got an obligation to finish, and not only to this University and its fans but to yourself in terms of how you are going to play these last three games.’ They kept playing.” MTSU