(07-28-2019 10:09 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-28-2019 08:39 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(07-28-2019 04:39 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-28-2019 12:34 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(07-26-2019 09:51 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  I'm ready for some football. Just not sure I'm ready for some Rice football...

I'll be getting together again with some Army friends to watch the carnage together. Last time it was over before a few got to the sports bar. Hope we can last a bit longer this time.

I just hope (and expect) that we will do better than UH (70-14).

How is it that Army (and until last year, Navy) can put together programs that achieve such levels of success, when Rice can't come close?

Most of their athletes are not people that we would have recruited. Remember, 10 years ago Navy beat Rice 63-14 with a number of players on their team from Texas, none of whom we recruited. They have very similar academic requirements plus the burden of a military commitment after graduation (which is getting watered down, but is still there). They are not located in football recruiting hotbeds anything like Texas in general and the Houston area in particular. So how do they do it?

I think that a serious and detailed study of what they do and how they do it would be useful in order to determine any "best practices" that Rice could adopt. We clearly need to do something differently. Maybe "pound the rock" will work. I hope so.

Seems to me that we recruit against the academies all the time, at least most of our commits show offers or interest from the academies.

I understand that prep schools sponsored by the academies have an influence.

Or maybe the academies just get the most committed players.

Or maybe we need to go back to the Hatfield attack.

FFS. It's not about Xs and Os nor is it about talent. How is this not plain, after all this time? The academies have a clear identity and a clear mission (including all-important rivalries) for their whole institution to rally around and buy into. We don't. We pissed ours away.

What's the all-important goal for Rice football? Winning CUSA?