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Offensive Linemen in Football

Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and Zack Martin

“All of the blame… None of the fame.”
— John Ivlow

Football is a very aggressive to watch and even play in. You cannot tell me that there is one position on the field that does not require skill, athleticism, strength, speed, etc, because every position that steps on that football field does indeed require those things, even the kickers and punters. Every position on the field is very crucial to the team, which brings me to my topic about offensive linemen. Along with the defensive line, the offensive line is very brutal position to play. I do stand by the quote “All of the blame… None of the fame.” What that basically means is that whenever an offensive lineman lets up a sack or makes a mistake on a play, you’ll have everyone including coaches, teammates, and fans verbally attack and blame you. It just seems to always be the offensive line’s fault if a play doesn’t work well, and I’m not going to lie because some times it is the offensive line’s fault, but to blame an offensive lineman anytime the play doesn’t work is very asinine, and whenever a big run play seems to work, then the running back tends to get all of that fame and support, even though it’s most likely that the offensive line did their job well and set that play up for that running back to gain those yards. Long story short, the offensive linemen do not get enough credit and fame when they are the ones who set up the big plays, and it seems like the only time they do get talked about is when they make a mistake.

Here’s even a link of an article from Bleacher Report on the most underappreciated positions in football and the offensive line position is the first to be mentioned. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2587671-the-most-underappreciated-positions-in-sports#slide0

Cougars Upset the Knights in First Round of NAIA Playoffs

By: John Ivlow

My favorite game I have ever competed in was when Saint Xavier played Marian University in the first round of the playoffs on November 17, 2018. We actually played them 10 weeks prior to the first round playoff game and we lost to them 52-7 in the season opener. We were all disappointed and knew we could’ve done so much better. Despite the brutal loss, we also knew in the back of our minds that if we made the playoffs, we would have to play them again. Then once the time came when we found out we were playing them again in the first round, we were excited and ready for business. We in fact had to travel to their stadium in Indianapolis again. Personally, I had one of my worst games against Marian’s defensive end (who was the defensive player of the year in our conference) in the first game we played them. So along with my team wanting revenge, I as well had a little unfinished business coming into this playoff game. Their record was 10-0 and were ranked #2 while we were 8-3 and ranked #17 and everyone watching the game thought we were going to lose except my teammates, coaches, and our fans. Now fast forwarding to the game and after our defense stopped them on their first drive, our offense came out. The same defensive end that made me look silly in the first game lined up on me again. I’m not going to lie but he did get past me on one play and hit our quarterback, luckily before our quarterback when down, he was able to shovel pass the ball to our running back who took the ball down field inside the red zone, however we failed to score that drive. As I got back to the sidelines, my coach came to me and was boosting up my confidence and was telling me to relax and just play football. Then I began to remind myself that I got to play better than I did in the first game when we played them. As the game goes on in the 1st quarter, we are down 14-0, in which we found ourselves in a slight bind, but we knew we were still in the game, so later on throughout the rest of the 1st quarter, the same guy is lined up on me and I’m actually holding my blocks on him a lot better than I was before, which was my whole goal for this game. Along with that, our offense executes well and manages to score a touchdown to make it 14-7. Then not long after that, we score a kick return for a touchdown to tie the game at 14. Throughout the rest of the game, we go back and forth, with a couple injuries occurring on both sides, but it just goes to show that our games against Marian are brutal and hardly fought. One touchdown and two field goals later by us, and a touchdown from Marian, and the score eventually becomes 27-21. I’m still holding my blocks pretty well on that defensive end and managed to not lose to him again. We knew we had this game won, it was all a matter of sealing the game and finishing it. Suddenly, our defense scored a pick 6 and made the score 34-21, which ended up being the final score and the Cougars win. I definitely will not forget this game. One reason being how I got a little payback on Marian’s defensive end from when we played them in the season opener, and the second reason is that after losing to them 52-7 in the very first game of the season, we came back 10 weeks later and beat them 34-21 and battled through a lot of adversity. Hands down best game I’ve ever played in.

Why The College Football Playoffs Should Be Expanded

By: John Ivlow

Image result for college football playoffs trophy

The college football playoffs weren’t always around in Division-1 FBS college football, whereas the championship game was simply determined by who was #1 and #2, and the rest of the teams played in other bowl games. Switching from the BCS (Bowl Championship Series), the college football post season slightly changed by adding the playoff concept, which meant that the top 4 teams in the FBS automatically qualified for the playoffs. Even though this changed the post season up a bit, the rest of the teams who did not qualify for the college football playoffs still compete in bowl games. There very first college football playoff series was established in the 2014-2015 football season, which had The Ohio State Buckeyes win the national championship over The Oregon Ducks 42-20, and the series has went on since. Even though I love the idea of having college football playoffs in the FBS, I still wish to see more teams added to the playoffs. Currently, there are only 4 teams that qualify for the playoffs, which means that 2 of the 4 teams in the playoff bracket have to win 1 game before they make it to the championship. To me, it would make things more exciting if maybe there were 8 or even 16 teams that got to participate in the playoffs. This would also mean that there would be more football to watch, and along with it giving many more teams an opportunity to make it to the national championship, because I believe there are way more than 4 teams that are good enough to be in the playoffs. With all of the talented teams out there with pretty good records that do not make it in the playoffs may anger many fans. Also, personally speaking as a football player, participating in playoffs whether it was from high school or college was pretty intense but very fun at the same time, because whoever lost was done and whoever won got to advance to the next round, so it make things more interesting and made the stakes higher. The link I attached below states more reasons why the college football playoffs should be expanded.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2344972-7-reasons-college-football-playoff-needs-to-expand#slide5

Hello, the name is John, I am an exercise science major, and I attend and play football at Saint Xavier University.

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