Why does the #1 offense go against the #2 defense in football practice and vice versa?

Question

Wouldn't it make better sense for the 1's to go against the 1's?

Answer 1

The 1s do go against each other when the school is big enough to have people specialize on offense, defense, or special teams. However, when there's not that many people and people have to do 2 or more jobs you can't have your starting O go up against your starting D.

Answer 2

You want to keep your 1st string players healthy.  Pitting them against the other 1st sting would put alot of wear and tear on them.  Also you want your plays in practice to succeed so your players know what its like for the plays to go well.  That being said 2nd string players are still usually very good and playing hard in order to try to make it to the 1st string.

Also, In high school and some college many of your best players preform double duty on offense and defense, making it impractical.

Answer 3

Another reason is the 2nd team is running the same type of plays as the next opponent.  The last thing the coach wants is for the 1st team to have to learn a new play book.