Running up the score?

[Ramfan Coach!]

I can tell you firsthand LC played all 58 kids the first game of the season. The feature tailback had 6 carries #2 back 4 carries and #3 back 3 carries. They were off the next week. They started subbing on defense the start of the 2nd quarter Fri night but kept the backs in longer because they had basically played 4 quarters in 3 weeks. An int was run back for a TD later in the game and a fumble the young kids forced gave LC the ball back on the 26 yd line. The fullback ran it right up the middle 1 play for the only offensive TD in 4th quarter. The starting tailback had 12 carries. #2 had 5 carries. If the goal these weeks was to run up the score they would be carrying the ball 25 times each.

LC was winning about 1 game a year for 4-5 years. Everybody wanted to play them. Part of the big plan when Coach Salmons came in was to lighten the schedule to get the passion back in the program and even more important the kids out of the hallways. We've gone from around 35 kids to around 58 kids. We've gone from 0-11 to 12-1 and now 2-0. The shedule was made on two year contracts when LC was 0-11. I'm pretty sure next year we already have Sheldon Clark, Russell, Prestonsburg and Raceland locked in to take the place of some of these games we aren't bound too.

I have mixed emotions. I don't like seeing any kid shown up but I also know how hard the kids have worked here to only play 4.5 quarters total the frist three weeks of the sesason. A good bit of them didn't even play that much. I know for a fact defense was subbing at the start of the 2nd quarter.

 

Thanks for letting everyone know what really happened. Fans love to jump the gun on negative things. I thought that someone would come forward and let everyone know what really happened. LC 's coaches will play the game with class. Sometimes you just can't help what the outcome is going to be. Never tell your 2nd and 3rd team players to lay down!!:ylsuper:

[stick1]

We're a run 1st team. Our number 1 tailback is averaging 8 carries a game and number #2 is ave 5 a game. Hardly trying to run it up. Sheldon Clark in 2 weeks then District games. Schedule is a lot tougher out of confrence next year.

[TRENCHMASTER]

It is hard to tell kids not to play hard, some teams 2,3rd and 4th strings are better than the other teams starters. It is hard to tell kids not play hard no matter what the score. Kids have to play hard for 4 qtrs. The problem I see is kids get down and then they quit. It is a gut check, you have to play hard for four qtrs. period. That is life you have to fight! and keep fighting!

[5wide]

We're a run 1st team. Our number 1 tailback is averaging 8 carries a game and number #2 is ave 5 a game. Hardly trying to run it up. Sheldon Clark in 2 weeks then District games. Schedule is a lot tougher out of confrence next year.

 

Big scores happen in mismatches. Without seeing the game, it's hard for me to comment with regards to running the score up. A coach can take certain measures, like subbing and calling conservative plays, but ultimately, instructing your team to basically lay down would be just as humiliating, IMO.

[malachicrunch]

The running clock is already in place. The next step is a mercy rule. Which is more humiliating, having the game stopped for mercy, or to continue the game even though the dominant team's JV is still going to score? I think the latter is the better option.

[Big Slick]

We're a run 1st team. Our number 1 tailback is averaging 8 carries a game and number #2 is ave 5 a game. Hardly trying to run it up. Sheldon Clark in 2 weeks then District games. Schedule is a lot tougher out of confrence next year.

 

Don't worry about what people say. People that know you all, know you all good people and would not intentionally degrade a group of kids. I agree with you on the scheduling situations, when you are 0-11 people line up to play you, etc.

[Touch The Line]

Big scores dont always mean running up the score. I have seen 70 points scored in a game with the team doing everything but fall down and take a knee not to score.

 

 

I agree with your statement completely. I would have a hard time telling my kids to back off regardless of what group was in, that is when kids get hurt.

[Alabama Larry]

I heard from a parent of my sons team he watched on ESPNU a high school contest in Texas where a team hit the 80 mark. He said there was no running clock.

[rockmom]

Having seen quite a few games with hugely disparate scores, I don't think that you can say any certain point total is the signal to "call off the dogs", and I don't think that seeing a score without seeing the game is the way to make a judgement on whether or not a coach "ran up the score".

 

Some programs are much better 1st string to 3rd string than other programs' 1st strings. Other programs have world-beater 1st strings and then there's a HUGE drop off when the 2's are put in.

 

I saw a game this weekend (albeit in Indiana) that was a great example of the 2nd scenario above. The team that I was there to support has a pretty decent football team. Not great, but good. The other team won it's first game in 31 games last week, but I have no idea how, after watching them play. They had a couple of good players, but they weren't a good "team". The North team (the team I was there to support) got up to a ~32 point lead at half time. The other team couldn't even get a first down in the first half. By the 2nd series of the 3rd quarter, North was subbing in the 2's and you could tell. Harrison began getting first downs and being able to move the ball both passing and running. Unfortunately, they had an absolutely abysmal kicker, and couldn't get any points on the board. Even more subbing ensued by the Huskies, yet they were still able to score another 17 points in the second half, and Harrison wound up finally getting a touchdown. Despite the score, though, the 2's for the Huskies were not in any way, shape or form as good as the 1's, yet were able to hold the other team scoreless, until the 3's started coming into the game.

 

Sometimes there will be nothing you can do to stop the scoring short of taking a knee, and how then do you get your 2's and 3's up to the level of the 1's if all you do is ask them to keep the score "respectable"?

 

On a side note, I saw my first interception by a nose guard in that game. That dude was the most excited football player I've ever seen. :lol:

[bugatti]

Big scores dont always mean running up the score. I have seen 70 points scored in a game with the team doing everything but fall down and take a knee not to score.

I concur.

 

I have seen many times when teams "call off the dogs" yet the other team still cannot stop them running 2 or 3 basic dive plays. The only other extreme is to sit there and take knees and punt the ball on first down, which to me is a lot more insulting than trying to score again.

[ThrillVille Cardinal51]

What happens when you put the 2nd and 3rd string players in and they are still running all over the other team, even with running dives up the middle? I've seen it happen before. I think it would be an even bigger crime to not let the 2nd and 3rd stringers play hard and accomplish scoring a scoring drive of their own. After all, those guys practice and put in as much effort as the first string in most cases. I think the the team getting beat should have some accountability as well. It's football. Running clocks don't hurt in these situations, though.

[jbwill2]

75 is too much.

...not if the other team scores 76.

[DRKARK]

75 is too much when you enter the 60's you should completely back off.

 

I agree! :thumb:

[malachicrunch]

75 is too much when you enter the 60's you should completely back off.

I'm not really getting it. Does back off mean take a knee on every down, or does it mean having the 3's in and telling them not to play to their abilities?

[billwilliams70]

I agree with ThrillVille Cardinal51, I don't agree with "backing off".

 

I know it's a tough pill to swallow, to get beat that badly. But if the dominating team puts in their 2nd/3rd stringers and are still scoring......oh well. That's what they're supposed to do, score touchdowns. How else are they (2nd/3rd stringers) really going to get a grasp on things if they play their best? Fort Campbell was accused of running up the score last season on more than one occasion.....but it was bench players that were in there and they needed the playing time.

 

The running clock helps out a lot.

 

Later.