The Finer Point of Winning Football - Time Out #329

Happy 2022 New Year to all! Wow, another calendar year has slipped by in front of our eyes. Incredible. Since one of the main fall and early winter activities each year is watching football, I thought I would write about a "Captain Obvious" topic. Yes, "Captain Obvious", that topic is football.

Simply stated, dear readers in Our Town and far beyond, football is truly a "game of inches". This is absolutely true, even though football is played on a 100-yard field. That's 3,600 inches long, sports fans. But, the game can boil down to just a few inches, as we well know. Recall our beloved O-State Cowboys 2 losses at Iowa State and in the Big 12 title game loss to Baylor? So, actually, those few turf inches of

winning or losing are ultimately determined by a factor most football fans look past, while cheering for their favorite teams. This overlooked item always present.

War in the trenches. Here's my point. Consistently (down after down) win the war in the trenches, and your team will win the game. The trenches are the unsung, line-of-scrimmage (LOS) players. These folks violently throw themselves against their opposition the entire game. Without their ability to control the opposition LOS players, your skill players (runners, passers, pass catchers, kickers) usually d

o not do well. Let's discuss some football phases. First, the always-proven running game. The greatest runners (OSU's Barry Sanders, et al.) cannot be successful, no matter how quick/fast/powerful they are without the necessary up-front blocking by their teammates. The greatest passers/receivers cannot pull off their magical pitch-and-catch plays without their LOS interior linemen winning their battles, most of the downs, against the opposing

team. The kickers cannot perform their best playing, either, without important seconds provided to keep the other guys away from the football. The best football teams at all age levels, year-end and year-out, consistently have excellent interior down-linemen. These players are often ignored by millions of fans across Our Country. Football purists, however, understand the absolute necessity of these skilled linemen in order to win. Having officiated high school (and some college, too) after 55 seasons, I have seen up-close-and-personal, years of trench warfare. When I observe one team's interior linemen winning most of the down-after-down battles, I know their team will ultimately win the game. This fact is an absolute truth!