Running up the score
Encyclopedia
In North American sport
s, "running up the score" occurs when a team continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is no longer in question and the team is assured of winning. In United States and Canada, it is considered poor sportsmanship
to "run up the score" in most circumstances (exceptions are listed below); sporting alternatives include pulling out most of the team's first string players, or calling plays designed to run out the clock
(e.g., in American football
, kneeling, running the ball up the middle, punting on first down).
The term and concept are not common elsewhere in the world.
players on the team, and opposing teams remembering a shellacking and plotting revenge in a future meeting.
Running up the score is considered poor sportsmanship by many fans, players, and coaches, albeit with differences in opinion on how big an insult it is. Allegations of poor sportsmanship are often brought up soon after a team scores multiple times near the end of a one-sided match. However, Florida State
coach Bobby Bowden
contended that it was not his job to call plays inconsistent with his regular offense. He felt that the prevention of further scoring was the responsibility of the opposing team's defense.
Poll.
It is a common allegation that some poll voters simply look at box score
s before punching in their votes. These votes have a huge impact on who goes to BCS
games, including the national championship
. Only by watching the game or game tape (or by careful box-score scrutiny) can a coach determine if a 49-21 score was because of a fairly one-sided game, or because the winning team tried to make the score look more impressive when the game's outcome was no longer in doubt.
The BCS computers originally included margin of victory as a component, but the BCS removed those elements after noticing large increases in teams running up the score.
or run the ball up the middle. When they are not allowed to make passing and running plays that the first- and second-stringers get to make, their skills may not develop as quickly.
Alternatively, in college sports where many players from successful teams have hopes of becoming professionals, running up the score gives players the chance to improve their statistics and to show off skills that the conventional offence would not allow. While it may be seen as poor sportsmanship as there is no guarantee that any player will be picked for the professional leagues, every opportunity to bolster stats and impress scouts can be seen as improving the professional prospects of the players.
The argument most frequently used in favor of running up the score is the belief that it is not the coach's or winning team's fault if a weak team is unable to stop a high-powered offensive juggernaut. Additionally, some coaches advocate running up the score to make another point, such as showing disapproval of comments made by opposing players, coaches, etc., in the media.
It's also argued that it can be used as a preventative measure to prevent a huge comeback. In 2006, Penn State lost to Notre Dame 41-17. Notre Dame is said to have run up the score a little, however, Penn State is known for late comebacks. Supporters of preventatively running up the score will often point to games such as the 2006 Insight Bowl
where Minnesota blew a 38-7 lead in the third quarter to eventually lose 44-41 to Texas Tech.
Running up the score in professional leagues generally generates significantly less controversy and indeed the term is far less common. While there are numerous reasons to run out the clock, there is no reason not to score more points if the situation allows. As both teams are professionals and are able to score large numbers of points very quickly and even a team with a significant lead has a need to respect this, and either continue to score points or at least to maintain possession to deny their opponents the time needed to stage a come back . Also, many professional leagues use tiebreakers in the result of two or multiple teams being tied in the standings, and these tiebreakers are often how many points a team scores (For), how many points a team allows (Against) or their "Against" score subtracted from their "For" score, and "running up a score" can help their chances of winning positions, as well as stopping the other team from scoring as well (though some leagues counter this by placing a limit on the number of points which can be counted in a point differential, as an example no more than 14, so even if the score is 49-0 only 14 points will count in the tiebreaker). It can also prevent any chance of a comeback.
defeated the Cumberland College Bulldogs
222-0. Cumberland had previously disbanded their football team, but quickly formed a scrub team when faced with fines if they refused to play. Georgia Tech scored 63 points in the first quarter and 63 points in the second quarter, then 54 points in the third quarter and 42 points in the fourth. There were no first downs for either team during the game. That was because Georgia Tech's defense prevented Cumberland from advancing for a first down and Georgia Tech scoring on every series of downs. Georgia Tech won under the coaching of John Heisman
, who wanted revenge after an embarrassing 22-0 loss earlier that year to a Cumberland baseball team that he suspected to have used professional players posing as students.
defeated the University of Tulsa
100-6. Though they had a 24-0 advantage at half, the Cougars scored 11 touchdowns in the second half for an astounding 94-point blowout. They came close again in 1989
, routing a Southern Methodist
team fresh off the so-called death penalty by a score of 95-21.
Hurricanes ran up the score on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame
in Gerry Faust
's final game as Notre Dame head coach. The Hurricanes, led by Jimmy Johnson
, were trying to impress pollsters since they were ranked fourth in the polls prior to the game. The Hurricanes called a fake punt on fourth-and-11 in the fourth quarter with a 44-7 lead and continued to pad the stats of quarterback Vinny Testaverde
. Miami was rewarded in the AP poll as it passed idle Iowa
to reach No. 3 and set up a possible national championship with a victory over Tennessee
in the Sugar Bowl
. Receiving criticism after the game, Johnson replied, "Nobody apologized to me when Oklahoma did it," a reference to a 1980
rout by the score of 63-14 when Johnson was head coach at Oklahoma State University
. Miami would go on to lose to Tennessee, 35-7, in the 1986 Sugar Bowl
. Three years later, Notre Dame got sweet revenge, upsetting Miami 31-30 in South Bend to propel the Irish to a national championship and force Johnson to settle for a Number Two ranking in his last year coaching college football
routed Boston College
54–7 in a 1992 game where Fighting Irish coach Lou Holtz
called a fake punt early in the third quarter, with his team already possessing an enormous 37-0 lead. The Eagles took offense and spent the entire year looking forward to playing Notre Dame again
, en route to a national championship, defeated their bitter rival, the Michigan Wolverines
, 50-14. Late in the game, Ohio State held a commanding 44-14 advantage and scored one final touchdown. Rather than taking the more common extra point
kick, Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes
opted for a two-point conversion
, which was unsuccessful. When asked later why he went for two points, Hayes said, "Because I couldn't go for three!", though players have commented that there was some sort of confusion on the extra point kick, and Hayes was just covering for his players. The comment came back to haunt Hayes as Michigan
would upset
Ohio State
the following year, 24-12, spoiling a bid for another national championship.
, the Oklahoma Sooners
showed little mercy against Texas A&M
, cruising to a 49-0 halftime lead. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops
denied running up the score (a denial which did nothing to silence criticism) as his second string players came out in the 3rd quarter and put up 28 more points to finish with a final score of 77-0 and 639 yards of total offense. This was the worst loss in Texas A&M football history. In Stoops' defense, the coaches agreed to a running clock during most of the second half and the entire 4th quarter. Also at one point in the fourth quarter Oklahoma had first and goal inside the A&M five-yard-line with a chance to score over 80 points. Stoops called four consecutive runs up the middle to prevent another score.
head coach Joe Paterno
was regarded by some as one who did everything he could to avoid running up the score, such as in a 63-10 win over Illinois
in 2005 where Penn State held a 56-3 halftime lead, he made an exception in 1985 against rival Pitt
. The game was well in hand with the score 31-0 when the assistants called the first string team off the field. Paterno immediately ordered them back in, saying, "I want to bury Pitt." One of Paterno's Penn State teams also ran it up on Cincinnati, 81-0.
on September 12, 2009, Stephen F. Austin
had a 50-0 lead at halftime. The Lumberjacks inserted the backup QB in the 3rd quarter but continued passing to score two more touchdowns. From that point on it was one defensive and several rushing touchdowns to cap off their 92-0 victory.
and the University of Oregon
and showcased two prime examples of running up the score. In 1973, Oregon ran up the score at home
, burying Washington 58–0. A year later, Washington responded with a 66-0 drubbing of Oregon back home in Seattle
. In that game, Washington's starting quarterback Chris Rowland played longer than necessary and suffered a season-ending knee injury. Rowland recalled that Washington head coach Jim Owens "wanted me in and said, 'We're going to beat these guys more than they beat us.' He [Owens] apologized to me because it was a personal thing for him."
is also a key contributing factor. In finals games, where percentage is no longer relevant, teams do occasionally attract criticism for running up the score. The most extreme recorded example of running up the score was the Williamstown Seagulls
' score of 110.27 (687) against Geelong West Roosters
in a 1983 VFA
Under-19s game.
, an unwritten gentlemen's agreement
between teams is said to discourage a team from sacrifice bunting, stealing bases
, or other small ball
tactics when leading by a large margin late in a game, even though a losing team can theoretically come back from any deficit to win. Batters do not specifically try to make outs (e.g. by swinging at pitches with no intent to hit them) as this would insult the opposing team, violate the spirit of the game, and hurt their own batting average.
Amateur baseball games often have a mercy rule
so that games end sooner when the lead is deemed to be insurmountable (e.g. by 10 runs after 5 innings).
, some coaches of vastly superior teams team will keep in their starters in the latter stages of a grossly one-sided game (e.g., less than ten minutes left in the second half of a college game; or well into the fourth quarter of a high school or NBA game). Players may be told to continue to aggressively apply full-court pressure (in order to steal the ball), block shots, break away for slam dunks, or try three-point baskets and other fan-pleasing shots.
A team that is trailing by an undefined margin sometimes may prolong the game by fouling the opponent on every possession, in an effort to extend its chances of a comeback — although teams that utilize this strategy often do so only when the game is still somewhat competitive. However, this strategy does not always work, particularly if the fouled players or team is able to connect on free throws.
In cases where the score is lopsided much earlier in the game, the most common option is to just "play it out" as if it were a scrimmage, by trying to take the best shot possible and also attempt some sort of defense (without any taboos against fan-pleasing shots and plays). This is usually referred to as "garbage time
", and while generally frowned upon for a lack of excitement it is considered to be the best way of ending a thoroughly uncompetetive game with minimal amounts of pride lost by the weaker side.
Running up the score was a key element in the Knicks–Nuggets brawl on December 16, 2006, as New York
coach Isiah Thomas
accused Denver
coach George Karl
of implementing it late in the game. Karl defended himself by citing many games where his team had lost large leads late.
Former Oklahoma Sooners
basketball coach Billy Tubbs
was often accused of running up the score against inferior opponents. On November 29, 1989, Tubbs' team
went so far as to score 97 points in the first half of a game against U.S. International
. Oklahoma won the game in a 173-101 rout. Asked repeatedly about running up the score against opponents, Tubbs once famously replied, "If they don't like it, they should get better."
Occasionally, teams will run up the score because of crowd encouragement. Crowd encouragement can occur whether or not there is a physical incentive involved. Oftentimes, a crowd will start chanting "X more points" near the end of a game, where X is the number of points needed to reach 100. This usually occurs when the team is within 5 points of reaching the 100-point mark. Also, crowd encouragement can happen as the result of a promotion for ticket-holders. In a Bradley
home game against Wichita State
, coach Jim Les put in some reserve players in during the last 1–2 minutes of the game after the score got to 62-50. During the final possession, the crowd started to yell "Shoot shoot shoot" because the season ticket-holders would get a buy-one-get-one-free rib-eye steak dinner at a local restaurant if the score reached 63. One of the Bradley players launched a buzzer-beating 3 because of the crowd encouragement and it went in, making the final score 65-50.
, complaints are quite rare, for the simple reason that unless there is a gross disparity in skill, teams generally do not score large numbers of goals at will against the opposition. A mercy rule
also may come into effect at pre-high school levels, where such disparities might come into play as a matter of course.
However, the rules of competition can sometimes work the opposite direction. In women's hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics
, total goals was one of the factors determining home ice, and so the two favored teams, the United States and Canada, were encouraged to post the highest scores possible. When the Canadians posted a combined 26-0 score in their first two games against the much weaker Italy and Russia, they were criticized in their home country and abroad. However, by the rules, they couldn't let up in case the Americans blew out one of their opponents.
association football, running up the score is sometimes limited by the presence of a mercy rule. In professional soccer, the concept of "running up the score" is basically unheard of; many professional association football competitions use goal difference
or goal average as a tiebreaker, meaning it is preferable to win by as wide a margin of victory as possible. Furthermore, it is doubtful that a team on the receiving end of a ten-goal defeat would ever accuse their opponents of unsporting behavior or a lack of respect; indeed, in European association football, a strong team choosing to field star players against lesser opposition is generally seen as a mark of respect, rather than of disrespect. In fact, if a European team, leading by several goals late in the game, made an American football-style attempt to show good sportsmanship by easing off, bringing on several lesser-known substitutes and retaining possession in order to kill the clock
, this would be seen as deeply unsporting and would probably provoke a hostile reaction quite opposite to the intended effect. Also, teams are limited to three substitutions per match in most competitions, preventing coaches from making mass substitutions seen in American football or basketball.
sports than in college or professional sports. This is especially prevalent in some state-sponsored district and regional single-elimination tournament
s in which all schools (regardless of record) participate. Often, a state's athletic association will seed a vastly superior team (one that has gone undefeated or has very few losses) against a very weak team in the first round, and the talent disparity between the two teams quickly becomes obvious.
One notorious example of many such incidents that happen each year throughout the United States
was the state-ranked Walkerville, Michigan
High School's (enrollment 98) 115-2 victory against Hart, Michigan
Lakeshore Academy (enrollment 49) in a Class D district opener during the 2004 Michigan
High School Girl's Basketball state tournament.
In light of similar incidents, coaches are often accused of running up the score and taking the opportunity to humiliate and embarrass a weak opponent. Occasionally, large margins of victory occur in games where the winning school's reserves (second-string and junior varsity
players) played a good share of the contest and simply were able to score at will against the opposition. However, when the star players are left in to set scoring records, as happened with Epiphanny Prince's 113-point basketball game in 2006, criticism usually follows.
Since 2006, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has considered any victory margin of 50 points or more in a football game to be unsportsmanlike. If this occurs, the winning team's coach will be suspended
for the team's next game. This was in response to one coach, Jack Cochran of New London
, whose teams won that way four times during 2005. One victory provoked a brawl and led to disorderly conduct
charges against the losing coach. Coach Cochran defended himself by saying that in one 90-0 blowout, he had tried to get both teams and the timekeeper to run the clock continuously, as is done in Iowa
when one team has a 35-point lead. The CIAC considered a similar proposal but rejected as several members felt it would cut into backups' playing time.
In October 2008, Naples High School
defeated Estero High School
, Florida
91–0. Naples was the defending Florida High School Athletic Association
Class 3A champion. Despite accusations that Naples ran up the score, Coach Bill Kramer kept most of his star players out of the game for most, if not all of the game. Some Naples parents consequently called the coach to complain that their sons did not play.
In a January 13, 2009 girls' basketball game, Covenant School of Dallas defeated Dallas Academy 100-0. Following reports that Covenant kept the pressure on until they scored their 100th point, school officials apologized for the victory margin. Coach Micah Grimes was subsequently fired.
In 1926, Haven High School of Haven, Kansas
defeated Sylvia High School by a score of 256-0, the highest recorded score in the history of American Football
.
(NFL) and other professional American football leagues. A primary reason is that starting players and coaches are paid hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars each year, which is affected by how the players and the team performs during the season. Any attempt to run up the score increases the risks of losing a key player to an injury that could affect the team's chances for the rest of the season. Thus, if a team decides to keep their stars in during a blowout, it is usually viewed by the opponent as an insult. Another factor is that the parity that the salary cap
has brought to the NFL in the 1990s has evened out competition somewhat, with less talent disparity between the best and worst teams compared to the past. It is much more difficult to run up the score to embarrassing (50+ point) margins in the modern game at the pro level. The greatest margin of victory at the professional level happened in the 1940 NFL Championship won by the Chicago Bears
over the Washington Redskins
73-0. Most recently, the New Orleans Saints
defeated the Indianapolis Colts
62-7 on October 23, 2011. In 2009, the New England Patriots
defeated the Tennessee Titans
59-0 in the New England snow
.
The one exception to this general rule is in regards to the NFL's tiebreaking rules that are used to determine which teams qualify for the playoffs if they are tied in the standings. One criterion to break ties is comparing the total number of points scored by each team during the regular season. Under this scenario, running up the score in a late season game is not considered poor sportsmanship because there is a benefit to having the score higher. This scenario occurred during the 1999 season when the Green Bay Packers
could possibly have made the playoffs if the Dallas Cowboys
had lost and they had scored enough points against the Arizona Cardinals
in their final regular season game to surpass the Carolina Panthers
in total points scored. They ended up beating the Cardinals 49-24 (not a huge margin of victory by football standards), but Dallas went on to beat the Giants later that day to earn the final playoff spot and knock the Packers out of the playoff picture anyway.
Accusations of running up the score outside of playoff races are unusual in the NFL, but not unheard of. One of the most notorious occurred on November 17, 1985, when the New York Jets
defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
62-28 in a regular season game. The two teams had last met in the final game of the previous season
, when Tampa Bay had somewhat controversially appeared to stop playing defense and allowing the Jets to score late in a 41-21 victory in an apparent effort to get the ball back so that running back
James Wilder
could attempt to break the NFL record for most yards from scrimmage in a season. Commentators wondered if the Jets' huge margin of victory was a way of retaliating against the Bucs for such poor sportsmanship, but the Jets and their coaches denied that there had been any conscious effort to run the score up. The Jets' denials may be valid since Bucs coach John McKay
, who allowed the Jets to score late in the 1984 contest, retired after the '84 season and had been replaced by Leeman Bennett
, and also the Jets were 11-5 in 1985 and reached the playoffs, while Tampa Bay was in the midst of back-to-back 2-14 seasons in 1985 and '86.
A Monday Night Football
game between the Green Bay Packers
and Dallas Cowboys
ended in a 21-6 Cowboy victory and some complaints by Green Bay players that the home team's final field goal
was an insult to them, as Dallas had the ball deep in Green Bay territory with the game well in hand as it ended, yet chose to score more points anyway. However, the final field goal was not an attempt at embarrassment, but at a record – Cowboys coach Barry Switzer
wanted to give kicker Chris Boniol
a chance to tie the then-NFL record for most field goals in a game (seven).
The 2007 New England Patriots
came under fire for running up the score for most of the season. In their first ten games the only game with a margin of victory lower than 17 points was against the Indianapolis Colts
(24-20). The Patriots defeated the New York Jets
and San Diego Chargers
by identical 38-14 scores; they defeated the Buffalo Bills
by scores of 38-7 and 56-10; they defeated the Dallas Cowboys
48-27. Their 52-7 win over the Washington Redskins
was criticized in particular when the Patriots scored a touchdown on a fake spike late in the second quarter. Pundits argue though that the criticism of the Patriots is unwarranted, as one cannot really be accused of running up the score while the first half is in progress.
While some teams who regularly score very large number of points are occasionally criticized for running up the score, it is debatable at exactly what point scoring additional points become running up the score. Given recent comebacks such as The Miracle at the New Meadowlands (where the Philadelphia Eagles
won by scoring 28 points in the last 7 minutes) and how quickly points can be accumulated (through interception returns, onside kicks and kick returns) it is understandable that coaches are cautious about becoming over-confident in their offenses and they normally prefer to run out the clock rather than risk an unlikely but certainly possible comeback late in the game.
The most egregious known case of running up the score in professional football is believed to have taken place in 1904, when the Massillon Tigers
, in the pre-forward pass
era, racked up 26 touchdowns and 18 extra points to amass a score of 148 to 0 against a team from Marion, Ohio
. (Touchdowns only counted five points in this era.) A similar rout had occurred in 1903 when the Watertown Red & Black
obliterated an opponent from Cortland, New York
by a score of 142 to 0. Under then-current rules, the team that had scored received the kickoff instead of kicking it as it is today; however, it was much easier and more common to perform onside kick
s in this era, and as far as it's known, neither Marion nor Cortland attempted one. As such, neither team ever touched the ball after receiving the opening possession. The third-highest total in professional football history is much more recent. In 2011, the Erie Explosion indoor football team racked up 138 points in a shutout victory over a team of scrub players playing as the Fayetteville Force. Having blown out the Force 42-0 in the first quarter alone thanks to three Force pick-sixes (including one achieved by a lateral), the Explosion continued to pile on, offering free tickets if the Explosion hit 100 points; when the players were told that the indoor record was 133 points (they were not informed of the overall pro record), they decided to attempt to break it, a feat they succeeded in achieving.
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s, "running up the score" occurs when a team continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is no longer in question and the team is assured of winning. In United States and Canada, it is considered poor sportsmanship
Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors...
to "run up the score" in most circumstances (exceptions are listed below); sporting alternatives include pulling out most of the team's first string players, or calling plays designed to run out the clock
Running out the clock
In sports, running out the clock refers to the practice of a winning team allowing the clock to expire through a series of pre-selected plays, either to preserve a lead or hasten the end of a one-sided contest.- American football :...
(e.g., in American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, kneeling, running the ball up the middle, punting on first down).
The term and concept are not common elsewhere in the world.
Reasons for running up the score
Some of the reasons why a team might run up the score:- To demonstrate domination of one's opponents, and intimidate them and future opponents.
- To embarrass an opponent or to make a point.
- To demonstrate the skill of individuals who need to impress sponsors, talent scouts, etc.
- To increase the team's prestige.
- To gain an advantage where play statistics (such as points scored or point differential) are kept and used for professional advancement or as part of a tiebreaking system.
- To ensure a win (in which case, if the scoring is genuinely used to improve the team's chance of winning, it is not unsportsmanlike. The subjective part comes from whether or not said scoring is necessary or if the game was already decided).
- To reach certain point spreads or point totals (over/under) so that betting outcomes are influenced.
- To improve rankings and thus a better placement in a championship picture, such as with the AP PollAP PollThe Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
and Coaches' Poll in college footballCollege footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
—the computer ratings used in the BCSBowl Championship SeriesThe Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
ranking formula do not measure margin of victory. - Just for the sake of scoring more points.
- To respond to a crowd that may or may not want a game to be a blowout, or to reach a certain score
- To allow the first team to work on unproven/untested plays or allow untested players first team repetitions
- To break a record or reach a milestone.
Consequences of running up the score
The most common negative consequences of running up the score are injuries to a game's starting players, lack of experience for the non-startingJunior varsity
Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...
players on the team, and opposing teams remembering a shellacking and plotting revenge in a future meeting.
Running up the score is considered poor sportsmanship by many fans, players, and coaches, albeit with differences in opinion on how big an insult it is. Allegations of poor sportsmanship are often brought up soon after a team scores multiple times near the end of a one-sided match. However, Florida State
Florida State Seminoles football
The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University in college football. The Florida State Seminoles compete in NCAA Division I-FBS and are members of the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
coach Bobby Bowden
Bobby Bowden
Robert Cleckler "Bobby" Bowden is a retired college football coach. He coached the Florida State Seminoles football team from the 1976 to 2009 seasons...
contended that it was not his job to call plays inconsistent with his regular offense. He felt that the prevention of further scoring was the responsibility of the opposing team's defense.
Benefits in the BCS and other polls
Certain coaches are notorious for running up the score in order to impress coaches and sportswriters who vote in the Coaches Poll or APAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Poll.
It is a common allegation that some poll voters simply look at box score
Box score
A box score is a structured summary of the results from a sport competition. The box score lists the game score as well as individual and team achievements in the game....
s before punching in their votes. These votes have a huge impact on who goes to BCS
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
games, including the national championship
BCS National Championship Game
The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the U.S. national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
. Only by watching the game or game tape (or by careful box-score scrutiny) can a coach determine if a 49-21 score was because of a fairly one-sided game, or because the winning team tried to make the score look more impressive when the game's outcome was no longer in doubt.
The BCS computers originally included margin of victory as a component, but the BCS removed those elements after noticing large increases in teams running up the score.
Other arguments
Some fans of teams whose coaches frequently run up the score may also note that running up the score has its advantages. Though many coaches who run up the score simply do it with their first-string players, a coach who uses his third- and fourth-string players can give them vital in-game experience if he allows them to do more than just kneel on the footballQuarterback kneel
In American football, a quarterback kneel, also called taking a knee, genuflect offense, or victory formation occurs when the quarterback immediately kneels to the ground after receiving the snap. It is primarily used to run the clock down, either at the end of the first half or the game itself, in...
or run the ball up the middle. When they are not allowed to make passing and running plays that the first- and second-stringers get to make, their skills may not develop as quickly.
Alternatively, in college sports where many players from successful teams have hopes of becoming professionals, running up the score gives players the chance to improve their statistics and to show off skills that the conventional offence would not allow. While it may be seen as poor sportsmanship as there is no guarantee that any player will be picked for the professional leagues, every opportunity to bolster stats and impress scouts can be seen as improving the professional prospects of the players.
The argument most frequently used in favor of running up the score is the belief that it is not the coach's or winning team's fault if a weak team is unable to stop a high-powered offensive juggernaut. Additionally, some coaches advocate running up the score to make another point, such as showing disapproval of comments made by opposing players, coaches, etc., in the media.
It's also argued that it can be used as a preventative measure to prevent a huge comeback. In 2006, Penn State lost to Notre Dame 41-17. Notre Dame is said to have run up the score a little, however, Penn State is known for late comebacks. Supporters of preventatively running up the score will often point to games such as the 2006 Insight Bowl
2006 Insight Bowl
The 2006 Insight Bowl, a college football bowl game held on December 29 at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, pitted the Texas Tech Red Raiders against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This game featured the biggest comeback in NCAA Division I FBS bowl history...
where Minnesota blew a 38-7 lead in the third quarter to eventually lose 44-41 to Texas Tech.
Running up the score in professional leagues generally generates significantly less controversy and indeed the term is far less common. While there are numerous reasons to run out the clock, there is no reason not to score more points if the situation allows. As both teams are professionals and are able to score large numbers of points very quickly and even a team with a significant lead has a need to respect this, and either continue to score points or at least to maintain possession to deny their opponents the time needed to stage a come back . Also, many professional leagues use tiebreakers in the result of two or multiple teams being tied in the standings, and these tiebreakers are often how many points a team scores (For), how many points a team allows (Against) or their "Against" score subtracted from their "For" score, and "running up a score" can help their chances of winning positions, as well as stopping the other team from scoring as well (though some leagues counter this by placing a limit on the number of points which can be counted in a point differential, as an example no more than 14, so even if the score is 49-0 only 14 points will count in the tiebreaker). It can also prevent any chance of a comeback.
Georgia Tech
On October 7, 1916, Georgia TechGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets football
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in collegiate level football. While the team is officially designated as the Yellow Jackets, it is also referred to as the Ramblin' Wreck. The Yellow Jackets are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
defeated the Cumberland College Bulldogs
Cumberland University
Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1842, though the current campus buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.-History:...
222-0. Cumberland had previously disbanded their football team, but quickly formed a scrub team when faced with fines if they refused to play. Georgia Tech scored 63 points in the first quarter and 63 points in the second quarter, then 54 points in the third quarter and 42 points in the fourth. There were no first downs for either team during the game. That was because Georgia Tech's defense prevented Cumberland from advancing for a first down and Georgia Tech scoring on every series of downs. Georgia Tech won under the coaching of John Heisman
John Heisman
John William Heisman was an American player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College , Buchtel College, now known as the University of Akron , Auburn University , Clemson University , Georgia Tech , the...
, who wanted revenge after an embarrassing 22-0 loss earlier that year to a Cumberland baseball team that he suspected to have used professional players posing as students.
Houston
On November 23, 1968, the University of HoustonHouston Cougars football
The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH" . The UH football program is currently a member of the Conference USA intercollegiate athletic conference, and is coached by...
defeated the University of Tulsa
Tulsa Golden Hurricane football
The University of Tulsa's Golden Hurricane football team represents Tulsa in Conference USA. Tulsa is currently coached by first-year head coach Bill Blankenship. The football team was coached by Todd Graham until he accepted the head coaching job at Pittsburgh....
100-6. Though they had a 24-0 advantage at half, the Cougars scored 11 touchdowns in the second half for an astounding 94-point blowout. They came close again in 1989
1989 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Miami winning its third National Championship during the 80s, cementing its claim as the decade's top team, winning more titles than any other program....
, routing a Southern Methodist
1989 SMU Mustangs football team
The 1989 Southern Methodist University Mustangs football team represented the Southern Methodist University in the 1989 college football season. It was the first season played by the Mustangs after serving the death penalty. The Mustangs offense scored 187 points while the defense allowed 499 points...
team fresh off the so-called death penalty by a score of 95-21.
Miami
On November 30, 1985, the University of MiamiMiami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...
Hurricanes ran up the score on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
in Gerry Faust
Gerry Faust
Gerard Anthony "Gerry" Faust is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1981 to 1985 and at the University of Akron from 1986 to 1994, compiling a career college football record of 73–79–4...
's final game as Notre Dame head coach. The Hurricanes, led by Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson (American football coach)
James William "Jimmy" Johnson is an American former NCAA and National Football League head coach. As of 2010, he is currently an analyst for Fox NFL Sunday, the Fox network's NFL pregame show. He was the first football coach whose teams won both an NCAA Division 1A National Championship and a...
, were trying to impress pollsters since they were ranked fourth in the polls prior to the game. The Hurricanes called a fake punt on fourth-and-11 in the fourth quarter with a 44-7 lead and continued to pad the stats of quarterback Vinny Testaverde
Vinny Testaverde
Vincent Frank Testaverde is a former NFL quarterback. Testaverde last played for the Carolina Panthers and had previously played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. Testaverde holds the NFL record for having...
. Miami was rewarded in the AP poll as it passed idle Iowa
1985 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 1985 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1985 college football season.-Season:Chuck Long declared that he would return for his senior season. He became an instant Heisman Trophy candidate, and Iowa was a preseason top five team...
to reach No. 3 and set up a possible national championship with a victory over Tennessee
1985 Tennessee Volunteers football team
The 1985 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Volunteers offense scored 325 points while the defense allowed 140 points. At season’s end, the Volunteers ranked fourth in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll...
in the Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...
. Receiving criticism after the game, Johnson replied, "Nobody apologized to me when Oklahoma did it," a reference to a 1980
1980 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Georgia take its first national title since World War II.The Georgia Bulldogs starred freshman running back Herschel Walker, who made his NCAA debut against Tennessee. Down 15-2 at halftime, Georgia sent in Walker, the third string running back at the...
rout by the score of 63-14 when Johnson was head coach at Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma State Cowboys football
The Oklahoma State Cowboys football program represents Oklahoma State University–Stillwater in college football. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference and completes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Cowboys are led by Mike Gundy, who is in his seventh year as...
. Miami would go on to lose to Tennessee, 35-7, in the 1986 Sugar Bowl
1986 Sugar Bowl
The 1986 Sugar Bowl, featuring the 2nd ranked Miami Hurricanes and the 8th ranked Tennessee Volunteers, was played on January 1, 1986, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana....
. Three years later, Notre Dame got sweet revenge, upsetting Miami 31-30 in South Bend to propel the Irish to a national championship and force Johnson to settle for a Number Two ranking in his last year coaching college football
Notre Dame
Notre DameNotre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
routed Boston College
Boston College Eagles football
The Boston College Eagles football team is the collegiate football program of Boston College. The team is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a Division I Bowl Subdivision league governed by the NCAA. Within the ACC, the Eagles are one of six teams in the Atlantic Division...
54–7 in a 1992 game where Fighting Irish coach Lou Holtz
Lou Holtz
Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz is a retired American football coach, and active sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker in the United States...
called a fake punt early in the third quarter, with his team already possessing an enormous 37-0 lead. The Eagles took offense and spent the entire year looking forward to playing Notre Dame again
Ohio State
In 1968, the Ohio State Buckeyes1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes football team is considered one of the strongest in OSU history, fielding 11 All-Americans and six first-round NFL draft picks...
, en route to a national championship, defeated their bitter rival, the Michigan Wolverines
1968 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1968 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1968 college football season. Bump Elliott served as the team's head coach for his tenth and final season...
, 50-14. Late in the game, Ohio State held a commanding 44-14 advantage and scored one final touchdown. Rather than taking the more common extra point
Extra Point
Extra Point is a twice-daily, two-minute segment on ESPN Radio that covers generic sports-related topical news and opinion. The AM edition airs Monday through Saturday at various times between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET, and the PM edition airs Monday through Friday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET...
kick, Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes
Woody Hayes
Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University , Miami University , and Ohio State University , compiling a career college football record of 238–72–10.During his 28 seasons as the head coach of the Ohio...
opted for a two-point conversion
Two-point conversion
In American and Canadian football, a two-point conversion is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point convert immediately after it scores a touchdown...
, which was unsuccessful. When asked later why he went for two points, Hayes said, "Because I couldn't go for three!", though players have commented that there was some sort of confusion on the extra point kick, and Hayes was just covering for his players. The comment came back to haunt Hayes as Michigan
1969 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1969 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1969 college football season. The team was head coached by Bo Schembechler in his first year at Michigan. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium....
would upset
1969 Michigan vs. Ohio State football game
The 1969 edition of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is considered one of the best-known games of the series, as well as one of the biggest upsets in college football history. The Buckeyes of Ohio State University went into the game as the top-ranked team in the country, with a 22-game winning...
Ohio State
1969 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 1969 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the college football season of 1969-1970. The Buckeyes compiled a 8–1 record.-Schedule:-1970 NFL draftees:-References:Win/Loss statistics*...
the following year, 24-12, spoiling a bid for another national championship.
Oklahoma
On November 8, 20032003 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in a split national championship. This was the first split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to eliminate....
, the Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma Sooners football
The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma . The team is currently a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
showed little mercy against Texas A&M
2003 Texas A&M Aggies football team
The 2003 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University in the college football season of 2003. The team's head football coach was Dennis Franchione. 2003 was the first year for Franchione who resigned from Alabama in late 2002. Franchione, known for his history of turning...
, cruising to a 49-0 halftime lead. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops
Bob Stoops
Robert Anthony "Bob" Stoops is the head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team. During the 2000 season, Stoops led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and a national championship....
denied running up the score (a denial which did nothing to silence criticism) as his second string players came out in the 3rd quarter and put up 28 more points to finish with a final score of 77-0 and 639 yards of total offense. This was the worst loss in Texas A&M football history. In Stoops' defense, the coaches agreed to a running clock during most of the second half and the entire 4th quarter. Also at one point in the fourth quarter Oklahoma had first and goal inside the A&M five-yard-line with a chance to score over 80 points. Stoops called four consecutive runs up the middle to prevent another score.
Penn State
Although longtime Penn StatePenn State Nittany Lions football
The Penn State Nittany Lions football team represents the Pennsylvania State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference. It is one of the most tradition-rich and storied college football programs in the...
head coach Joe Paterno
Joe Paterno
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...
was regarded by some as one who did everything he could to avoid running up the score, such as in a 63-10 win over Illinois
Illinois Fighting Illini football
The Illinois Fighting Illini are a major college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference.-Current staff:-All-time win/loss/tie record:*563-513-51...
in 2005 where Penn State held a 56-3 halftime lead, he made an exception in 1985 against rival Pitt
Pittsburgh Panthers football
Pittsburgh Panthers football is the intercollegiate football team of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Traditionally the most popular sport at the university, Pitt football has played at the highest level of American college football...
. The game was well in hand with the score 31-0 when the assistants called the first string team off the field. Paterno immediately ordered them back in, saying, "I want to bury Pitt." One of Paterno's Penn State teams also ran it up on Cincinnati, 81-0.
Stephen F. Austin
In the game against Texas CollegeTexas College
Texas College is a historically black four-year college located in Tyler, Texas that is affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and the United Negro College Fund...
on September 12, 2009, Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin State University
Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. Founded as a teachers' college in 1923, the university was named after one of Texas' founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of another Texas founding...
had a 50-0 lead at halftime. The Lumberjacks inserted the backup QB in the 3rd quarter but continued passing to score two more touchdowns. From that point on it was one defensive and several rushing touchdowns to cap off their 92-0 victory.
Washington and Oregon
The largest margin of victory turnaround in Division I-A football in successive years belongs to the University of WashingtonWashington Huskies football
College football has a long history at the University of Washington. The Washington Huskies have won 15 Pacific-10 Conference championships, seven Rose Bowl titles, and three national championships. Washington's all-time record of 653-398-50 ranks 20th by all-time winning percentage and 21st by...
and the University of Oregon
Oregon Ducks football
The Oregon Ducks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Oregon located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Football Bowl Subdivision and is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. Known as the Ducks, the...
and showcased two prime examples of running up the score. In 1973, Oregon ran up the score at home
Autzen Stadium
Autzen Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Located north of the University of Oregon campus, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks of the Pacific-12 Conference. Opened in 1967, the stadium has undergone several expansions...
, burying Washington 58–0. A year later, Washington responded with a 66-0 drubbing of Oregon back home in Seattle
Husky Stadium
Husky Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home of the Washington Huskies...
. In that game, Washington's starting quarterback Chris Rowland played longer than necessary and suffered a season-ending knee injury. Rowland recalled that Washington head coach Jim Owens "wanted me in and said, 'We're going to beat these guys more than they beat us.' He [Owens] apologized to me because it was a personal thing for him."
Australian Rules Football
Running up the score is a common practice in Australian rules football. The only tiebreaker used in most leagues is the percentage of points for versus points against; as such, margins frequently become large. This occurs in all levels of play, particularly in metropolitan and country leagues, where weaker teams can often be beaten by as much as 200 points. Significantly, the sport lacks any obvious means to kill off a match quickly and painlessly, and time-wasting is both unpopular with fans and discouraged by the laws of the game. Junk timeGarbage time
Garbage time, also known as "junk time", is a term used to refer to the period at the end of a timed sporting event that has become a blowout when the outcome of the game has already been decided, and the coaches of one or both teams will decide to replace their best players with substitutes...
is also a key contributing factor. In finals games, where percentage is no longer relevant, teams do occasionally attract criticism for running up the score. The most extreme recorded example of running up the score was the Williamstown Seagulls
Williamstown Football Club
The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed The Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne and are currently playing in the Victorian Football League...
' score of 110.27 (687) against Geelong West Roosters
Geelong West Football Club
The Geelong West Football Club are an Australian rules football club which played in the Victorian Football Association from 1963 until 1988. Geelong West, nicknamed the 'Roosters', wore white and red during their time in the association.-History:...
in a 1983 VFA
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
Under-19s game.
Baseball
In baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, an unwritten gentlemen's agreement
Gentlemen's agreement
A gentlemen's agreement is an informal agreement between two or more parties. It may be written, oral, or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or through mutually beneficial etiquette. The essence of a gentlemen's agreement is that it relies upon the honor of the parties...
between teams is said to discourage a team from sacrifice bunting, stealing bases
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
, or other small ball
Small Ball
In the sport of baseball, small-ball is an informal and colloquial term for an offensive strategy in which the batting team emphasizes placing runners on base and then advancing them into position to score a run in a deliberate, methodical way...
tactics when leading by a large margin late in a game, even though a losing team can theoretically come back from any deficit to win. Batters do not specifically try to make outs (e.g. by swinging at pitches with no intent to hit them) as this would insult the opposing team, violate the spirit of the game, and hurt their own batting average.
Amateur baseball games often have a mercy rule
Mercy rule
A mercy rule, also well known by the slightly less polite term slaughter rule , brings a sports event to an early end when one team has a very large and presumably insurmountable lead over the other team...
so that games end sooner when the lead is deemed to be insurmountable (e.g. by 10 runs after 5 innings).
Basketball
In basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, some coaches of vastly superior teams team will keep in their starters in the latter stages of a grossly one-sided game (e.g., less than ten minutes left in the second half of a college game; or well into the fourth quarter of a high school or NBA game). Players may be told to continue to aggressively apply full-court pressure (in order to steal the ball), block shots, break away for slam dunks, or try three-point baskets and other fan-pleasing shots.
A team that is trailing by an undefined margin sometimes may prolong the game by fouling the opponent on every possession, in an effort to extend its chances of a comeback — although teams that utilize this strategy often do so only when the game is still somewhat competitive. However, this strategy does not always work, particularly if the fouled players or team is able to connect on free throws.
In cases where the score is lopsided much earlier in the game, the most common option is to just "play it out" as if it were a scrimmage, by trying to take the best shot possible and also attempt some sort of defense (without any taboos against fan-pleasing shots and plays). This is usually referred to as "garbage time
Garbage time
Garbage time, also known as "junk time", is a term used to refer to the period at the end of a timed sporting event that has become a blowout when the outcome of the game has already been decided, and the coaches of one or both teams will decide to replace their best players with substitutes...
", and while generally frowned upon for a lack of excitement it is considered to be the best way of ending a thoroughly uncompetetive game with minimal amounts of pride lost by the weaker side.
Running up the score was a key element in the Knicks–Nuggets brawl on December 16, 2006, as New York
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
coach Isiah Thomas
Isiah Thomas
Isiah Lord Thomas III , nicknamed "Zeke",is the men's basketball coach for the FIU Golden Panthers, and a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association from 1981 until 1994. He led the "Bad Boys" to the NBA...
accused Denver
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
coach George Karl
George Karl
George Matthew Karl is a former National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association player. He is the current head coach of the Denver Nuggets. On December 10, 2010 he became the seventh coach in NBA history to record 1,000 wins.-Biography:Karl was born in Penn Hills,...
of implementing it late in the game. Karl defended himself by citing many games where his team had lost large leads late.
Former Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball
-1908-1980:The Sooners enjoyed moderate success on the court during this era, posting only 16 losing records in their first 72 seasons. They were coached by 9 different coaches during this period, beginning with Bennie Owen , and ending with Dave Bliss in 1980...
basketball coach Billy Tubbs
Billy Tubbs
Billy Tubbs is a former men's college basketball coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native has been the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University , the University of Oklahoma and Texas Christian University .Tubbs was known for his high scoring offense and full-court press defense.Tubbs achieved many...
was often accused of running up the score against inferior opponents. On November 29, 1989, Tubbs' team
1988–89 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team
The 1988–89 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represented the US University of Oklahoma in competitive college basketball during the 1988–89 NCAA Division I season. The Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team played its home games in the Lloyd Noble Center and was a member of the National...
went so far as to score 97 points in the first half of a game against U.S. International
Alliant International University
Alliant International University is a private, non-profit higher education institution based in San Diego, California. It offers programs in six California cities and four locations outside the United States...
. Oklahoma won the game in a 173-101 rout. Asked repeatedly about running up the score against opponents, Tubbs once famously replied, "If they don't like it, they should get better."
Occasionally, teams will run up the score because of crowd encouragement. Crowd encouragement can occur whether or not there is a physical incentive involved. Oftentimes, a crowd will start chanting "X more points" near the end of a game, where X is the number of points needed to reach 100. This usually occurs when the team is within 5 points of reaching the 100-point mark. Also, crowd encouragement can happen as the result of a promotion for ticket-holders. In a Bradley
Bradley Braves men's basketball
The Bradley Braves men's basketball team represents Bradley University, located in Peoria, Illinois, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They currently compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 2006, reaching the...
home game against Wichita State
Wichita State Shockers men's basketball
The Wichita State Shockers basketball team is the NCAA Division I men's basketball program of Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. They currently compete in the Missouri Valley Conference...
, coach Jim Les put in some reserve players in during the last 1–2 minutes of the game after the score got to 62-50. During the final possession, the crowd started to yell "Shoot shoot shoot" because the season ticket-holders would get a buy-one-get-one-free rib-eye steak dinner at a local restaurant if the score reached 63. One of the Bradley players launched a buzzer-beating 3 because of the crowd encouragement and it went in, making the final score 65-50.
Ice hockey
In ice hockeyIce hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, complaints are quite rare, for the simple reason that unless there is a gross disparity in skill, teams generally do not score large numbers of goals at will against the opposition. A mercy rule
Mercy rule
A mercy rule, also well known by the slightly less polite term slaughter rule , brings a sports event to an early end when one team has a very large and presumably insurmountable lead over the other team...
also may come into effect at pre-high school levels, where such disparities might come into play as a matter of course.
However, the rules of competition can sometimes work the opposite direction. In women's hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics
-Leading scorers:-Leading goaltenders:Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes.-Awards:Antero Niittymäki was named the most valuable player and received the Directorate Award for best goaltender of the tournament. Directorate Awards also went to Teemu Selänne for best forward, and...
, total goals was one of the factors determining home ice, and so the two favored teams, the United States and Canada, were encouraged to post the highest scores possible. When the Canadians posted a combined 26-0 score in their first two games against the much weaker Italy and Russia, they were criticized in their home country and abroad. However, by the rules, they couldn't let up in case the Americans blew out one of their opponents.
Association Football
In amateurAmateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
association football, running up the score is sometimes limited by the presence of a mercy rule. In professional soccer, the concept of "running up the score" is basically unheard of; many professional association football competitions use goal difference
Goal difference
In sports such as ice hockey and association football, goal difference is often the first tiebreaker used to rank teams which finish a league competition with an equal number of points....
or goal average as a tiebreaker, meaning it is preferable to win by as wide a margin of victory as possible. Furthermore, it is doubtful that a team on the receiving end of a ten-goal defeat would ever accuse their opponents of unsporting behavior or a lack of respect; indeed, in European association football, a strong team choosing to field star players against lesser opposition is generally seen as a mark of respect, rather than of disrespect. In fact, if a European team, leading by several goals late in the game, made an American football-style attempt to show good sportsmanship by easing off, bringing on several lesser-known substitutes and retaining possession in order to kill the clock
Running out the clock
In sports, running out the clock refers to the practice of a winning team allowing the clock to expire through a series of pre-selected plays, either to preserve a lead or hasten the end of a one-sided contest.- American football :...
, this would be seen as deeply unsporting and would probably provoke a hostile reaction quite opposite to the intended effect. Also, teams are limited to three substitutions per match in most competitions, preventing coaches from making mass substitutions seen in American football or basketball.
High schools
Vast talent discrepancies between opponents happen more often in high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
sports than in college or professional sports. This is especially prevalent in some state-sponsored district and regional single-elimination tournament
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
s in which all schools (regardless of record) participate. Often, a state's athletic association will seed a vastly superior team (one that has gone undefeated or has very few losses) against a very weak team in the first round, and the talent disparity between the two teams quickly becomes obvious.
One notorious example of many such incidents that happen each year throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was the state-ranked Walkerville, Michigan
Walkerville, Michigan
Walkerville is a village in Oceana County of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 254. The village is within Leavitt Township, Michigan.-Geography:...
High School's (enrollment 98) 115-2 victory against Hart, Michigan
Hart, Michigan
Hart is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,950. It is the county seat of Oceana County. The city is located within Hart Township, but is politically independent....
Lakeshore Academy (enrollment 49) in a Class D district opener during the 2004 Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
High School Girl's Basketball state tournament.
In light of similar incidents, coaches are often accused of running up the score and taking the opportunity to humiliate and embarrass a weak opponent. Occasionally, large margins of victory occur in games where the winning school's reserves (second-string and junior varsity
Junior varsity
Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...
players) played a good share of the contest and simply were able to score at will against the opposition. However, when the star players are left in to set scoring records, as happened with Epiphanny Prince's 113-point basketball game in 2006, criticism usually follows.
Since 2006, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has considered any victory margin of 50 points or more in a football game to be unsportsmanlike. If this occurs, the winning team's coach will be suspended
Suspension (punishment)
Suspension is a form of punishment that people receive for violating rules and regulations.- Workplace :Suspension is a common practice in the workplace for being in violation of an organization's policy...
for the team's next game. This was in response to one coach, Jack Cochran of New London
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, whose teams won that way four times during 2005. One victory provoked a brawl and led to disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct is a criminal charge in most jurisdictions in the United States. Typically, disorderly conduct makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to "disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain areas. Many types of unruly conduct may fit the definition of disorderly conduct, as such...
charges against the losing coach. Coach Cochran defended himself by saying that in one 90-0 blowout, he had tried to get both teams and the timekeeper to run the clock continuously, as is done in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
when one team has a 35-point lead. The CIAC considered a similar proposal but rejected as several members felt it would cut into backups' playing time.
In October 2008, Naples High School
Naples High School
Naples High School is a secondary education school located in Naples, Florida, and is one of eight public high schools located in Collier County. Naples High School is part of the District School Board of Collier County.- Athletics :...
defeated Estero High School
Estero High School
Estero High School is a public high school located in Estero, Florida. It is part of the Lee County School District and opened in 1987. The total enrollment is about 1,130 students...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
91–0. Naples was the defending Florida High School Athletic Association
Florida High School Athletic Association
The Florida High School Athletic Association is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high school It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations ....
Class 3A champion. Despite accusations that Naples ran up the score, Coach Bill Kramer kept most of his star players out of the game for most, if not all of the game. Some Naples parents consequently called the coach to complain that their sons did not play.
In a January 13, 2009 girls' basketball game, Covenant School of Dallas defeated Dallas Academy 100-0. Following reports that Covenant kept the pressure on until they scored their 100th point, school officials apologized for the victory margin. Coach Micah Grimes was subsequently fired.
In 1926, Haven High School of Haven, Kansas
Haven, Kansas
Haven is a city in Reno County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,237.-History:The Reno County Museum was originally located in Haven.-Geography:Haven is located at...
defeated Sylvia High School by a score of 256-0, the highest recorded score in the history of American Football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
.
Pro American football
Running up the score is rarely done by teams in the National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) and other professional American football leagues. A primary reason is that starting players and coaches are paid hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars each year, which is affected by how the players and the team performs during the season. Any attempt to run up the score increases the risks of losing a key player to an injury that could affect the team's chances for the rest of the season. Thus, if a team decides to keep their stars in during a blowout, it is usually viewed by the opponent as an insult. Another factor is that the parity that the salary cap
Salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap is a cartel agreement between teams that places a limit on the amount of money that can be spent on player salaries. The limit exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both...
has brought to the NFL in the 1990s has evened out competition somewhat, with less talent disparity between the best and worst teams compared to the past. It is much more difficult to run up the score to embarrassing (50+ point) margins in the modern game at the pro level. The greatest margin of victory at the professional level happened in the 1940 NFL Championship won by the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
over the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
73-0. Most recently, the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
defeated the Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
62-7 on October 23, 2011. In 2009, the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
defeated the Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
59-0 in the New England snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
.
The one exception to this general rule is in regards to the NFL's tiebreaking rules that are used to determine which teams qualify for the playoffs if they are tied in the standings. One criterion to break ties is comparing the total number of points scored by each team during the regular season. Under this scenario, running up the score in a late season game is not considered poor sportsmanship because there is a benefit to having the score higher. This scenario occurred during the 1999 season when the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
could possibly have made the playoffs if the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
had lost and they had scored enough points against the Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in their final regular season game to surpass the Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
in total points scored. They ended up beating the Cardinals 49-24 (not a huge margin of victory by football standards), but Dallas went on to beat the Giants later that day to earn the final playoff spot and knock the Packers out of the playoff picture anyway.
Accusations of running up the score outside of playoff races are unusual in the NFL, but not unheard of. One of the most notorious occurred on November 17, 1985, when the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...
62-28 in a regular season game. The two teams had last met in the final game of the previous season
1984 NFL season
The 1984 NFL season was the 65th regular season of the National Football League. The Colts relocated from Baltimore, Maryland to Indianapolis, Indiana....
, when Tampa Bay had somewhat controversially appeared to stop playing defense and allowing the Jets to score late in a 41-21 victory in an apparent effort to get the ball back so that running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
James Wilder
James Wilder
James Curtis Wilder is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, and the Detroit Lions.-High school career:...
could attempt to break the NFL record for most yards from scrimmage in a season. Commentators wondered if the Jets' huge margin of victory was a way of retaliating against the Bucs for such poor sportsmanship, but the Jets and their coaches denied that there had been any conscious effort to run the score up. The Jets' denials may be valid since Bucs coach John McKay
John McKay (football coach)
John Harvey McKay was an American football player and coach. He was served as the head coach at the University of Southern California from 1960 to 1975 and of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976 to 1984. In 16 seasons with the USC Trojans, McKay compiled a record of 127–40–8 and...
, who allowed the Jets to score late in the 1984 contest, retired after the '84 season and had been replaced by Leeman Bennett
Leeman Bennett
Leeman Bennett is a former football coach who served at both the collegiate and professional levels, but is most prominently remembered as head coach of the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers....
, and also the Jets were 11-5 in 1985 and reached the playoffs, while Tampa Bay was in the midst of back-to-back 2-14 seasons in 1985 and '86.
A Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
game between the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
and Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
ended in a 21-6 Cowboy victory and some complaints by Green Bay players that the home team's final field goal
Field goal (football)
A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...
was an insult to them, as Dallas had the ball deep in Green Bay territory with the game well in hand as it ended, yet chose to score more points anyway. However, the final field goal was not an attempt at embarrassment, but at a record – Cowboys coach Barry Switzer
Barry Switzer
Barry Switzer is a former football coach, active in the college and professional ranks between 1962 and 1997. He has one of the highest winning percentages of any college football coach in history, and is one of only two head coaches to win both a college football national championship and a...
wanted to give kicker Chris Boniol
Chris Boniol
Christopher Donald Boniol is a former professional American football placekicker in the National Football League. He played first at Alexandria Senior High School and then college football at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana...
a chance to tie the then-NFL record for most field goals in a game (seven).
The 2007 New England Patriots
2007 New England Patriots season
The 2007 New England Patriots season was the 38th season for the team in the National Football League and 48th season overall. They finished with a perfect 16–0 regular season record but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII....
came under fire for running up the score for most of the season. In their first ten games the only game with a margin of victory lower than 17 points was against the Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
(24-20). The Patriots defeated the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
by identical 38-14 scores; they defeated the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
by scores of 38-7 and 56-10; they defeated the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
48-27. Their 52-7 win over the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
was criticized in particular when the Patriots scored a touchdown on a fake spike late in the second quarter. Pundits argue though that the criticism of the Patriots is unwarranted, as one cannot really be accused of running up the score while the first half is in progress.
While some teams who regularly score very large number of points are occasionally criticized for running up the score, it is debatable at exactly what point scoring additional points become running up the score. Given recent comebacks such as The Miracle at the New Meadowlands (where the Philadelphia Eagles
2010 Philadelphia Eagles season
The 2010 Philadelphia Eagles season was the 78th season for the team in the National Football League , who looked to improve on their 11–5 record from 2009. They finished with a 10–6 record, but lost to the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card playoffs. For head coach Andy Reid, this was his 12th...
won by scoring 28 points in the last 7 minutes) and how quickly points can be accumulated (through interception returns, onside kicks and kick returns) it is understandable that coaches are cautious about becoming over-confident in their offenses and they normally prefer to run out the clock rather than risk an unlikely but certainly possible comeback late in the game.
The most egregious known case of running up the score in professional football is believed to have taken place in 1904, when the Massillon Tigers
Massillon Tigers
The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships in 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, then merged to become...
, in the pre-forward pass
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...
era, racked up 26 touchdowns and 18 extra points to amass a score of 148 to 0 against a team from Marion, Ohio
Marion, Ohio
Marion is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Marion County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus....
. (Touchdowns only counted five points in this era.) A similar rout had occurred in 1903 when the Watertown Red & Black
Watertown Red & Black
The Watertown Red & Black is a semi-professional American football team based in Watertown, New York. Founded in 1896, the team is the oldest semi-pro football team in the United States...
obliterated an opponent from Cortland, New York
Cortland, New York
Cortland is a city in Cortland County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 18,740. It is the county seat of Cortland County.The City of Cortland, near the west border of the county, is surrounded by the Town of Cortlandville....
by a score of 142 to 0. Under then-current rules, the team that had scored received the kickoff instead of kicking it as it is today; however, it was much easier and more common to perform onside kick
Onside kick
In American and Canadian football, an onside kick is a type of kick used at a kickoff or other free kick, or scrimmage kick or other kick during play, in which the ball is kicked favorably for the kicking team to avoid giving away the ball...
s in this era, and as far as it's known, neither Marion nor Cortland attempted one. As such, neither team ever touched the ball after receiving the opening possession. The third-highest total in professional football history is much more recent. In 2011, the Erie Explosion indoor football team racked up 138 points in a shutout victory over a team of scrub players playing as the Fayetteville Force. Having blown out the Force 42-0 in the first quarter alone thanks to three Force pick-sixes (including one achieved by a lateral), the Explosion continued to pile on, offering free tickets if the Explosion hit 100 points; when the players were told that the indoor record was 133 points (they were not informed of the overall pro record), they decided to attempt to break it, a feat they succeeded in achieving.