See your point and no disagreement from me. However playing devils advocate, what if you were a team that did everything right even gave meat to a team to make sure it was a 25 team qualifier and a first time team, or experienced but for this scenario a new team totally messes up or drops or whatever to their brisket so they turn in raw chicken. It is turned in, is DQed and is probably the TOD but at least turned in? The GC or RGC shouldnt be punished. Sadly I think this is why some contests struggle because people wont enter unless they already know it is a qualifier.
I wasnt even close but to phrase it different, if this would have been my first GC(team that won has won several) but if it was my first, I wouldnt care what someone turned in. All I can control is my turn ins and while yes there is truly a TOD, I dont think hardly anyone would care about a funky turn in as long as contest is a qualifier.