Outmatched Football Games

I'm going to wade into perilous waters with this one; but here's my opinion, anyway.

College football teams have settled into a twelve-game ordinary season; with the SEC having a playoff between the top-ranked teams in the West and East.  Additionally, there's a lot of off-brand bowl games out there, in which  December and early January has these bowls such as the Diet Coke Bowl, the Viagra Bowl, the Daily Star Bowl, and a lot of other occasions to fill up television time and allow also-ran teams to boast that they went to a bowl.

But, the problem, as I see it, is that it is very hard for a university to schedule twelve games with seriously competitive opponents.  So we get such travesties as Alabama playing Tennessee at Chattanooga, Florida State playing Idaho, North Carolina playing Old Dominion, and a few other of these easy wins.

But none of those matched when Georgia Tech destroyed Cumberland College, 222-0!  Thats right: 222-0!  It seems to be that sportsmanship and good taste would have prevailed earlier, and not let the game get that much out of hand.

As a matter of fact, they usually result in the ranked team crushing the opponent.

Is there a point in which that it too much?

In some states, high school sports have a "mercy rule."  It provides that the game can end if one of the teams has at least a 50-point margin by halftime.

Or, two teams can agree to shortened quarters, as North Carolina and Old Dominion recently agreed to play a ten-minute fourth quarter.

Or, both teams can agree to a continuous running of the clock, as in 1988 Auburn and Kansas did when Auburn was leading 49-0 at halftime.  The game ended, 56-7.

Finally, the leading team can play only the bench-warmers.



Shakespeare put it beautifully:

“The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself."

In my opinion, there should be some mercy rule when those kinds of margins occur.  The football stadium should not be the Colosseum.