That a lot of coaches.... maybe not most but many, will not pull their starters when they are routing their opponents... Talking HS here, not that way in youth football where most, not quite all, WILL pull the starters in a rout. My youngest grandson didn't play a single down in the 2nd half last week....
Fact is routing a team does help your ranking.
I'm all FOR pulling the starters in a rout and playing kids who get little playing time. But yes.. in HS doing that can hurt your ranking.
As you may recall I coached for many many years.... one of the things that always made me feel bad was when we were routing a team and I'd pull my starts sometime my 2nd and even 3rd string players would continue the rout. When that happened I'd play call to minimize our chance of further scoring but one thing I NEVER did was tell my players to 'back off'... don't believe in that. - JamesJM
