As the college football season nears its climax and games take on added drama, preparation and coaching also have extra significance.

Both Miami's Larry Coker and Ohio State's Jim Tressel come into this week's games needing victories to remain undefeated and on track for a meeting in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Washington State's Mike Price and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops must avoid upsets to be able to exploit possible losses by the Hurricanes and Buckeyes.

Coaching philosophies evolve and grow constantly and become even more important as the stakes get higher and championships are decided. The following is a look at what some of the best coaches might be thinking about right now.

Encouragement, teaching, analysis
The first thing a coach needs to remember is to avoid over-coaching. He should let his players use their skills, because athletes will become confused and lose confidence if they are constantly questioned. Coaches should stress that football is a game, and encouragement and praise are always better than negative action. False praise, though, leads to false hope and is the worst thing a coach can give his team

A coach is always a teacher and that is especially important late in the season. What he knows is not as important as what he can get across to his players, and he has to be sound in getting across even the smallest details. And since the best players often decide games, they have to be ridden the hardest. They must be ready to use their skills.

While evaluating his team the coach should also recognize his own mistakes. Jim Tressel and Larry Coker have to ask themselves "Did we practice too hard or not enough?" They have to analyze every situation and respond accordingly the next time, because recognizing a problem is useless unless it is fixed. Repeated mistakes can lose games at this point in the season.

Preparation is paramount
This point must also be made to the players: Be physical! Superior mental, physical and emotional toughness are huge in games of this magnitude and have to become part of a team's trademark. Ohio State has to continue to run the ball well and Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser needs his celebrated toughness now more than ever.

Players must know, though, that they are the ones that win games, not coaches. The staff can only do so much. I used to tell my players "There is no greater reward than team victory."

If a coach can do all of the above things, coach his team up and get his players to realize their highest potential, good coaching and average personnel can win over poor coaching and great personnel. Something for the favorites to remember, as well.

That is where preparation comes into play. The Michigan-Ohio State game is being played on Saturday but it will be won from Monday through Friday of this week. Whichever coach can find the extra factor during the practice week -- taking off the pads or cutting back schedules -- increases his chances of winning.

A prepared team will react to sudden-change situations with poise and confidence and rise to the occasion more often.

In-game considerations
And as guys like Mike Price are readying their teams for Saturday they will likely focus on a few key points.

First, football is a game of third downs. Each team gets an average of 12-13 possessions in a game, and if a defense can force seven punts there is a good chance the opponent will stop itself with mistakes on most of the remaining possessions. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win about 80 percent of the time.

There will also be five to seven plays between the 20-yard lines that are considered big plays, but the remaining big plays will take place in the red zone. This week, it will be important for a team like Oklahoma to score touchdowns inside the 20 and make Kliff Kingsbury and Texas Tech settle for field goals, because the longer the underdog hangs around the more it begins to believe it can win. The Sooners need to penetrate the enemy with scores and demoralize them with stops.

Those third-down and red-zone situations also play a big part in the field-position battle. Teams have to fight the entire game to get field position and keep it. They have to punch out first downs and keep drives alive but also know when is the right time to take shots down the field. The last thing Tressel wants is for Michigan to start drives in Ohio State territory with a short field.

The little things in the game plan also take on added significance, and since an average of one out of every six plays is a kick of some sort, it is important to stress those aspects of the game. A team never wants to lose out on something big because of a small mistake.

It's not just this week
And while the task at hand is important, it must also be remembered that building a winning program is a year-round job. Things like offseason conditioning and weight-lifting programs build togetherness and toughness, and from that a coach knows who he can count on in crunch time.

That becomes especially important for a team like Ohio State, which is facing its biggest rival with even more than usual on the line.

All this makes for a team that goes into every game, especially the biggest ones, with confidence. Belief is born out of demonstrated ability and players should not be asked to execute things that are beyond them. The risk-reward ratio is in a teams favor if the players feel they can make something happen, which is important because teams must be ready to be more daring when the stakes are high.

So what does all this mean? Well, it leads to the most important thing teams and coaches with national championship aspirations must do at this point in the year: avoid losses.

ESPN.com college football analyst Jim Donnan takes part in chats and makes observations on Saturdays as part of College GameDay Online.