This offseason in particular, a few players did much less to prepare for the season, and it's shown in sloppy, undisciplined play. One player in particular that we rely a great deal on did the bare minimum in offseason training. Some of the players just don't care about winning a national championship as much as we would like them to. That's fine for them, but it means we can't win a national championship without a lot of luck.
Part of this is a coaching thing, I think. We have players with more athletic ability, size, and natural talent than most years in the past. And it's easy to rely on that talent and figure you can maneuver your way into wins that way. But the lack of effort and execution eventually leads to our demise. Our coaches need to push our players to progress, and not use God-given characteristics as a crutch.
So to me, our inability to get over the hump the past few years can be traced back to two things: in-game execution (particularly in passing), and lack of motivation. And personally, I think those two are very related, because their lack of motivation leads them to not prepare to the extent they should.