A question for TreVeyon Henderson: Why did you slide?

When Ohio State recovered Indiana's onside kick with a couple of minutes remaining last weekend, the game was about to be over. As it turned out there was more drama to ensue and in the grand scheme of things in today's world, what happened is not very important. Then again, there was some hand wringing when...Ohio State led 31-15 after the recovery and on the first play Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson took a handoff and broke through the line. He was sprinting for the end zone when he suddenly slid down short of the goal line. At that point it appeared Ohio State would take a couple of kneel downs to end the game – except they didn't.Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard tried, not once, but twice, to score and did so on the second effort. There were a lot of people surprised by the extra TD and it did bring up some ethical considerations. There is no manual to help coaches decide what to do in those situations. If there was all of them would do the same thing.Before we get into any ethical debate, let's go back to Henderson's slide. My first question is the title of this column. Why?With the ball, less than two minutes to play and Indiana having only two timeouts left, one first down would effectively end the game. Did the coaches tell the players that one first down would suffice, or did they not give any instruction at all. Perhaps Henderson went down to suggest that the team win meant more to him than a personal TD and chose not to "run up" the score on the Hoosiers.Some might suggest that if he was going to slide down he could have done so after getting enough yardage for the first down. Waiting until near the goal line could have been done purposefully, perhaps to give Howard a chance to score and improve his Heisman stats. Not likely, but some might see it that way. We will probably never know what he was thinking.Once he did go down though, the onus is now on Coach Ryan Day. He chose not to have Howard kneel, even though Indiana was not using its time outs. Was the late score a breach of ethics, a display of poor sportsmanship or no big deal? Everyone will have their own opinions.As the game ended I thought of the ethics aspect of the last two minutes and it reminded me of a conversation I had with a Sociology class many years ago. We were studying ethics in the class so I gave the students a hypothetical situation to see what they thought.I suggested that they were the coach of a high school basketball team. Their team was up by over 50 points midway through the fourth quarter. One of their players was within five points of a single-game school scoring record. My question for them was this: do you leave the kid in the game to go for the record?Well, the answer from virtually every student was "sure, why wouldn't I?"So I listed several reasons why a coach might choose to remove said player. Here is the thought process. 1) the kid's teammate on the end of the bench that had worked hard all week in practice deserved some playing time. 2) basketball is a team game and the welfare of the team is more important than the accomplishments of any individual. 3) the scoring record would be kind of hollow when it came against a team that was obviously inferior. 4) what if the kid remained in the game and was injured (perhaps because the other team was not happy to see him "running it up") 5) how would you feel if the shoe was on the other foot and the opposing team was doing it to you?As I posed those reasons, I could see my students thinking. As a teacher you always want to see your students brains working. I asked them again: so now are you going to leave him in the game.Their answer… well, yeah! Sometimes teachers can influence their students, sometimes not!I talked to fans from both Ohio State and Indiana about their reactions to the final touchdown. Buckeye fans were either noncommittal or slightly embarrassed. My lone Indiana fan was a little upset, but not angry. I'm guessing there were many Hoosier fans that were downright mad. Personally if I were the coach and Henderson had put me on the spot with his slide, I would have taken a knee. But that's me. I am not criticizing Ryan Day. We each have our own set of ethical values and there is no clear cut rules to follow.After talking to my Indiana friend, his concern was whether the Hoosiers will make the playoffs. The last TD is more of an afterthought. Will some Indiana fans, players and coaches put the play in their memory banks for future use? Maybe.As for Ohio State I'm predicting that no one is concerned about the Indiana game any more. They have a bigger problem facing them today. Michigan is coming to the Horseshoe for THE game.It has been a shaky season for the Wolverines having lost a lot of players (not to mention the coach) from last year's national championship team. A win over OSU would certainly make their season and it could happen. On paper it is a mismatch, but the game is not played on paper. It takes place on the field and ethical concerns may not play a role in this one at all. Enjoy the game everybody.