Brad Rock: Running up the score is a necessity

The need to score big isn't entirely on non-automatic qualifying conferences like the Mountain West. The system puts pressure on larger leagues, too, where the teams actually have a chance to play for a national title. Thus, they schedule non-conference games they can dominate: Kansas 49, Northern Colorado 3; Michigan State 44, Montana State 3; Kentucky 42, Miami-Ohio 0; Tennessee 63, Western Kentucky 7; Texas Tech 55, Rice 10; Cincinnati 70, Southeast Missouri State 3.

Defending national champion Florida has thus far played Charleston Southern and Troy, winning by a combined score of 118-9.

Scheduling has become highly technical. No longer is it like the line from "Napoleon Dynamite": "Hey, wanna play me?"

Now you carefully select every game, because it's not just winning, but who you beat and how good it looks.

All of which doesn't really explain why Stephen F. Austin felt compelled to beat Texas College 92-0 last week. In smaller division football, there's a playoff system, so if you win all your games, you're the national champion.

In SFA's case, winning by almost 100 points was just for the fun. But in the Mountain West, it's not about fun.

You do it because you have to.

e-mail: rock@desnews.com