http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/07/25...re-likely/

Good article. I like the pick for Conference USA champs

Dilemma!!

Not sure if good news or just Fox News.

UTEP second in the West is a bold prediction, too.

I don't care where we're picked--just win.

It's actually a syndicated "Sports Network" article posted on the FoxNews website http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnfo...id=4611700

(07-30-2013 02:49 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  It's actually a syndicated "Sports Network" article posted on the FoxNews website http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnfo...id=4611700

I don't care where it is posted. I still like this guy's prediction!!

(07-30-2013 12:56 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  UTEP second in the West is a bold prediction, too.

No way with them with 5 out of 6 games on the road to close the season.
http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/conf-...hedule.php

This is the first time in my memory that we've ever been picked by anyone to win a conference in football. Whatever the writer is smoking or drinking, I'd like some of it!

(08-01-2013 11:19 AM)NolaOwl Wrote:  This is the first time in my memory that we've ever been picked by anyone to win a conference in football. Whatever the writer is smoking or drinking, I'd like some of it!

And actually there are two other sources that pick Rice to win the West

First time in 50 years that I can remember any outsiders picking us.

(08-01-2013 06:23 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  First time in 50 years that I can remember any outsiders picking us.

Does this mean that if you lower the level of competition far enough, you can be the favorite in anything?

(08-01-2013 09:05 PM)Seventyniner Wrote:  

(08-01-2013 06:23 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  First time in 50 years that I can remember any outsiders picking us.

Does this mean that if you lower the level of competition far enough, you can be the favorite in anything?

I guess you could say that, if that is the way you want to view things. Glass half empty?

But getting back to 1949 starts with beating the ones we play now and working out way back up. You can wish we were in the Royal Division of the Great Exalted Conference, where we belong by reason of our heritage, but the facts are, we must start from where we are, not where we think we should have been. Where we are is CUSA, and the choices are to win it or not to win it. I am pleased that there are a significant number of people who do not fly the Old English R outside their house that have confidence in us.

The last time I remember Rice being picked by so many nonRice people to win whatever league we were in, I was in high school. Maybe, back in the WAC, we were picked by a few - but I don't remember it that way. I am now 68.

I like this, I like having high expectations to live up to, and hope to see it continue. Wishing we were not where we are is not the reality we have to deal with.

Having high expections is step one in shedding our public image for a new one. Step two is meeting those experctations. Step three is repeating One and Two.

All the money from all those rent-an-opponent games won't matter much if at some point we don't start winning.

Maybe we are just talking about being the big fish in a small pond, but (a) it's the only pond we have, and (b) didn't TCU get into their big pond by dominating a small one?

(08-01-2013 09:05 PM)Seventyniner Wrote:  

(08-01-2013 06:23 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  First time in 50 years that I can remember any outsiders picking us.

Does this mean that if you lower the level of competition far enough, you can be the favorite in anything?

Well this could be a version of what TCU did initially. The Frogs constantly beat the drums about their winning even while they were in a weak conference they kept hammering home the idea and people began to believe they were better than the Rice's, SMU's, UH's, etc. The trick though is you have to win. If we could string 4-5 "good" winning seasons (not 7-6) go to Bowls and win then we would be perceived as a program on the upside. Remember TCU's "signature win" in the 1998 Sun Bowl? Even though they were only 6-5 in the MWC and USC was a really bad team (for USC and they really didn't want to be there) TCU touted the win big time. I see the win in Fort Worth last December in a similar vein (that was not a good AFA team) and I think you see with the recruiting that we are using it somewhat like TCU did.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/01/sports...ctory.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/footbal.../sun_bowl/

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/dec/28/sports/sp-58307

CFN also picks Rice.
West Breakdown

Conference Preview

Quote:Team That'll Surprise
Rice – Looking for a sleeper to represent Conference USA in the Dec. 31 Liberty Bowl? Take a long gander at the Owls. Seventh-year head coach David Bailiff leaned on a lot of youth in 2012, yet still milked seven wins and an Armed Forces Bowl victory out of his team. Now that the roster is a year older, and flush with returning starters, Rice houses the experienced personnel to compete with Tulsa in the West Division and anyone from over in the Eastern half of the league. If the Owls perform better in the red zone, both offensively and defensively, a 10-win season cannot be ruled out.

Quote: Rice will be the league’s biggest surprise, even hanging with Texas A&M past halftime of the opener at Kyle Field. The Owls boast an impressive number of returning veterans from a team that finished last season on a five-game winning streak.

(08-02-2013 09:24 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Remember TCU's "signature win" in the 1998 Sun Bowl? Even though they were only 6-5 in the MWC and USC was a really bad team (for USC and they really didn't want to be there) TCU touted the win big time. I see the win in Fort Worth last December in a similar vein (that was not a good AFA team) and I think you see with the recruiting that we are using it somewhat like TCU did.

Another reason that I wish Rice had gotten to play (and demolish) Notre Dame in the 2008 Texas Bowl.