(09-27-2020 09:50 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(09-27-2020 02:58 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Heard some cowbells today. Last time I heard 'em was in Memphis at the beginning of a long decline for our program. The air was dun raided today.

I guess we differ on when exactly was the beginning of a long decline. I think the decline started in the early 60’s, when we failed to adjust to changes in the football world, changes in the rules and changes in the world at large. Our ‘61 team was the last to go to a bowl until ‘06.

If you think of our program as a series of ups and downs, certainly that Liberty Bowl was the first step in the last downward slope, but to define that as the beginning of the decline is to tacitly admit we were at something of a peak until then.

I agree that game was a nightmare in many ways, the #$&#@%#$* cowbells maybe the least. Oddly, I had ridden a bus to the game, loaded with MSU fans, and their behavior on the way back was human and respectful, which has left me as a bit of a fan for MSU.

Respectfully, I have seen the decline of Rice. It has dominated my life. I am older than seven.

Agree, OO.

But the Owls' 10-3 season in 2013 (before being pummeled in "the most one-sided AutoZone Liberty Bowl victory in the game's 55-year history") is surely one of the several local maxima to be celebrated along the decades-long slide.