The 2003-04 college football season has ended. So who is the best team in the country? USC and LSU both ended the season with only one loss and ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches polls, respectively. Should there be a playoff system for Division I college football? Because these two teams will not get a shot to decide the national championship on the field, these debates will go on for a long, long time.

I will never forget playing basketball my freshman year of college. I had just graduated from a Christian high school and was ready to impact all of my fellow teammates. While on road trips, I would have to stay in a room with two other teammates. During every trip, I would deliberately take out my Bible at night and do a quiet time, thinking that if my teammates saw me reading the Bible, they would ask questions. I thought by doing this, I was being a leader.

At the same time I was doing quiet times, I was struggling with sinful language. During practices, games, or just walking around campus with my teammates, profanity was always coming out of my mouth. I felt I had to be that way to get respect from my teammates and to be taken seriously.

There’s a scene in the Disney movie “Aladdin” in which Jasmine is out on the balcony of her palace and Aladdin is on his magic carpet trying to get her to come with him and go explore “A Whole New World.” The key line in the scene is when Aladdin says to Jasmine, “Do you trust me?” Jasmine agrees to trust Aladdin and is taken on the ride of her life!

That same type of trust is required from us as Christians when we decide to follow God. With God, belief alone is not enough; we must trust Him with our lives. Just believing in God is no good to us. We need to have faith in Him, and trust is the next step from faith.

Marquette’s football team was 10–0 heading into the final game of the season, facing the possibility of the program’s first championship. But a few days before the game, the coach received a call: sixteen of his starters had been arrested for underage drinking! Team rules dictated alcohol use as punishable by suspension. The next week the coach watched his team’s hopes evaporate into a 63–0 loss while sixteen regular starters stood on the sidelines.

Each contest we’re involved in as coaches is filled with missed opportunities, errors, and mistakes. In some games, like volleyball, basketball, softball, and baseball, we have only a few seconds to respond to shortcomings or errors. In other sports like football, golf, and track and field, response time may be longer. Regardless of the seconds or minutes that tick away, our reactions to our players’ mistakes are critical, not only for their confidence but often for the outcome of the game.

In sports, you hear a lot about two very different kinds of athlete. One is labeled an “underachiever”—an athlete who has a ton of talent but gets by putting out the minimal effort. The other is referred to as an “overachiever”— someone who makes up for a lack of physical giftedness and athletic prowess with an abundance of hard work, determination, and drive.