RUNNING UP THE SCORE - WHAT IS TOO MUCH?

Last week we had a team in the state win 83-0. 33-0 is nothing compared to that. Throwing 1 time at the beginning of the second half is nothing. Enjoy the win and your players success.

Isn't it amazing how our cultural senstivity training has influenced every area of our lives. I had to work harder in games to keep the score down on teams than I did to lose to teams running it up on me. Coahc nicholson is right, it does DEPEND. A good rule of thumb is once you hit 35 points you stop throwing and run your base offense. Why 35? That is the normal slaughter rule for us in Florida(30) and they will give the option to run the clock to the other coach. Also, an opposing offense will normally only get 8-9 drives in a game. Half of those will be used up by halftime, so mathematically, unless you turn it over, there is no way they could come back, period. Now, until that point, we run our offense all out.

You were at 33 with their starters still playing and sending the house. This isn't a nice game, this is assault and battery with cheerleaders and a band. Now , I believe there's a line, but when they were throwing punches in a flurry of blitzes, you hit him with a rainmaker. You sent a message. Back off, and we will. They can't complain about the score when they are still playing their best players sending the house. If they have subbed their backups in, that is different, but they were still playing hard. I had a team this year who was down to us by 35, but their defense wouldn't stop running its mouth at our players. Dropping F bombs and the like. I talked to the refs, etc. It didn't stop. We played our backups, and they scored, but wouldn't shut up. So, I finally had to just open up the offense again to shut them up. We were up 42 - 14, and I threw 2 passes. One for 25 yard touchdown. Now, that is extreme, but there are times when that needs to be done.

Now having said all of that, my more "sensitive side" will do the following:
If we are really smoking a team, what we do is work on our special teams. In other words we will drive to within what we feel is a good test of our kicker and kick field goals. We played a team this year where we were up early by 45 points, and we kicked field goals on first down twice from the 35 yard line and the 38. We wanted to work on our kickers leg, and we just didn't score touchdowns. He made one and missed one. No big deal. If we miss, they get good field position to do what they need to do, and if we make it, we only get 3 points and they get the ball back. You will not be able to look good no matter what you do, There is no graceful to play that far ahead, you will always be accused of running it up, so do something productive. You can tell everybody without hesitation what you did and why. I have seen many ways coaches try to take a knee, or whatever. It is tough to tell your kids not to play hard, especially your backups. So take that responsibility off your kids. This way, your kids play hard to the yard line you want, and then you work on the kicking game. We never get enough work on that anyway in a game, and it avoids having to do strange things like taking a knee three times from the 5 and things like that. That way is almost more of a slap than anything else. Just my opinion.

I have no problem with it (throwing in the third) unless it is 50-0, but I can't stand it when a coach is obviously running it up on purpose and then explains that he was not. Where do you draw the line? A coach that is way up can control the clock and the score; how did the score get that way anyway. What good does it do anyone if you beat somebody by 83-0. I would think that if you beat someone that bad, you forgot that these kids (both teams) are 16/17/18 year olds. What kind of lesson are you teaching them? I always thought that you were supposed to win with class and lose with class. 83-0 NO CLASS!!!!!!!

The middle school I coach at had a situation like this. We were 20-0 or 26-0 at half, I don't remember which, and decided that to start the 2nd half we wanted to look at our spread formation (our base set is the I) and then call of the dogs. Well 2 passes later, we score and bring in the 7th graders and they play the rest of the game. I had talked to one of the coaches at the college I go to about it and he didn't see a problem with it. Now that being said, in our last 7th grade game of the season, we were down 20-6 with about 10 seconds left and the opponent had the ball inside the 10 and were calling time outs trying to punch another in. In this case, take the knee and end the game IMO. You had the game won, no way for us to come back. However, you want to try and run it up on my team, fine. But I don't want to hear you cry about it when I return the favor later.

I heard our Team Preist once say, we should dominate not humiliate. Those are pretty good words to live by.

Running up the score is in the eye of the scorer. Only you know if you are trying to rub it in. If you can honestly say to your self that you are not trying to humiliate the other team then it is not your fault they can't tackle.

Of course, you could take the perspective from current Grambling State coach, who said after running it up pretty good one game, "As long as they are trying to score , we will try to score." An interesting way to look at it. Maybe there's some truth in that. If the other team really wants the game over, then just run the clock out, don't try to punch one in.

Coaches and CYFL Prez,

In CYFL's case, I totally agree that you should do your best to not humiliate the kids on the other squad who are just getting started in this great game too. POP WARNER, ETC. IS MEANT TO BE FUN!!!

HOWEVER, ON THE UPPER LEVELS, I CANNOT STOMACH A WHINER OF A COACH WHO BECAUSE HIS TEAM IS NOT AS WELL PREPARED, OR AS TALENTED, OR WHATEVER AS YOURS, IS GETS MAD ABOUT IT.

MY PHILOSOPHY HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE, IF YOU CAN BEAT ME BY A 100 POINTS, GO FOR IT!!! IT HAS ALWAYS MEANT TO ME THAT THEY DID THEIR JOB AND I DIDN'T DO MINE IF WE LOSE BY ONE OR BY A 100!!! I'M GOING TO WALK OVER TO THE OPPOSING COACH, SHAKE HIS HAND AND SINCERELY CONGRATULATE HIM FOR HAVING HIS TEAM SO WELL PREPARED! THEN, I'M GOING TO APOLOGIZE FOR NOT BEING MORE COMPETITIVE AND LEAVE THE FIELD. Just my way, but I will certainly never be a cry baby whiner about it!!!

Coach Easton

AIRMAN,

You and I have disagreed on other issues here on the forum. However I feel this latest post of yours is exactly right!!! When we won the 1994 AFL Super Bowl, we had averaged 39.9 points per game, while giving up an average of 14. We did this with my 3 x 2 spread for about 80% of our total offense. We heard the same complaint all year long and I just got sick of it. We were obliterating a team one night and I sent word over to the other coach that I Had been playing my # 3's since the end of the first quarter and would not embarrass him for the world! He still kept complaining! I said: Great, I'll give you something to complain about for real and when the gun sounded the score was 72-6!!! I was not proud of blowing my cool, so to speak, but I can't stand a whiner! This is a game for men, not whimps!

Coach Easton

IN MY OPINION, HE DID NOTHING TO EARN YOUR RESPECT. AS IF HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WAS ABOUT HIM AND NOT HIS PLAYERS! DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS I GUESS, BUT I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE THOUGHT PROCESSES OF A MAN LIKE THAT. I'M OLD SCHOOL AND WAS ALWAYS TAUGHT THAT RESPECT IS SOMETHING ONE EARNS, NOT DEMANDS.

Coach Easton