USM is 2-2.

They have won narrowly with a combined 47-40 score against Alcorn St and Appalachian St. (who lost 52-14 to a bad Michigan team) and been outscored 102-12 by Miss St. and Alabama. They are bad. 2-2 is b/c of schedule. #117 out of #125 in FBS in rushing D and #109 out of #125 in Offense.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/705

You can read summary of App St. game.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=400548032

App St. outplayed them across-the-board but had a App St. had bad kicker which was difference w/ missed XP's and FG's.

Expectations should be to go in and should win by 3TD's. We are playing a bad FB team. Time to get things back on-track.

Should this game be lost, this board (rightfully so) is going to go full nuclear and explode into a million tiny pieces.

(09-21-2014 06:59 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Should this game be lost, this board (rightfully so) is going to go full nuclear and explode into a million tiny bits

FIFY

Line opened at Rice -13.5, already down to -10.

ODU opened at +1.5 vs MTSU, line is now +3.5.

hmmm.
Well, remember that:
1. Alabama and Miss St. are two of the best teams in the country, and this skews statistics.
2. As of the end of the OD game, by my count we have 7 of 11 defensive starters out.

(09-21-2014 09:32 PM)Barney Wrote:  hmmm.
Well, remember that:
1. Alabama and Miss St. are two of the best teams in the country, and this skews statistics.
2. As of the end of the OD game, by my count we have 7 of 11 defensive starters out.

If some of the defensive guys don't return, this game goes from one of our two easiest remaining games on the schedule (along with FIU) to a pick-em IMO. But it does appear USM is stronger on defense than offense, and even there, they allowed 400 yards to Alcorn State and 455 to Appalachian State. They do seem better at forcing turnovers than our defense.

At this point, I'd much rather face a defensive minded team over an offensive minded team.

Southern Miss began the defense of their 2011 league title by losing 23 straight games. They're 2-3 since then.

They will ensure Rice remains safely at bay from their historic record by ending our losing streak at 4.

I'm making the trip to see us end that streak, and start another streak that hopefully leads us to a successful league title defense.

(09-21-2014 09:32 PM)Barney Wrote:  hmmm.
Well, remember that:
1. Alabama and Miss St. are two of the best teams in the country, and this skews statistics.
2. As of the end of the OD game, by my count we have 7 of 11 defensive starters out.

True but I'm looking more at a team that barely beat Alcorn St. and Appalachian St (at home) where they were dominated on stat sheet by two bad teams. App St. missed a XP and short field goal which was difference. If we are going to put ourselves in that same category after being C-USA champs, than big time problems for this program.

Obviously, we are not Alabama or Miss St to beat them by ~50 points but we are not the other way (even w/ Alcorn St and App St). I think of us in the middle which should be a ~20 point victory...even w/ the injuries although I do expect Taylor, Covington, and White to go this week.

This is a bad team at the bottom of FBS. They just have done a better job scheduling this year than last couple years to get some cupcakes in to squeak out a couple W's.

Quote:J.P. Heath ‏@RiceOwlsVoice 1m
Bailiff says Destri White and James Radcliffe are going through the five-day protocol for concussion testing.

Joseph Duarte ‏@Chronicle_Owls 1m
Rice coach David Bailiff on WR @zwright119: "He's earned more playing time. He's taken advantage of the opportunity given to him.

Nate Griffin ‏@coloranalyst 57s
Rice HC David Bailiff says losing 2 Notre Dame, A&M, & ODU has made the Owls hungry. @SouthernMissFB is next.

Were we not hungry prior to the season??

(09-22-2014 12:31 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:J.P. Heath ‏@RiceOwlsVoice 1m
Bailiff says Destri White and James Radcliffe are going through the five-day protocol for concussion testing.

Joseph Duarte ‏@Chronicle_Owls 1m
Rice coach David Bailiff on WR @zwright119: "He's earned more playing time. He's taken advantage of the opportunity given to him.

Nate Griffin ‏@coloranalyst 57s
Rice HC David Bailiff says losing 2 Notre Dame, A&M, & ODU has made the Owls hungry. @SouthernMissFB is next.

Were we not hungry prior to the season??

I thought we were still in the preseason?

Driphus Jackson has been stellar all year. Coming back into the game after having his dislocated shoulder put back into place is pretty gutsy. Despite the terrible defensive showing against ODU, I still believe this Rice team has a chance to win conference. But with a conference loss already in the books, they need to run the table and they need a little help.

(09-22-2014 12:31 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:J.P. Heath ‏@RiceOwlsVoice 1m
Bailiff says Destri White and James Radcliffe are going through the five-day protocol for concussion testing.

Joseph Duarte ‏@Chronicle_Owls 1m
Rice coach David Bailiff on WR @zwright119: "He's earned more playing time. He's taken advantage of the opportunity given to him.

Nate Griffin ‏@coloranalyst 57s
Rice HC David Bailiff says losing 2 Notre Dame, A&M, & ODU has made the Owls hungry. @SouthernMissFB is next.

Were we not hungry prior to the season??

Between the glorified practice comments and some of the statements attributed to players in the game thread, it would seem no...

(09-22-2014 12:56 PM)At Ease Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 12:31 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:J.P. Heath ‏@RiceOwlsVoice 1m
Bailiff says Destri White and James Radcliffe are going through the five-day protocol for concussion testing.

Joseph Duarte ‏@Chronicle_Owls 1m
Rice coach David Bailiff on WR @zwright119: "He's earned more playing time. He's taken advantage of the opportunity given to him.

Nate Griffin ‏@coloranalyst 57s
Rice HC David Bailiff says losing 2 Notre Dame, A&M, & ODU has made the Owls hungry. @SouthernMissFB is next.

Were we not hungry prior to the season??

Between the glorified practice comments and some of the statements attributed to players in the game thread, it would seem no...

Not to mention that we lost to Old Dominion

Hmm, there are only 7 winless teams left in FBS. Not a good list to be on 4 weeks into the season.

As for ODU, let's not undersell them. They have playmakers on offense. It's amazing what a little bit of that can do for a team, including pushing an NC State team that's ranked #40 in the Massey Composite (an average of a bunch of ratings). (I think that's high - Massey alone says they're 63. Sagarin says 55, dropping the 1 AA team above them.)

And Massey still has Rice favored in 7 of the remaining games. I think there's some sort of pre-season seeding bias still in there, as ODU is shown being favored in only 1 more game this season. (And Rice still relatively high, though the A&M result helps buoy it, too.) I think ODU wins more than that, based on what I saw. Reminds me of that opportunistic 2008 Rice team.

(09-22-2014 12:42 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Driphus Jackson has been stellar all year. Coming back into the game after having his dislocated shoulder put back into place is pretty gutsy. Despite the terrible defensive showing against ODU, I still believe this Rice team has a chance to win conference. But with a conference loss already in the books, they need to run the table and they need a little help.

We actually don't need any help to win conference, because ODU is in the east. We simply have to win the rest of our conference games.

(09-22-2014 01:35 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 12:42 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Driphus Jackson has been stellar all year. Coming back into the game after having his dislocated shoulder put back into place is pretty gutsy. Despite the terrible defensive showing against ODU, I still believe this Rice team has a chance to win conference. But with a conference loss already in the books, they need to run the table and they need a little help.

We actually don't need any help to win conference, because ODU is in the east. We simply have to win the rest of our conference games.

Wait, that East CUSA loss still counts right?

(09-22-2014 04:23 PM)Pan95 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 01:35 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 12:42 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Driphus Jackson has been stellar all year. Coming back into the game after having his dislocated shoulder put back into place is pretty gutsy. Despite the terrible defensive showing against ODU, I still believe this Rice team has a chance to win conference. But with a conference loss already in the books, they need to run the table and they need a little help.

We actually don't need any help to win conference, because ODU is in the east. We simply have to win the rest of our conference games.

Wait, that East CUSA loss still counts right?

I think the deal is that if we win the rest of our conference games, everyone in our division will also have at least one loss, and we hold all the head-to-head tiebreakers...

(09-22-2014 04:23 PM)Pan95 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 01:35 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 12:42 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Driphus Jackson has been stellar all year. Coming back into the game after having his dislocated shoulder put back into place is pretty gutsy. Despite the terrible defensive showing against ODU, I still believe this Rice team has a chance to win conference. But with a conference loss already in the books, they need to run the table and they need a little help.

We actually don't need any help to win conference, because ODU is in the east. We simply have to win the rest of our conference games.

Wait, that East CUSA loss still counts right?

Yes. If we run the table, we will have a 7-1 conference record. Since running the table means beating everyone else in the west, no one else can finish better than 7-1. We would then have the tiebreaker over all west teams.

(09-22-2014 04:44 PM)That Guy 2012 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 04:23 PM)Pan95 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 01:35 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 12:42 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Driphus Jackson has been stellar all year. Coming back into the game after having his dislocated shoulder put back into place is pretty gutsy. Despite the terrible defensive showing against ODU, I still believe this Rice team has a chance to win conference. But with a conference loss already in the books, they need to run the table and they need a little help.

We actually don't need any help to win conference, because ODU is in the east. We simply have to win the rest of our conference games.

Wait, that East CUSA loss still counts right?

Yes. If we run the table, we will have a 7-1 conference record. Since running the table means beating everyone else in the west, no one else can finish better than 7-1. We would then have the tiebreaker over all west teams.

Plus a tiebreaker over Marshall, so we'd get to host the CCG again, presumably.

Sounds good to me. I vote we win the rest of our games. All in favor?

(09-22-2014 12:56 PM)At Ease Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 12:31 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:J.P. Heath ‏@RiceOwlsVoice 1m
Bailiff says Destri White and James Radcliffe are going through the five-day protocol for concussion testing.

Joseph Duarte ‏@Chronicle_Owls 1m
Rice coach David Bailiff on WR @zwright119: "He's earned more playing time. He's taken advantage of the opportunity given to him.

Nate Griffin ‏@coloranalyst 57s
Rice HC David Bailiff says losing 2 Notre Dame, A&M, & ODU has made the Owls hungry. @SouthernMissFB is next.

Were we not hungry prior to the season??

Between the glorified practice comments and some of the statements attributed to players in the game thread, it would seem no...

For pitty sake, I would think that our performance against ODU would prove that the outcomes of the no conference games cannot be attributed to a "preseason attitude".