http://www.philsteele.com/Blogs/2013/MAY13/DBMay24.html

7 guys on the 1st 3 teams of the defense is kind of neat (and highly unusual for Rice). I do think there should be a few more 1st-teamers, and I think a few guys are under-appreciated (like Jordan Taylor). But all in all, I guess you can't complain too much.

As someone pointed out over on the conference board, Chris Boswell would probably not be 2nd team in any other conference (and obviously we wouldn't trade him for any other kicker in the country).

Two linemen on the second team offense and one on the third.

Lets hope these defensive predictions come true. Maybe we see a similar jump this year in performance and have a defense we are actually proud of as compared to the rest of the country.

Interesting fun facts..

Offense/Defense/ST/Total

First Tier
ECU 7/7/3/17
Marshall 8/7/1/16
Rice 5/7/1/13
Tulsa 6/4/2/12

Second Tier
Tulane 3/4/2/9
North Texas 4/3/0/7
La Tech 2/3/1/6
USM 0/5/0/5
FIU 2/2/1/5
UAB 3/0/2/5
FAU 2/2/0/4
UTEP 2/1/1/4
UTSA 1/2/1/4

Pretty Amazing that Marshall has 8 players from 11 projected starters on offense and 7 of 11 on D while ECU has 7 and 7 respectfully. Looks to be a long year for many in C-USA. Just does not appear to be much talent after the top-four teams. If our Top 95 D can put 7 of its starters on this list, that should say something about the quality of D overall in C-USA.

Take w/ a grain of salt as I'm sure while Phil Steele is a good pundit that he has had much time to scout end-to-end each team and players.

(05-25-2013 06:42 PM)owl40 Wrote:  Interesting fun facts..
Offense/Defense/ST/Total
First Tier
ECU 7/7/3/17
Marshall 8/7/1/16
Rice 5/7/1/13
Tulsa 6/4/2/12
Second Tier
Tulane 3/4/2/9
North Texas 4/3/0/7
La Tech 2/3/1/6
USM 0/5/0/5
FIU 2/2/1/5h
UAB 3/0/2/5
FAU 2/2/0/4
UTEP 2/1/1/4
UTSA 1/2/1/4
Pretty Amazing that Marshall has 8 players from 11 projected starters on offense and 7 of 11 on D while ECU has 7 and 7 respectfully. Looks to be a long year for many in C-USA. Just does not appear to be much talent after the top-four teams. If our Top 95 D can put 7 of its starters on this list, that should say something about the quality of D overall in C-USA.
Take w/ a grain of salt as I'm sure while Phil Steele is a good pundit that he has had much time to scout end-to-end each team and players.

This is as much as anything why the prospect of three moneybags or "body bag" or whatever you want to call them doesn't scare me. We are going to play 8 conference games a year against a collection of the little sisters of the poor. We need to play our OOC games against a very strong schedule in order to impress anyone. I realize that going 0-3 against LSU, aTm, and Alabama wouldn't impress anyone, but playing competitively in those games is going to earn more respect than beating La-Monroe or NMSU, and it will make us a lot more money. And I would plan to use the money in ways that would make us a lot more competitive in those games and within 5-10 years start winning them.