Not surprising since Leebron will be gone next year finally

(09-12-2021 11:59 AM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  I’ve been told that barring something like a winless season, it’s a 100% certainty that Bloomgren will be back in 2022.

He’s the AD’s guy. He’s executing the AD’s vision for the program. He’s running the Stanford system, recruiting nationwide, and respecting the academic side of things. They are falling back on the Marshall win as “proof” that the results will come, pointing to McCaffrey as the future, and using the 2020 covid year as a lost year that really doesn’t count. So this is essentially year 3 instead of 4 in their eyes. They’re hoping for 6-6 and a bowl game this year but a 3 or 4 win season won’t rock the boat.

That’s why you see Bloomgren in a rather good mood in the postgame even after getting his butt kicked. There’s not a sense of urgency. The AD’s job is safe and thus so is Bloomgren’s.

(09-12-2021 04:44 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I remember Rice-TexasU or Rice-LSU at HRS with the stadium full and high school bleachers on the concourses in the end zones to catch the overflow. We've gone from that to this. Think about it.

I was there too. I remember being disappointed if LSU or A&M "only" drew 60k

(09-12-2021 11:11 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Probably much easier to blame Rice and things around Rice (vs. himself/staff) for this situation given his high confidence in his knowledge about the game (i.e., my stuff worked at other places, doesn't work here..must be the place, not the person/system).

It is the place. But Rice is the place where he is now, and the place where it is currently his job somehow to make things work.

Instead of saying, "I know my stuff works, because it has other places, so it must be Rice," he needs to ask, "What is it about Rice that keeps my stuff from working, and how do I need to change my stuff to make it work at Rice."

He is actually tantalizingly close in some areas. Defense is significantly improved, and until last Saturday special teams were as well. If the formula is sound defense plus win the kicking game plus effective offense, he is basically 2/3 of the way there. But he can't get there when the offense is this godawful. Look at what was clearly the high point of his tenure--beating ranked Marshall at their place. His first choices at QB were out, so he had to go with a running QB that didn't really fit the "pound the rock" and pocket passing combination. We cut the playbook down, focused on executing what our QB could do, and won. I think many on here would have been bored to tears with the Marshall offensive game plan, but I think most of us would take the results.

Hint hint.

Maybe our QB problems are that his system requires the kind of QB that we have a hard time recruiting. And maybe that can't be band-aided by taking the flavor of the year transfer. Just like his system requires the kind of o-linemen that we have a hard time recruiting. Maybe what he needs to do is to say, "This is what we can recruit. What kind of offense can we run with that collection of talent?"

(09-12-2021 11:59 AM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  That’s why you see Bloomgren in a rather good mood in the postgame even after getting his butt kicked. There’s not a sense of urgency. The AD’s job is safe and thus so is Bloomgren’s.

Rice's timing has been uncanny.

Right before the last major shift of the tectonic plates of intercollegiate athletics, in 2012-13, we spent the 2009-2011 football seasons going 2-10, 4-8, 4-8, and that era was very much characterized by a lack of urgency. Now the next major shift is imminent in 2024, if not before, and we have spent the last five years going 3-9, 1-11, 2-11, 3-9, 2-3, again without a sense of urgency.

Make something happen or get left behind. Urgency is the rule of the day. And we're playing Ethelred the Unready.

We can only hope the new President will see the value of a strong Athletic program and make the changes necessary. I’m not hopeful, but I see that as the only path out of the current mess.

BTW - Caught the end of the Astros game on ATTSportsSW after the VB match on Sunday. Pres. Leebron and his wife were in the third row in an indoor stadium with no mask. Those of us at the VB match at Tudor were required to wear a mask around 1000s fewer people. Anyone else find this a tad hypocritical? I guess the Rice campus is more dangerous than MMP?

The game was horrible. No way to mince words. The atmosphere was poor, but not the worst I've seen at HRS by far.

Concessions were a joke. I've advocated for calling in food trucks for years. If someone runs out of food, they leave and you bring in another truck. Ridiculous. The problem with concessions at HRS is you can't cook there... not enough power... SO YOU BRING IN PROPANE!! This isn't rocket science. If you want to MAKE it rocket science, how about we build or buy some batteries?? The damn things would get used for about 4 hours, 6 times a year. Put them on a cart so you can take them to the track or Reckling. This is a joke.

The bathrooms are fine. they're not plush, but they're fine. They managed the crowd. ETA, I understand the upper deck is still bad... but there were only about 3,000 people there. It wasn't a 'capacity' issue I don't think. It's a 'ADA issue'.

We have some maintenance issues, but not insurmountable. We need to stop making excuses.

It seems to me that the ADs office and the HC are very good operators... they know what they're doing and know how to get certain things done. What they don't know how to do is 'do more with less'. Someone like Bloom (much like Bailiff it seems) might be great as an HC, but he needs to be out of the play calling business. Someone like JK might be great at running the department ( i think he likely really is) and pressing flesh with the right people, but he needs to let someone else direct (especially) football.

We need someone with balls directing football. We need someone who doesn't make excuses and does more with less. If we need to play 3 money games a year, fine.... recruit guys who want to do that. Recruit guys with a chip on their shoulders and then scheme to beat them. The HELL with CUSA or whatever other league. If you can scheme to beat Arkansas and UH and UT, UAB et al will be a cake walk. If we're going down, let's go down swinging.

The ONE think I saw I liked out of McCaffery is that he is an improviser... so let's do that. Roll-outs... RPOs... Quick plays and if its not there, tuck and run.... and then, yeah... when they start spying you or cramming the box, you loft it and play 'go get it'. He has enough arm to do that in the right situations...

Looks like the opening line is Texas -26

Texas just switched up QB's - they're benching Card in favor of Thompson.

(09-13-2021 01:23 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Texas just switched up QB's - they're benching Card in favor of Thompson.

Paraphrasing Sark - a week when you are playing a cupcake is a good week to give the other guy a chance to show what he's got.

(09-12-2021 11:59 AM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  I’ve been told that barring something like a winless season, it’s a 100% certainty that Bloomgren will be back in 2022.

He’s the AD’s guy. He’s executing the AD’s vision for the program. He’s running the Stanford system, recruiting nationwide, and respecting the academic side of things. They are falling back on the Marshall win as “proof” that the results will come, pointing to McCaffrey as the future, and using the 2020 covid year as a lost year that really doesn’t count. So this is essentially year 3 instead of 4 in their eyes. They’re hoping for 6-6 and a bowl game this year but a 3 or 4 win season won’t rock the boat.

That’s why you see Bloomgren in a rather good mood in the postgame even after getting his butt kicked. There’s not a sense of urgency. The AD’s job is safe and thus so is Bloomgren’s.

What happened to the FIRE IN THE BELLY ATTITUDE that Rice showed in the Arkansas game? This was Rice's first home game, and my brother and I did not see the same enthusiasm and fervor in the team that was exemplified in the Arkansas game. Rice looked sluggish out there. This is a Coach's responsibility to get their team psychologically ready to play the game!! Get that FIRE IN THE BELLY ATTITUDE! Rice needs that throughout the rest of the year!

(09-13-2021 01:20 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Looks like the opening line is Texas -26

With Carroll, Pitre, Rozner out and possibly Chamberlain, others?
And no Collins at QB...
And another 95 degree game, with no comparable depth...
And Texas mad and humbled (i.e. determined)...
EASY money if you take Texas.
31-0 halftime.
59-0 final.

Then we lick our wounds and better start winning.

7 pm start in Austin won't be 95 degrees. And I didn't think any of the injuries from this past Saturday were that significant (but that's just speculation on my part).

I still think our defense can keep Rice in most games if they're playing inspired ball and sticking to their assignments. We missed a few assignments early Saturday against Houston that were unfortunate, but they played okay in the middle part of the game. The turnovers and short fields probably got them a bit deflated at the end.

The rest of your speculation is probably close to accurate.

(09-13-2021 12:58 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  The game was horrible. No way to mince words. The atmosphere was poor, but not the worst I've seen at HRS by far.

Concessions were a joke. I've advocated for calling in food trucks for years. If someone runs out of food, they leave and you bring in another truck. Ridiculous. The problem with concessions at HRS is you can't cook there... not enough power... SO YOU BRING IN PROPANE!! This isn't rocket science. If you want to MAKE it rocket science, how about we build or buy some batteries?? The damn things would get used for about 4 hours, 6 times a year. Put them on a cart so you can take them to the track or Reckling. This is a joke.

We have some maintenance issues, but not insurmountable. We need to stop making excuses.

We need someone with balls directing football. We need someone who doesn't make excuses and does more with less. If we need to play 3 money games a year, fine.... recruit guys who want to do that. Recruit guys with a chip on their shoulders and then scheme to beat them. The HELL with CUSA or whatever other league. If you can scheme to beat Arkansas and UH and UT, UAB et al will be a cake walk. If we're going down, let's go down swinging.

The ONE think I saw I liked out of McCaffery is that he is an improviser... so let's do that. Roll-outs... RPOs... Quick plays and if its not there, tuck and run.... and then, yeah... when they start spying you or cramming the box, you loft it and play 'go get it'. He has enough arm to do that in the right situations...

Agree with all this.
McCaffrey obviously has some talent that we haven't seen at that position, but it also looks like he's still very young. Personally, I'd love to see JJ and McMahon play -- but not in Austin. Green again there I think, if for nothing more than his steady influence. (did McCaffrey's start affect team morale??)

If I were an AAC commissioner, and I saw that spectacle at HRS Saturday, that'd pretty much do it for me I'm afraid. We can't will the team to win; we can't make recruits enroll; we can't make fans and students show up; we're apparently unable to stimulate the creation of a band --- but it's infuriating really to see things like concession inadequacies go unaddressed year after year. At least fix the easy stuff!!
The embarrassing gameday atmosphere is our #1 obstacle, IMO.

(09-13-2021 03:35 PM)Barney Wrote:  

(09-13-2021 01:20 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Looks like the opening line is Texas -26

With Carroll, Pitre, Rozner out and possibly Chamberlain, others?
And no Collins at QB...
And another 95 degree game, with no comparable depth...
And Texas mad and humbled (i.e. determined)...
EASY money if you take Texas.
31-0 halftime.
59-0 final.

Then we lick our wounds and better start winning.

I think the "0" is quite possible, but the 59 is more likely to be around 38. Texas is going to try reestablishing their running attack, and Rice's defense generally does a pretty good job with that. So, I think the old Rice chant of "Go clock go!" will be appropriate.

(09-12-2021 06:38 AM)franklyconfused Wrote:  It also looks like Bloomgren completely lost the locker room. I believe only the captains stayed on the field for the school song. The entire rest of the team immediately started for the field house as soon as the ref finished explaining that there would be no try for the last-second interception TD...

The post-game is as scripted as the rest of the game, but UH didn't play along, as I'm interpreting it.
The MOB is supposed to get to play the "Fight Song" immediately after the game, and then follows with "Rice's Honor".
The team is usually lined up in front of the students as we play.
This time, the two teams visited each other on the field, and while they did the 50-or-so students that hung around for the end of the game salute dwindled to about a dozen.
In the meantime, the UH band played their fight song and alma mater, out of turn.
The MOB is a relatively polite band, when it comes to playing over our guests. We didn't.
When the Cougar band finally finished, we played "Rice's Honor" to five players, a dozen students, and the cheerleaders.
Can we penalize the Cougars band for playing out of order?
Maybe send them a stern letter.

Aside from the students bailing, this looked to me like a communications problem.
The team may have been told how things should go, but things weren't going that way.
The team captains (if that, as you say, is who they were) were already positioned the farthest from the ramp back to Patterson, in front of the student section.
This didn't allow said captains to encourage their teammates to hang around.

I'm glad the captains did.
I'm glad the dozen students did.
There is still a glimmer of school spirit at Rice.

That the majority of students in attendance departed early is a reflection of their school spirit, or lack of it.
That is a sad thing.

When you just got beaten 44-7, it's hard to want to hang around.

(09-13-2021 04:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  When you just got beaten 44-7, it's hard to want to hang around.

I can see that, but these were the people that hung around to support them, regardless of the score.

Maybe Bloomgren and Rice should try this approach?

https://sports.yahoo.com/portland-states...07662.html

Or they could just run an offense that generates some interest.

(09-16-2021 02:38 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Maybe Bloomgren and Rice should try this approach?

https://sports.yahoo.com/portland-states...07662.html

Or they could just run an offense that generates some interest.

or points.

if rice ran the belly series or the single wing and won, i am convinced no-one would want "exciting offense". I loved the 97 wishbone team with Chad Nelson, Michael Perry and Benji Wood