I graduated in 1972. Therefore, I was at Rice for the 1968-71 football seasons. I was reflecting on the trajectory of the athletic department, and the football team in particular, over the last 40 years.

I realize that 40 years is a long time, and that this might be a horse that has been beaten to death.

I write this to consider how the three doormats of the SWC at the time, A&M, Baylor, and TCU have separated themselves from us.


1968-71 was considered an awful period in Rice football. I n 1968, we had our first winless season, 0-9-1. Over the four seasons, we won only 11 games. Yet during that period, we had the following records against other SWC teams.

UT 0-4
Ark 0-3-1
SMU 0-4
TT 1-3
TCU 1- 3
A&M 2-2
Baylor 3- 1

And many of our losses were competitive.

I don't think we would do so well against Baylor, A&M, and TCU today.


Another dismal thought.

I watched the SMU Tech game last night. Tech was led by a pretty good QB who was a true freshman walk on. If I heard the announcers correctly, he had scholarship offers from Rice and Wash St, but preferred to walk on at Tech. Pretty sad that someone would rather be a walk on elsewhere than get a scholarship to Rice. I suppose the thought of playing against teams like OU and UT is simply more gratifying than playing teams like Old Dominion and Western Kentucky.