‘"The only thing that matters," the coach told his players, "is when they cross the finish line . . . Sometimes you are ahead and get further ahead, sometimes you are behind and you catch up. That is what it is about. It is about where we finish, not where we are in the middle of December. Right now, it is Buffalo. That’s it. 9-5. That’s all we can do anything about. There’s where we want to be."’