# Any takers? 70.5 point spread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 6, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896 "2012-09-06T19:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/61 "2012-09-17T04:13:42Z")
OK, I can understand why the weak school would accept the payoff to play the strong school: Money is money, after all. But why would the strong school be willing to pay to play the weak school? Nobody wants to watch a game like that for fun, and beating such a weak team won’t fool anyone into thinking you’re better than you are. Who on the strong school side benefits from such a lopsided matchup? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/62 "2012-09-17T04:23:45Z")
a win’s a win. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/63 "2012-09-17T17:08:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But why would the strong school be willing to pay to play the weak school? Practice.You’ll notice these games are almost always played before the big team starts its conference schedule. These are college football’s equivalent of the pro sports’ exhibition game. You get the equivalent of a full-speed, hemets and pads practice, and you can give your second-string players some actual game experience. Florida State had its third-string quarterback playing at the end of its game. That’s almost certainly the only time this season that kid will see action this year. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/64 "2012-09-17T21:56:28Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > These are college football’s equivalent of the pro sports’ exhibition game. Except that, in the pros, the exhibition games don’t actually count for anything, while in college ball they become part of the overall record that is used to determine standings. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/65 "2012-09-17T22:07:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m no expert in college football, but aren’t there situations where two teams will have identical win-loss records and the determination of which has a higher standing is based on total points scored? If so, then it’s good management for a coach to make sure he runs up his score when he has an opportunity. As I remember it, point spread used to be used in the BCS formula, but was removed precisely because they didn’t want to incentivize teams to run up the score. Of course, this leads to problems with ranking the teams properly, since beating a team 50-0 is a lot more impressive than beating the same team 21-20, but both are equal in the computers’ eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/66 "2012-09-17T23:07:58Z")
I don’t know; it seems to me that the skills you learn and reinforce by playing a really poor team wouldn’t bear any particular relationship to the skills you’d need to beat a good team. You could just end up reinforcing bad habits, since they’re likely to work anyway. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/67 "2012-09-20T21:55:36Z")
One thing I found interesting, is it’s usually the big team that’s Pitted for playing Weak Sisters of the Poor. It seems this time around, it’s Savannah State that seems to be getting the brunt of the criticism for scheduling like this. How times have changed. In 1995, my Huskers were ripped for running up the score 77-28. Never mind that Nebraska’s subs only scored 2 TDs in the whole second half. The opposing coach howled very publicly and refused to shake hands. The team they destroyed? Not a Sun Belt or I-AA team, but Arizona State from the Pac 10! ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896/68 "2012-09-21T02:37:52Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > One thing I found interesting, is it’s usually the big team that’s Pitted for playing Weak Sisters of the Poor. It seems this time around, it’s Savannah State that seems to be getting the brunt of the criticism for scheduling like this. I think the problem was that Savannah St did two of these games back-to-back. There was a real risk of serious injury to those kids. However, again, lest it be forgotten, this game was _not_ the first (or in FSU’s case even the twentieth) choice for either of these teams. It only came about because WVU cancelled on FSU at (in college scheduling terms) the last minute. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-takers-70-5-point-spread/633896.md?page=3)