Today’s setback to the Pirates made many Rice fans Irate. We’re 1-5 again, fercrissakes!
Fret not, this is the 20th anniversary season of the last* time we started 1-5. We then proceeded to go on a six game win streak to earn our first bowl berth ever** and went on to become the juggernaut we are today!
Back then (a simpler time) we NEEDED all six wins to qualify. Anything less and we’d be staying home.
These days, with the APR rules, we really only need to finish 4-2 (5-7 overall) and sneak in the back door via APR qualification.
We’ll keep track on this thread as long as we have a path to bowl eligibility, whether the old fashioned way, or by the APR route.
First, the real old fashioned way: the winner of the SWC used to earn a Cotton Bowl berth (as long as the league didn’t f up the tiebreaker). Unfortunately the SWC no longer exists and even if it did, there is no longer a tie-in with the Cotton Bowl.
Another old fashioned way: win the last 6 to finish 7-5. That would clinch a bowl berth for the Owls, thus Rice still controls its own destiny!
6-6 would also be likely to qualify Rice. I think the American has enough tie-ins that even if there were say more 6-win teams than berths available, that Rice would still make the cut. American >> all the other G6 leagues ((especially if you’re asking ESPN who controls the bowl selection process)). They’ve also been known to create new bowls out of thin air last minute if it looks like a 6-win team might be left out. Still, it’s not a rock solid lock.
5-7 is sketchy. Even though we’ve been here before. But we’re a little further down the APR list than normal this year. And…. Some early projections have suggested that there will be fewer APR bids this year than usual. Still, at #44 that could put us top three among 5-win teams when it comes time for bowl bids. And even I don’t expect another 6-0 regular season finish flourish. 4-2 sure. Maybe even 5-1. 6-0 would be a bit of a stretch.
Only two AMERICAN teams are ahead of us, and they both played each other today. Army(3-2) beat Tulane (2-3) 20-17, and those do look like a couple of teams who could wind up in the 5-7/6-6 convo. I like to root for conference mates, but I sure hope they don’t “steal” our spot. We also finish with those two (sandwiching 2-4 Temple) so we’ll have our opportunity to hand each of those mates another L if we can solve some of our own issues…
33. Army 984
38. Tulane 983
T44 Rice
Latest APR (2024-2025): 981
Last Year’s APR Ranking: 19
APR (2023-2024): 988
Source:
https://collegefootballnews.com/college-...e-football
(A site with lots of ads)
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Footnotes:
*It’s not really the last time we started 1-5. Silly, we do that all the time!
2018 (2-10)
2017 (1-11)
2012 (7-6, Armed Forces Bowl Champs)
2010 (4-8, Bayou Bucket Champs)
2007 (3-9, beat defndng champ USM & Mayors Cup)
2006 (7-6, western division runner up, New Orl Bowl)
2003 (5-7, won 4 of our last five games by an average score of 47-22)
2000 (3-8, Bayou Bucket and Mayors Cup champs)
1983-4 (1-10, my sophomore and junior years)
Six of the last 8 times we’ve started 1-5, something good has come out of the season.
**not really “ever”, just ever in my lifetime. And I’m kind of old.
