All this talk about sportsmanship and not rubbing the opponent's nose in it reminds me of a soccer game my son played in when he was a kid. The other team was a traveling team filled with hand-picked players and coached by very experienced coaches. My son's team was a neighborhood team filled with whoever happened to show up. Bottom line, the game was a blowout. I don't remember the final score, but the winning team scored early and often. In the 2nd half they no longer tried to score, but they formed a circle and played keep away with the ball. They certainly weren't running up the score, but what they did was extremely humiliating and worse. I would have been much better if they had just kept scoring.

When I was a player and was on a team getting blown out, I didn't want any favors. The last thing I wanted was for the other team to quit competing. That would have been a clear message that they didn't feel like we were worthy of their best effort. That, in and of itself, is demoralizing and, in my opinion, disrespecting. When the score gets out of hand, go ahead and put in reserves, but never stop giving your best.

If BYU had taken a knee instead of kicking that last FG, if I were Texas St I would have been livid. That would have been a major slap in the face.

It's obviously a fine line that coaches have to walk. Coaching in a blowout is tough. What some consider good sportsmanship others may see as a clear signal that the other team is not worthy of their best effort. There are so many differing opinions on how these situations should be handled, that no matter what you do, you're going to be criticized. But I believe most players would prefer that you don't go easy them when they're getting blown out. They want to keep playing as hard as they can and learn as much as they can from a difficult situation.

Many will disagree, but that's my opinion.