The Great State of Football

Ranked 23rd and 22nd respectively in the USA Coaches Poll and the AP Poll in pre-season, the Auburn Tigers won the BCS National Championship. Who would have predicted that one? Somewhere between September and November, all the teams, with the exception of Oregon and TCU, lost at least one game, which brought Auburn and Oregon to the BCS Title game in Phoenix on January 10, 2011.

Avid football fans should not have been surprised. The SEC (Southeastern Conference for those not familiar with college football terms) had won the four previous BCS Championships: Florida (twice), LSU, and Alabama. Although Auburn had not won a national title since 1957, they had been undefeated twice in the last twenty years, both in 1993 (on probation) and 2004 (the USC- Reggie Bush year).

Football in the South is big. We live our lives in the fall around our team’s schedule. Loyal football families don’t schedule weddings or birthing babies during football season unless it can be done at a tailgate party on game day. Deaths are something we can’t control but we strongly discourage it during the months of September, October and November. With the SEC Championship game the first weekend in December, Christmas comes close to interfering with our love for football. In fact, there were 35 bowl games in December and January, including one on Christmas Eve and one the day after Christmas.

Football fanaticism in the south borders on insanity. But we can’t help it. We have been raised to love (and play) football since we were very young. Even though I didn’t go to my first college game until I was actually enrolled as a student at the university, I made sure my children started early. Our babies each attended their first football game at six weeks of age (the doctor would not let me travel with them before then). Consequently, both of my children are loyal fans (and graduates).

Although it may sound blasphemous, let me suggest that football is more than just a game played on a one hundred yard field with goal posts on either end. When we glimpse into the lives of players off the field, we realize football is a tool for teaching kids and college students important life lessons. They learn about hard work, integrity, commitment, teamwork, loyalty, and discipline. College teams usually have a chaplain who also provides spiritual guidance for these athletes. For many students, football becomes their reason to stay in school and achieve a meaningful education. It also provides positive relationships with coaches and peers who may offer guidance that students may not receive at home. For a small number of players, it becomes a professional career.

Coach Gene Chizik, head football coach at Auburn, described his national championship team as having a “sense of chemistry” that he had never seen before. He gave credit to God, his team and fans. Heisman Trophy winner and quarterback, Cam Newton, called the championship win as a “God thing”. He stated that he is God’s instrument and God took something bad and made it really great. Let me explain what he meant. Cam Newton, who played high school football in Georgia, signed with the University of Florida as a quarterback. He saw limited playing time because he played behind Tim Tebow, also a Heisman winning quarterback. As a student at the University of Florida, Newton was arrested for possession of a stolen computer and decided to transfer to Blinn College in Texas where he led his football team to the 2009 NJCAA Football Championship. Before signing with Auburn, Cam’s father solicited money from Mississippi State in exchange for Cam signing with them. The NCAA investigated this and ruled that Cecil Newton asked for money without Cam's or Auburn’s knowledge. They did limit Cecil Newton’s access to sporting events. Cam completed his inaugural season at Auburn as the Heisman Trophy winner and quarterback of the BCS National Championship team. Both celebrations were experienced without his father at his side. In his Heisman acceptance speech, he stated he loves his dad very much and acknowledged his support throughout his life.


Oregon’s quarterback, Darron Thomas, had a similar story. He was raised by a single mother in Houston, Texas, who worked at Target to support her family. She encouraged Darron to get a college degree. He was recruited by LSU who discussed using Darron as a receiver instead of a quarterback because of his quick running. He de-committed from LSU and began talking to Oregon at the urging of his high school coach. After signing with Oregon, he played behind Jeremiah Masoli, who had a promising career as quarterback so Thomas was red-shirted in 2009. In the summer of 2010, Thomas was a passenger in Masoli’s car when they were pulled over by police for leaving a gas station without paying. Marijuana was found in the glove compartment but Masoli testified that Thomas was not guilty in the incident. Masoli was kicked off the team and Thomas became the starting quarterback at Oregon. In a pre-game interview for the BCS National Championship, Thomas said he learned a lesson about being in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing on and off the field.

Football has also influenced Mark Ingram, Jr., the University of Alabama’s star running back, who won the 2009 Heisman Trophy. His father, a former Michigan State and NFL football player, did not attend the Trophy ceremony or the 2009 Championship season games because he was incarcerated on bank fraud and money laundering charges. Ingram said his father has always believed in his abilities as a running back and expected more of him than he did of himself. He credits his father with teaching him everything he knows about football and talks about his father without judging his actions that have led to his prison sentence. To Mark Ingram, Jr., he is still “dad”. Even though his father is incarcerated and has limited influence on his life, Ingram, has found mentors and role models through his teammates, coaches and friends at the University of Alabama, who believe in him and encourage him to be his best.

As we consider the life changing stories of football players, may we focus on more than the wins and losses, bad coaching calls, busted plays and obnoxious fans. What really matters is the lives that are changed and influenced off the field because of the sport of football. These nineteen to twenty-two year old young men who play the game learn valuable life lessons that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

Back to back BCS National Champions and Heisman Trophy winners for the state of Alabama are quite an accomplishment and exemplify the strength of football in the state and in the south. But it is more than a game. Football teaches young people the keys to successful living. Hopefully, as football fans (and even fanatics), we will learn the same lessons as we hear their stories of success both on and off the field.