During college football’s bowl season, a topic that often pops up is “motivation.”

As in, how much does it mean to a particular team to win a particular bowl game if the players had had their sights set on a much better bowl game until an untimely loss prevented them from playing in such?

Case in point, of course, is Oregon State, which lost a heartbreaking Civil War battle for a Rose Bowl berth, then promptly went and laid an unmotivated-looking egg against BYU in the comparatively rinky-dink Las Vegas Bowl.

Were the Beaver players in fact unmotivated? And if they were, whose fault is it, theirs or the coaching staff?

Well, I think it’s safe to say that at least some of them were mentally ready and excited about playing, and that others weren’t. For those who weren’t, I place the blame squarely on them.

Some years ago, I was talking to Linn-Benton baseball coach Greg Hawk, and he said a criticism that some of his players at the time leveled against him was that “Coach Hawk doesn’t do a good enough job getting us motivated.”

In response I said, “If I’m coaching and have a bunch of players who need of a bunch of motivating, then I’ve got the wrong guys.”

“That’s right,” Hawk said. “I’ve told some of them, ‘I made a poor choice and now I have to live with you.’”

Hawk and I were cut from the same old-school cloth, which means we think a guy ought to be able derive motivation from the simple fact that he’s got a job to do on the field, or wherever his responsibilities may lie.

“Motivation?” I said to Hawk. “What’s with these guys? You’ve got a game in front of you — how much more motivation do you need?”

If that sounds like a bunch of hoary BS, well, sorry, can’t help you; that’s the way people ought to approach things, sports and everything else.

Back to the Beavers: OK, the Vegas Bowl is a Mickey Mouse deal compared to the Rose Bowl, no question about it. But if it were up to me to “motivate” them, all I would say is, “What’s going to make you feel better: Winning the Vegas Bowl or losing it? Wouldn’t you always rather win than lose? Mailing it in in the Vegas Bowl is not going to make the Civil War loss hurt any less.”

Bottom line: Other people can help you get and stay motivated for whatever you’re doing, but ultimately, everyone’s responsible for motivating himself or herself.