those real psychological factors.

We use it as a means of metaphorically describing a state that will trend toward a particular outcome (good or bad) which sounds like momentum, but the critical point of actual momentum is that it takes as much force to change its movement in one direction as it does to create it in the first place. That’s the difference between momentum and velocity.
And so when we use it in a metaphorical sense it feels like a state that is difficult to overcome. It will take as much time and energy as it did to get to that state in the first place. Twice as much if it’s “in the opposite direction” as people have been saying.

But that’s not it at all. It won’t take us nine games to get us back to playing like we were.
We’re talking about something that totally reverses in a single game. That can reverse in a single play?

And that’s why “Momentum” isn’t a good analogy for that.
Psychologically speaking, it’s probably counterproductive (at least to people who know physics) because momentum implies that you can’t change this course easily. It will take a lot of time and maybe weeks of work.

You know the staff psychologists on the team are saying the exact opposite: “Practice hard, but last week’s performance has absolutely no bearing on how you will play against ASU. That game is over and it has no effect on the next one. Let that game go because you get to choose how you will perform on Saturday. The first snap is a fresh start. Every snap is an opportunity to execute and succeed regardless of how the last play went”

That’s true. And it’s also the better way to view sports from a psych standpoint.

Momentum, the idea that your previous play will have an inevitable effect on your play going forward, is only a psychologically-self-fulfilling prophecy.

Use it to your benefit if it helps self-efficacy (enactive attainment) but to discuss momentum as a problem going forward is an inaccurate and unneeded hindrance to self-efficacy.

But all things considered, I think the loss to Kansas makes us more likely to beat ASU than a win would have. I think complacency and lack of focus was a greater threat to this team than lack of confidence.