(09-13-2017 01:15 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(09-12-2017 09:21 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  An ideal Rice independent schedule would have a few from each of these:
- 8 former SWC schools
- Independents
- Elite private schools/military academies: Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Tulsa, Navy, Air Force
- Other schools in Texas: UTEP, North Texas, UTSA, Texas State
- FCS game
- Payday game against an Ohio State or other big spender
- A few others from across the country to fill it out

Note that most of these bullet points are fluff ... Rice already has three of the four schools listed in "other schools in Texas" in its conference schedule, can already have an FCS game, and can get paid to get beat up by a big spender now. "Independents" is not aspiration in it's own right, it's a way to reduce the loss of access to home games later in the season ... except of course for the one independent that everyone wants to play, who can be slotted into one of the other bullet points. And CUSA does just fine as far as "a few others from across the country to fill it out". Really, just two bullet points here represent the aspiration:

Quote: - 8 former SWC schools
- Elite private schools/military academies: [Notre Dame,] Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Tulsa, Navy, Air Force

Rice is not magically going to be attractive for home and away contracts with P5 schools just because it goes independent, so a lot of the schools in this wish list really slot into the one buy game spot in the schedule. Texas, TAMU, TCU, TexasTech, Arkansas, Baylor, Notre Dame, Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, Northwestern, Stanford and Vanderbilt are all rivals for the same single buy game spot ... or two buy game spots if Rice decided to go that way, but being independent doesn't really expand on that.

It's just Houston, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, Navy, and Air Force.

It's not like an independent Rice is going to have annual series with each of those schools. And if they want to play Rice on a fairly frequent basis, Rice can play one or two of them a year from inside Conference USA ... which is not too far off what they would get as an independent.

So I reckon there is less to this notion than it might appear at first blush.

Fair points overall. I would disagree that those private schools would be able to command a road-only or a 2-for-1 from Rice. Duke, Wake, and BC have infamously weak he attendance. BC has done home and homes with NMSU and Idaho this decade. The other schools already play home-and-home series with Rice, Tulane, and other G5 private schools and military academies. Would they fit into a schedule? That's debatable. I do think, though, with NMSU and Liberty's success in getting solid schedules as independents would indicate Rice might be able to do the same.

I agree that Rice would have a really hard time ever expecting to get Texas, A&M, or Tech to come to Rice stadium, except maybe in a two for one or three for one. NRG Stadium probably would be the only way to get them to come to Houston in a one-for-one.