This post reminds me of "Last Chance U", which shows junior college football. In the first two seasons, you get the perspective of one of the best teams in the division and the country at that level, and they talk about how a mercy rule was introduced because of that team's superiority against its neighbours.
The mercy rule, once triggered, started a countdown until the end of the game. But because the team had an incentive to rack up as many points as possible to improve its national ranking, it still kept trying to dominate even more in the remaining time.
The result; A huge fight starts out and both teams forfeit the game (I believe). In the end, because of that fight the really good EMCC team was unable to make the playoffs and the entire year went to waste.
The ranking of teams based on scores and specific accomplishments. Unfortunately, this contributes to this problem. Why does a team need to win by 45 points instead of 30 points?The ranking system should be able to account for the scores when games had to be toned down. These situations are contributing to the problem. Last Chance U is a good series. I enjoy watching it.