(09-05-2015 09:15 PM)Chef Owl Wrote:  I guess I should have specified. Is it good or bad for us next week?

My answer doesn't change. UT looks really vulnerable to the pass, but we didn't shiw we could take advantage of that today. DJ has been known to bounce back big time after a poor game throwing the ball. Let's hope that pattern continues.

As to what UT will do next week. There is no telling, but our chances are as good as they've been in quite a while.

Texas is just getting annihilated.

I just hope UT is dismissive of us next week.

(09-05-2015 09:26 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:15 PM)Chef Owl Wrote:  I guess I should have specified. Is it good or bad for us next week?

My answer doesn't change. UT looks really vulnerable to the pass, but we didn't shiw we could take advantage of that today. DJ has been known to bounce back big time after a poor game throwing the ball. Let's hope that pattern continues.

As to what UT will do next week. There is no telling, but our chances are as good as they've been in quite a while.

Agreed. UT's D is young and very inexperienced. They're adept at stuffing the run on direct handoffs and rushing the QB when he does a straight drop back, but their secondary looks pitiful, and they got burned the few times ND did the zone read option. Clearly they are lacking at QB, as both of them looked awful against ND. However, as usual, they do have a corral of quality RBs and very strong special team players in both the kicking and return games. To beat UT, we're going to have to outscore them, and to do that we're going to have to be much more creative, varied aggressive in the passing game....and keep it up all game. I have no doubt UT will look to stuff the run, and have a full-time "spy" on DJ; they will force us to beat them through the air. I'd open the game with a close to spread-type offense, and attack them through the short, but efficient passing game, which would ensure DJ has enough time-- screens, slants, outs and hitting the TE over the middle.

The Horns will never overlook us in anything, because we are the only ones in the state that they can't bully with their reputation.

UT will always take any and every opportunity to kick sand in our faces. We'll always get their best, even if they don't need it to beat us.

(09-05-2015 09:20 PM)Wiessman Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:15 PM)Chef Owl Wrote:  I guess I should have specified. Is it good or bad for us next week?

Frankly, I think it is irrelevant. Our problem under Bailiff has been that we appear to get spooked by reputations, rankings, and hostile environments.

Regardless of the outcome today, Texas is still football royalty. We have to prove that we can actually show up for such an opponent for once, no matter the opposition's state of mind.

Based on what I've seen today, I will be done for good with Bailiff-led Rice if we get hammered next week.

It's nice to be reminded, on a day when Rice won by 40, how much David Bailiff has ruined some fans' lives.

(09-05-2015 09:45 PM)FresnoTXOwl Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:20 PM)Wiessman Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:15 PM)Chef Owl Wrote:  I guess I should have specified. Is it good or bad for us next week?

Frankly, I think it is irrelevant. Our problem under Bailiff has been that we appear to get spooked by reputations, rankings, and hostile environments.

Regardless of the outcome today, Texas is still football royalty. We have to prove that we can actually show up for such an opponent for once, no matter the opposition's state of mind.

Based on what I've seen today, I will be done for good with Bailiff-led Rice if we get hammered next week.

It's nice to be reminded, on a day when Rice won by 40, how much David Bailiff has ruined some fans' lives.

We have our best chance in years of making a game of it next week. At the very least, we need to be competitive, and not get embarrassed. I'd be VERY disappointed if we can't do that and, yes, I will plant to blame directly on Bailiff's shoulders. UT is a borderline Top 50 - 60 team at this point; nothing more, despite their talent level.

Texas looks vulnerable. Hope DB & co are all in on trying to get the W. I know DJ will be fighting for it.

(09-05-2015 09:51 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:45 PM)FresnoTXOwl Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:20 PM)Wiessman Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 09:15 PM)Chef Owl Wrote:  I guess I should have specified. Is it good or bad for us next week?

Frankly, I think it is irrelevant. Our problem under Bailiff has been that we appear to get spooked by reputations, rankings, and hostile environments.

Regardless of the outcome today, Texas is still football royalty. We have to prove that we can actually show up for such an opponent for once, no matter the opposition's state of mind.

Based on what I've seen today, I will be done for good with Bailiff-led Rice if we get hammered next week.

It's nice to be reminded, on a day when Rice won by 40, how much David Bailiff has ruined some fans' lives.

We have our best chance in years of making a game of it next week. At the very least, we need to be competitive, and not get embarrassed. I'd be VERY disappointed if we can't do that and, yes, I will plant to blame directly on Bailiff's shoulders. UT is a borderline Top 50 - 60 team at this point; nothing more, despite their talent level.

I absolutely agree with you. I feel like we should win, and at the very least should be competitive, and if we're not, Bailiff deserves at least much or most of the blame. But neither you nor I are making self-righteous declarations that we are DONE with a team or coach just 21 months after he helped bring us a conference championship.

Anyone who would be DONE with Coach Bailiff after any particular bad game has lost all perspective on what Rice football has been since the days of Jess Neely.

(09-05-2015 02:39 PM)Ranger Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 02:30 PM)seniorowl Wrote:  The conservative decision to not go on 4th down from the 38 and instead punt it into the end zone was absurd. Bailiff would be smart not to make that call this season.

That reminds me of the biggest boneheaded decision ever. The coach - our inimitable Bo Hagan. The year 1970. Our team was expected to make a bowl that year, at a time when there were only a handful of bowls and you did not get an invite for just being mediocre. It was anticipated that we would go 7-3, losing only to LSU, Ark, and UT. But Hagan managed to make the worst of a good situation. We were 2-4, playing Tech at home (In those days Tech meant Texas Tech, not La Tech.). We lost 3-0. But Hagan punted the ball from the Tech 30 or so yard line. Incredible. Down by three. I believe it was fourth and short. And we punt from somewhere around their 30. Gotta love the guy. He was fired after that game, and we won our last three to finish .500.

Hagan "resigned" -- effective at the end of the season -- after the next week's game at Arkansas, at which he led the Owls from a 14-3 halftime lead to a 38-14 loss.
(Source: November 12, 1970, Thresher, stories on pp. 1 & 3: https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/h...sequence=1 )

(09-05-2015 09:02 PM)Chef Owl Wrote:  Didn't the players also hate him and therefore played poorly on purpose?

The Page One article in the Thresher cited above included a statement by team's tri-captains (Bucky Allshouse, Roger Roitsch, and Brownie Wheless):

Quote:"All of us deeply regret the decision Coach Hagan has made to step down as head coach of football. He is a fine gentleman who has worked extremely hard, along with his staff, to help us become better athletes and good citizens. Certainly no one can fault Coach Hagan or his assistants for a great effort to build a strong program for the university and to try and have a winning team."

The captains believe that they have been prepared as well as possible, and noted that they have given maximum effort against strong opposition.