Rice media day is going on right now. Good coverage from 1560. Granato (the father) was just on and seemed to think the freshmen Dlinemen will make an impact, and the Walter brothers.

Bailiff coming on now...

(08-06-2015 12:04 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  Rice media day is going on right now. Good coverage from 1560. Granato (the father) was just on and seemed to think the freshmen Dlinemen will make an impact, and the Walter brothers.

Bailiff coming on now...

Heard a bit during lunch - all good except the commentators had us winning UT game. They made it sound as if Longhorns are some scrub team. I think we are so wrong. We will not be able to stop them on the ground which will open up for the big plays. I don't see it. I will eat crow if we win it but remember this team has never won the big games. I also think we will have our hands full against W Kentucky, La Tech and FAU. Our defense is young and will get exposed. Our offense hasn't proven they can score if the running game is not working. This year DJ will be great or will get benched midway. Look forward to seeing Cella. I agree this year some underclassmen will play due to the necessity of our team.

We have to prove we can win all of the games that are within our grasp before entertaining notions of beating teams like UT. Even in down years, they pull huge volumes of talent that teams in CUSA can't hope to match.

Do I think we can be competitive against UT this year? Absolutely. But at this point, I'm not worried about a victory there. I just want Bailiff to get through a season where he holds serve on every winnable game. That means no losses to teams like ODU, and certainly no 76-31 horror shows.

Bailiff year 9, Rice University, Texas football, CUSA. We should expect to win all of our conference games. I respect La Tech's program more than the others in CUSA, but man, if we can't get up off the mat and show them that we aren't their ******* whipping boy, I will despair.

(08-06-2015 03:45 PM)Wiessman Wrote:  We have to prove we can win all of the games that are within our grasp before entertaining notions of beating teams like UT. Even in down years, they pull huge volumes of talent that teams in CUSA can't hope to match.

Do I think we can be competitive against UT this year? Absolutely. But at this point, I'm not worried about a victory there. I just want Bailiff to get through a season where he holds serve on every winnable game. That means no losses to teams like ODU, and certainly no 76-31 horror shows.

Bailiff year 9, Rice University, Texas football, CUSA. We should expect to win all of our conference games. I respect La Tech's program more than the others in CUSA, but man, if we can't get up off the mat and show them that we aren't their ******* whipping boy, I will despair.

We've beaten LaTech the last 2 times they were at Rice... And one time we went on to win the conference (you know 2 years ago). I understand UT draws more HS talent than CUSA teams but I also think Rice, WKU, LaTech and Marshall would've played them tight or beaten them in a bowl last year. They looked worse against Arkansas than we looked against miss. st.

We have a history of being daunted by "name" teams under Bailiff. I really think that we actually play worse against them. Not going to go into why again, but suffice it to say that I have no confidence that a Bailiff-led Rice team can take down a foe like UT. I think we get psyched out.

As for La Tech, that 76-31 bludgeoning kind of takes the shine off the wins at Rice Stadium. I want Rice to thrash La Tech this season, just to show we have some pride, and then I want Rice to go to Ruston next year and do it again.

I hope this is the year that certain people go from saying "We never" to "We've only done it once".

(08-06-2015 04:07 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  We've beaten LaTech the last 2 times they were at Rice... And one time we went on to win the conference (you know 2 years ago). I understand UT draws more HS talent than CUSA teams but I also think Rice, WKU, LaTech and Marshall would've played them tight or beaten them in a bowl last year. They looked worse against Arkansas than we looked against miss. st.

It depends on which version of team showed up. C-USA has teams that can be decent, but are inconsistent. WKU got bludgeoned by LaTech but beat then undefeated Marshall, they also lost to mediocre 6-7 Illinois. LaTech clobbered us and WKU but lost to a FCS team. Marshall managed a SJ state shootout and lost to hot and cold WKU.