Josh Benner

Tag: football

  • No, NFL does not need to model its OT after college football

    No, NFL does not need to model its OT after college football

    College football overtime is not real football. You don’t have kickoffs or punts. It takes significant aspects to the game out of play. You’re also starting in field goal range. This season, college football added the truly horrible rule of resorting to a series of 2 point conversion attempts in the third overtime. I hear people talk about this model and say its what the NFL could do because it’s “fair.”

    That’s the sports commentary today after the epic playoff game last night between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. The last 2 minutes of regulation saw three touchdowns and a field goal. It was the most exciting back and forth to end a football game I’ve ever seen. As the fourth quarter clock ticked to zero, the Chiefs hit a game tying field goal to send it to overtime.

    Once they got to overtime, the Chiefs won the coin toss. After the dramatic end to the fourth quarter it seemed underwhelming. Neither defense was getting stops at that point. And the Chiefs relatively easily drove down the field and scored a touchdown.

    Game over.

    Without the Bills ever having the ball in overtime.

    They say the only certainties in life are death and taxes. I’d add a third. People not liking football overtime. Football overtime is hard. Baseball is easy. You just keep playing one more inning until someone wins. Basketball is easy. A five minute overtime will ensure both teams get multiple possessions.

    But football? How do you decide a winner? In both college and the NFL, a clear goal of overtime is to have it be short. Football is a brutally violent and physically demanding sport. You want to limit how many extra plays and hits these guys are taking after having just played a full football game.

    So then how do you decide a winner? College overtime isn’t it. I think that suggestion overlooks just how good NFL players are. If the Bills-Chiefs game were decided by college overtime, they’d still be playing this morning!

    I hear the argument that Buffalo didn’t get a chance. They have three chances. They had the lead with less than 2 minutes to go. Lost it. They got the lead again with :13 seconds left. Allowed a tie. In overtime, they also had another opportunity to get a stop. They failed all three times. So I don’t agree that “they didn’t have a chance.” They had three chances.

    “Well they couldn’t stop Kansas City!” Ok. But to win the game, at some point, they were going to have to. If Kansas City scores (as they did) and Buffalo gets the ball and scores, then what happens? Does the next score win? Then that goes back to KC getting the advantage. Do you play 15 minutes? The NFL teams themselves have no interest in changing the rule to play a full 15 minute quarter by default in OT.

    This brings me back to the beginning. I get that the conclusion to last night’s game was an underwhelming way to finish an amazing game. But I also understand that football does not lend itself to a perfect overtime format.

    No matter the current format or a format where both teams get the same number of possessions, ultimately SOMEONE’S defense needs to make some plays. Personally, I have no problem with this format being the deciding factor after teams have already played 60 minutes of football.

    Life isn’t fair. Make something happen.

  • Our sense of justice and the outrage over the botched Saints call

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    An egregious no-call in the Saints-Rams, NFC Championship game yesterday.

    Missed calls happen. But I don’t know if I can think of ever seeing a more consequential no-call that had a bigger impact on a game than the missed pass interference with 1:46 left to go in the game. (more…)

  • Purdue super fan Tyler Trent passes away

    We don’t control the cards we’re dealt. All we can do is play what we have.

    Tyler Trent passed away on Tuesday.

    The Purdue student had battled a rare form of bone cancer. He had become a sensation in college football and Big Ten circles as being someone the Purdue football team rallied around this season. The hashtag #TylerStrong went viral.

    He inspired and encouraged people. He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research. He wrote a book that he’d never be able to see completed, but which will also continue to raise money for cancer research.

    Tyler was also outspoken about the importance of his faith.

    In 2017, Tyler’s cancer returned and he began to pray that God would use this journey for His glory.”

    As I think about the impact he had over the last few months, it’s clear that this prayers was answered.

    In an interview with Today, Tyler said: “Waking up day to day is like winning a lottery…I try to rely on my faith in Jesus Christ and figure out how to have a good day.”

    As his battle continued, Tyler took to Twitter numerous time to glorify God.
    (more…)

  • What great coaches can teach us about life

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    Relentless effort (not talent or intelligence) is the key to achieving great things in your life. Struggle is part of the process. It is hard and often painful. But it’s also necessary, because it’s in the struggle that great things are achieved.
    -Urban Meyer, in Above the Line

    Tonight, one of the greatest college football coaches of all time retires.

    Urban Meyer concludes his seventh and final season as the head coach at Ohio State. Meyer has amassed an incredible record at Ohio State and throughout his coaching career. Coming into tonight’s Rose Bowl, Meyer is 82-9 as the Buckeye head coach.  In his seven seasons, Meyer never lost more than two games in a season. He lost four conference games total. He won his first 24 games in Columbus.

    He’s one of the greatest college football coaches of all time. Three national championships. He won .85 percent of his games. Meyer had four winning streaks of 20 or more games (to put that in perspective, no other coach even has three).

    Great coaches can teach us all things. I think of things I’ve read over the years from people like John Wooden, Vince Lomardi, Woody Hayes, Bobby Knight.

    For people who have succeeded in competitive endeavors, they have insights from which we can all benefit in terms of work ethic, leadership, and grit.

    We so often make excuses for our failures and mediocrity. Great coaches don’t settle for mediocrity. They demand excellence from themselves, from their staffs, and from their players. We so often chalk up failure to a lack of resources, things beyond our control, or the fault o others. Great coaches show us all that excellence comes from hard work. Success comes from preparation and learning from mistakes. Success comes from wanting it more than your opponent.

    It’s true on the playing field, on the court, and in life.

    “I’ve come to learn that leadership is not automatically granted to you because of your position or your salary or the size of your office. Leadership is influence based on trust that you have earned. A leader is not someone who declares what he wants and then gets angry when he doesn’t get it. A true leader is someone who is going someplace and taking people with him, a catalyst for elite performance who enables people to achieve things they wouldn’t achieve on their own. A leader is someone who earns trust, sets a clear standard, and then equips and inspires people to meet that standard.”
    -Urban Meyer in Above the Line

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • What the Alabama quarterbacks can teach us about life

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    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    If you can get Nick Saban chocked up, you must be a pretty special person.

    I love the life lessons that can come to us from the sporting world.
    This weekend, Alabama was playing Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The Crimson Tide were trying to continue one of the most dominating seasons in college football history, but they had struggled against Georgia and trailed by 7 when star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (the favorite to win the Heisman trophy as college football’s best player) left the game with an injury. (more…)