(11-30-2015 09:26 PM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 09:25 PM)Orange County Owl Wrote:  From AP college football writer Ralph Russo on Twitter.

"Rice spokesman said the school is unsure if it would accept a bowl bid."

https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP/with_replies

I hope it's not about budget and cost (but probably is).

Maybe.

I typically agree with the "always take the bid for the practice time" line of thinking - and I think I still do - but we will probably get some really bad PR from this. There would be little doubt that we will quantitatively be the worst bowl team in (at least recent) history and the poster child for too many bowls.

Not saying we shouldn't accept ... but I do think there is some downside.

(11-30-2015 08:48 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  It would be truly embarrassing if we were selected and we accepted. And, yes, embarrassing is the appropriate word. Yeah, I get the benefit of the addition 3+ weeks of practice time and all, but how do we even remotely deserve to be in a bowl game when our best victory was a squeeker against a sub-105 ranked, 3-9 opponent. I'm willing to bet no other 5-win team has anywhere near the low combined win total of our 5 victims.

How would it be embarrassing for us? If anything it's embarrassing for the bowl organizers and the system overall. There is no reason for the players to be embarrassed about accepting a bowl invitation and we need the extra practice. If we keep going to bowls no one will remember one of our 7 in a row was a 6-7 year (with the bowl win assumed )

(11-30-2015 09:31 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 08:48 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  It would be truly embarrassing if we were selected and we accepted. And, yes, embarrassing is the appropriate word. Yeah, I get the benefit of the addition 3+ weeks of practice time and all, but how do we even remotely deserve to be in a bowl game when our best victory was a squeeker against a sub-105 ranked, 3-9 opponent. I'm willing to bet no other 5-win team has anywhere near the low combined win total of our 5 victims.

How would it be embarrassing for us? If anything it's embarrassing for the bowl organizers and the system overall. There is no reason for the players to be embarrassed about accepting a bowl invitation and we need the extra practice. If we keep going to bowls no one will remember one of our 7 in a row was a 6-7 year (with the bowl win assumed )

It will be embarrassing for us if we get blown out. But that's a risk we should take, in order to get the extra practice time and to send the seniors out with a bowl game.

If we are in a "bad" bowl, we will be playing another weak team. We will be unlikely to be blown out.

You have a ton of young guys who need the extra practice plus seniors that you want to send out with four straight bowl games. Although it would be the poster child example to the broader CFB world about the macro point of too many bowl games, Rice definitely takes the opportunity if it is lucky enough to get it. Sure there is a quick analysis on the financials but should be a no brainer.

The negative publicity isn't worth the extra practice time. Everyone will know that we're playing in a bowl with a losing record. Think about how much that hurts perception. The bowl streak needs to come to an end at 3. Losing teams don't belong in bowl games and it would be embarrassing to accept an invitation. Say no. Let a couple of these bowl games die off and lets get ready for next season.

(11-30-2015 09:41 PM)jhruzek Wrote:  If we are in a "bad" bowl, we will be playing another weak team. We will be unlikely to be blown out.

We lost to UTEP and UTSA. God forbid we face a team with a winning record.

As for embarrassing - a loss would be embarrassing to the University much like this season is. We already play schools no one has heard of. Then we get stomped by directional U. It's detrimental to the mission of excellence the university has elsewhere.

Football is and always has been broader than the team and program. It's an ambassador of the Rice Brand. That's the paramount consideration - not the program, not the bowl streak, not the practice time. How does action x affect Rice University - if the answer is not positive, then walk away

(11-30-2015 09:41 PM)jhruzek Wrote:  If we are in a "bad" bowl, we will be playing another weak team. We will be unlikely to be blown out.

??? And you rationalize this how? Highly unlikely we'd be playing a team ranked worse than 80 - 85. That would not be a great team, but one certainly capable of blowing us out Keep in mind that #110 ranked UTSA pretty much blew us out toward the end of our game, and the score margin could have easily been much worse than 10. You do realize who our wins came against this year, right...and their combined record was only 9 - 51?

(11-30-2015 10:11 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  The negative publicity isn't worth the extra practice time. Everyone will know that we're playing in a bowl with a losing record. Think about how much that hurts perception. The bowl streak needs to come to an end at 3. Losing teams don't belong in bowl games and it would be embarrassing to accept an invitation. Say no. Let a couple of these bowl games die off and lets get ready for next season.

It's not so much the losing 5 - 7 record so much, as who we beat (5 teams all ranked outside the Top 100, with a combined 9 - 51 record), and how poorly we played against any team with a pulse. We would very likely be the absolute worst team ever selected to go bowling.

(11-30-2015 10:22 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 10:11 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  The negative publicity isn't worth the extra practice time. Everyone will know that we're playing in a bowl with a losing record. Think about how much that hurts perception. The bowl streak needs to come to an end at 3. Losing teams don't belong in bowl games and it would be embarrassing to accept an invitation. Say no. Let a couple of these bowl games die off and lets get ready for next season.

It's not so much the losing 5 - 7 record so much, as who we beat (5 teams all ranked outside the Top 100, with a combined 9 - 51 record), and how poorly we played against any team with a pulse. We would very likely be the absolute worst team ever selected to go bowling.

It has been a terrible season that needs to end. Period. I hope we get out in front of this and announce that we won't be accepting any bowl invitations. There's too much to be done to get ready for next season. Lets suck it up and move on.

(11-30-2015 10:18 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 09:41 PM)jhruzek Wrote:  If we are in a "bad" bowl, we will be playing another weak team. We will be unlikely to be blown out.

??? And you rationalize this how? Highly unlikely we'd be playing a team ranked worse than 80 - 85. That would not be a great team, but one certainly capable of blowing us out Keep in mind that #110 ranked UTSA pretty much blew us out toward the end of our game, and the score margin could have easily been much worse than 10. You do realize who our wins came against this year, right...and their combined record was only 9 - 51?

I would like to think we learned something about our offense in the second half of the game.

(11-30-2015 10:39 PM)jhruzek Wrote:  I would like to think we learned something about our offense in the second half of the game.

Is that good or bad?

I think this will be more telling about Conference USA's ability to work with its bowl partners to get its only available team on the list into a bowl.

Personally the season has been rough but a bowl game gives you several weeks worth of practice to prepare for the game. It would be a crucial opportunity for growth moving forward. To those worried about the image of the game, I think Bob and ESPN have us a shot in the PR arm. If the powerful Nebraska is willing to go at 5-7 it seems weird for Rice to turn down a bowl bid after living through a decades long drought.

(11-30-2015 09:25 PM)Orange County Owl Wrote:  From AP college football writer Ralph Russo on Twitter.

"Rice spokesman said the school is unsure if it would accept a bowl bid."

https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP/with_replies

I love how everyone on this site is so willing to blame the coaches or administrators (and occasionally, some players), but never themselves. Maybe we don't want to go because we're thinking no one will go to the game?

(11-30-2015 10:55 PM)WTXOwl Wrote:  I think this will be more telling about Conference USA's ability to work with its bowl partners to get its only available team on the list into a bowl.

Personally the season has been rough but a bowl game gives you several weeks worth of practice to prepare for the game. It would be a crucial opportunity for growth moving forward. To those worried about the image of the game, I think Bob and ESPN have us a shot in the PR arm. If the powerful Nebraska is willing to go at 5-7 it seems weird for Rice to turn down a bowl bid after living through a decades long drought.

Please don't tell me you're comparing Nebraska's 5-7 record to Rice's?

(11-30-2015 11:00 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 09:25 PM)Orange County Owl Wrote:  From AP college football writer Ralph Russo on Twitter.

"Rice spokesman said the school is unsure if it would accept a bowl bid."

https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP/with_replies

I love how everyone on this site is so willing to blame the coaches or administrators (and occasionally, some players), but never themselves. Maybe we don't want to go because we're thinking no one will go to the game?

I held off on booking my trip to Singapore earlier this year due to the possibility of a bowl game. I'll admit, I'm not going now even if we do get one.

And I doubt I'll be watching it from 9000 miles away. I used to fly down to Houston 4+ times a year to watch us play. I'll accept whatever blame we wish to cast on previously die hard fans who are tired of this 9 year road to nowhere.

I think it depends who we would play. A P5 team would be no brainer.

(11-30-2015 11:00 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 10:55 PM)WTXOwl Wrote:  I think this will be more telling about Conference USA's ability to work with its bowl partners to get its only available team on the list into a bowl.

Personally the season has been rough but a bowl game gives you several weeks worth of practice to prepare for the game. It would be a crucial opportunity for growth moving forward. To those worried about the image of the game, I think Bob and ESPN have us a shot in the PR arm. If the powerful Nebraska is willing to go at 5-7 it seems weird for Rice to turn down a bowl bid after living through a decades long drought.

Please don't tell me you're comparing Nebraska's 5-7 record to Rice's?

I'm not sure people really realize how quantitatively bad we are right now (other than Walt and Antarius).

You can obviously pick and choose different sets of power rankings, but this game simulation site has us ranked at #126 (out of #128).

http://predictionmachine.com/Team-Rankings

I'm beginning to agree with Walt here. I think we call it a year. This is just such a far cry from recent years that I think it's time to put a bow on the season.

Rice being "unsure" about whether to accept a bowl bid says to me that the coaching decision is not yet finalized.

(11-30-2015 10:22 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-30-2015 10:11 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  The negative publicity isn't worth the extra practice time. Everyone will know that we're playing in a bowl with a losing record. Think about how much that hurts perception. The bowl streak needs to come to an end at 3. Losing teams don't belong in bowl games and it would be embarrassing to accept an invitation. Say no. Let a couple of these bowl games die off and lets get ready for next season.

It's not so much the losing 5 - 7 record so much, as who we beat (5 teams all ranked outside the Top 100, with a combined 9 - 51 record), and how poorly we played against any team with a pulse. We would very likely be the absolute worst team ever selected to go bowling.

I get you Walt, but here's the deal. No one here can tell you who the worst team to go to a bowl has been over the last 5 years. Probably a 6-5 MAC team, who knows? The point is that once the game is over and we're into recruiting season, and even more so the recruiting seasons to follow, the only thing that will be remembered is the number of bowls we've been to.

that and the extra practice our guys would be getting. Improvement is all about getting more reps (and off-season conditioning).

We should take advantage of every thing we have. If it's a gift horse we might not deserve, take it anyway.

No one felt badly for us in 1996-97 or 2001 when we were sitting at home.