10-2

Mainly because I see no reason why we shouldn't be 10-2. C-USA looks positively atrocious this year. WKU lost to Indiana, who are better than they usually are but struggled and beat SOUTHERN Illinois 48-47. LaTech lost to WKU.

Year 9, we should be able to beat anyone in C-USA. Especially since none of them look particularly invincible. And WKU and LaTech are at home.

"If there is any chance for
1) getting invited to a P5 conference
2)Raising enough $$( likely at least $100 million) to improve facilities
3) continue to increase ticket sales, Owl Club membership, etc. )"

1) NONE
2) NONE
3) maybe

GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

(09-27-2015 02:46 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

+1.
We got creamed by a team with NFL-caliber talent yesterday, and the embarrassing differential was largely due to their intensity and relentless play to the end, as well as the reported field-level temperatures of near 120 degrees (per TV).
We were a better team than UT, but lost due to mistakes yes....but mainly due to a pure / obvious talent differential at key moments.
We simply aren't going to beat teams that are that fast and that big and that athletic across the board....so get over it.

(09-27-2015 03:24 PM)Barney Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 02:46 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

+1.
We got creamed by a team with NFL-caliber talent yesterday, and the embarrassing differential was largely due to their intensity and relentless play to the end, as well as the reported field-level temperatures of near 120 degrees (per TV).
We were a better team than UT, but lost due to mistakes yes....but mainly due to a pure / obvious talent differential at key moments.
We simply aren't going to beat teams that are that fast and that big and that athletic across the board....so get over it.

I am so glad that Edgar Odell Lovett didn't think like you do.

Otherwise, he'd be like meh, we cant compete with Harvard and their pedigree and their history and their money and their connections. Heck, Rice would probably be competing with C-USA in academics too in that case.

If we can't win and compete, then we shouldn't play. If we are playing, everything else is an excuse.

(09-27-2015 03:35 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 03:24 PM)Barney Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 02:46 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

+1.
We got creamed by a team with NFL-caliber talent yesterday, and the embarrassing differential was largely due to their intensity and relentless play to the end, as well as the reported field-level temperatures of near 120 degrees (per TV).
We were a better team than UT, but lost due to mistakes yes....but mainly due to a pure / obvious talent differential at key moments.
We simply aren't going to beat teams that are that fast and that big and that athletic across the board....so get over it.

I am so glad that Edgar Odell Lovett didn't think like you do.

If we can't win and compete, then we shouldn't play. If we are playing, everything else is an excuse.

Would EOL support the employment of semi-professional athletes to allow RICE to compete with Baylor, UT$ and ATM$?? I don't think that he would have approved. Rather, I imagine that such an enlightened leader would have cherished the many successes of the RICE student athletes both on and off the field, as did my dear departed friend and former RICE scholar athelete whom many here know and respected, Kent Rowald.

(09-27-2015 04:08 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 03:35 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 03:24 PM)Barney Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 02:46 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

+1.
We got creamed by a team with NFL-caliber talent yesterday, and the embarrassing differential was largely due to their intensity and relentless play to the end, as well as the reported field-level temperatures of near 120 degrees (per TV).
We were a better team than UT, but lost due to mistakes yes....but mainly due to a pure / obvious talent differential at key moments.
We simply aren't going to beat teams that are that fast and that big and that athletic across the board....so get over it.

I am so glad that Edgar Odell Lovett didn't think like you do.

If we can't win and compete, then we shouldn't play. If we are playing, everything else is an excuse.

Would EOL support the employment of semi-professional athletes to allow RICE to compete with Baylor, UT$ and ATM$?? I don't think that he would have approved. Rather, I imagine that such an enlightened leader would have cherished the many successes of the RICE student athletes both on and off the field, as did my dear departed friend and former RICE scholar athelete whom many here know and respected, Kent Rowald.

No, but he would likely support competing despite being at a disadvantage and still finding a way to be respectable.

No one here doesn't cherish the success of our student athletes. No one here wants us to employ semi-literate trolls to occupy space on the football team; we are all proud that our players are students first.

(09-27-2015 02:46 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  "If there is any chance for
1) getting invited to a P5 conference
2)Raising enough $$( likely at least $100 million) to improve facilities
3) continue to increase ticket sales, Owl Club membership, etc. )"

1) NONE
2) NONE
3) maybe

GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

Actually I have a quite nice life living on the beach on Oahu with a wife I love very much. I however enjoyed going to football games at Rice where we were competitive w teams that I had actually heard of.

10-2, because we are better than anyone else we will come up against this season. The two teams who are even close, we get at home. We already threw away the one imminently winnable road game we do every year.

(09-27-2015 08:47 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 08:42 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 08:31 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 07:58 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 07:53 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  I have no idea honestly. It wouldn't surprise me if we bounce back and beat WKU. If we do that, I can see us winning 9 or 10 regular season games.

But it also wouldn't surprise me if we get hammered by them, in which case I can see the wheels coming off completely. Really concerned about DJ's play and confidence levels.

A narrow, gut-wrenching loss - don't know what happens.

This is why I think a silent majority of us are so conflicted with Bailiff. Every time I think I'm about to get on the Keep Bailiff or Fire Bailiff bandwagon, he pulls me in the other direction....

??? Seriously. Save for the Marshall victory in the 2013 CUSA championship game, the pattern of wins and losses-- and how we have won or lost those games-- have been incredibly consistent the past 3+ years under Bailiff. We beat up on teams worse than us (with a few isolated exceptions) and fail to even compete against anyone better than us-- even slightly better than us.

Sounds like baseball the last 3+ years. If bailiff wins a bad conference this year would you change your mind?

Doesn't sound like baseball at all. When have we not been competitive in baseball, even against the very best teams in the country? The games we have lost to A&M, UH and UT over the past 3 years, as well as our post-season losses, have been nailbiters. Bailiff cannot compete against teams even slightly better than us.

A loss is a loss. I find it funny that you don't hold our best program to higher standards. When Bailiff wins CUSA you say he's a below average coach. When baseball wins CUSA and loses to any decent program we play in the post season you point out our streak of conference championships and say Wayne can stay as long as he wants.

(09-27-2015 03:35 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 03:24 PM)Barney Wrote:  

(09-27-2015 02:46 PM)OWLmanz Wrote:  GET A LIFE GUYS and MOVE TO ENJOYING RICE SPORTS with true student Athletes instead of the "semi-pros" other schools seem committed to fielding...

+1.
We got creamed by a team with NFL-caliber talent yesterday, and the embarrassing differential was largely due to their intensity and relentless play to the end, as well as the reported field-level temperatures of near 120 degrees (per TV).
We were a better team than UT, but lost due to mistakes yes....but mainly due to a pure / obvious talent differential at key moments.
We simply aren't going to beat teams that are that fast and that big and that athletic across the board....so get over it.

I am so glad that Edgar Odell Lovett didn't think like you do.

Otherwise, he'd be like meh, we cant compete with Harvard and their pedigree and their history and their money and their connections. Heck, Rice would probably be competing with C-USA in academics too in that case.

If we can't win and compete, then we shouldn't play. If we are playing, everything else is an excuse.

But we aren't talking about academics here, we're talking about a highly respected academic institution, with brutal admission requirements, trying to keep up with football factories that live in the top 10.

(09-27-2015 08:08 PM)That Guy 2012 Wrote:  10-2, because we are better than anyone else we will come up against this season. The two teams who are even close, we get at home. We already threw away the one imminently winnable road game we do every year.

WKU and LTU both have better teams than Rice. Beating either one would be an upset. Getting them at home gives us a realistic shot at winning.

As I told my good friend from Mississippi State after the Liberty Bowl, with only a bit of my tongue in my check, our problem is that our players aren't "prison tough", so no wonder we got pushed around. I think I can pull that line out again for my Baylor friends. Not an even playing field, but the losses and blow-outs still sting.

I think that we could finish the season 10-2, win the conference championship game, and win our bowl game, and some here would still consider it a sub-par season and evidence of a need to get a new coach.

Yeah, we cudda, shudda beat Texas, but how much credit do you get for beating a down team?

Eight regular season wins will be mildly disappointing to me, mainly because I don't think we should lose two of the remaining games.

If we run thee table, win the championship game and a bowl game, we'll all be happy for the team who can't help who they are scheduled to play. That is unlikely given the current power rankings as determined by Sagarin:

54. La Tech
58. WKU
59. MT
79. Marshall
100. Southern Miss
106. Rice
119. FIU
129. FAU
139. UTSA
155. North Texas
161. UTEP
170. ODU
188. Charlotte

But even if we do, we'll do it beating teams ranked 54 and below. I wonder what Neely, Conover, Goldsmith, Hatfield and Graham would do with such competition?

(09-27-2015 09:46 PM)NolaOwl Wrote:  If we run thee table, win the championship game and a bowl game, we'll all be happy for the team who can't help who they are scheduled to play. That is unlikely given the current power rankings as determined by Sagarin:

54. La Tech
58. WKU
59. MT
79. Marshall
100. Southern Miss(
106. Rice
119. FIU
129. FAU
139. UTSA
155. North Texas
161. UTEP
170. ODU
188. Charlotte

But even if we do, we'll do it beating teams ranked 54 and below. I wonder what Neely, Conover, Goldsmith, Hatfield and Graham would do with such copetition?

I looked at Sagarin rankings to see how Hat and Graham did in their most recent seasons. Currently Baylor is ranked #3, Texas #56, and Wagner #234. So, if things stay the way they do (which obviously they won't), we will have played 1 team > #54 in Sagarin.

So Hatfield went 1-11 against the #10 (UCLA), #1 (UT), #93 (UAB), #92 (ECU), #44 (Tulsa), #52 (Navy), #85 (UTEP), #88 (SMU), #130 (win against Tulane), #80 (UCF), and #84 (UH). Only four teams were ranked above #54 in Sagarin.

The Toad went 7-6 against #54 (UH), #43 (UCLA), #19 (Texas), #33 (FSU), #122 (W - Army), #116 (Tulane), #113 (W - UAB), #111 (W - UCF), #103 (W - UTEP), #65 (W - Tulsa), #67 (W - ECU), #96 (W - SMU), and #81 (Troy). Only 3 teams ranked above #54, with UH sitting on the sweet spot.

Will we still be #106 if we win the next 10 games?

(09-27-2015 09:46 PM)NolaOwl Wrote:  If we run thee table, win the championship game and a bowl game, we'll all be happy for the team who can't help who they are scheduled to play. That is unlikely given the current power rankings as determined by Sagarin:

54. La Tech
58. WKU
59. MT
79. Marshall
100. Southern Miss
106. Rice
119. FIU
129. FAU
139. UTSA
155. North Texas
161. UTEP
170. ODU
188. Charlotte

But even if we do, we'll do it beating teams ranked 54 and below. I wonder what Neely, Conover, Goldsmith, Hatfield and Graham would do with such competition?

One thing that gives me hope about our final CUSA record, of the remaining teams on our schedule, we play all those ranked above us (La Tech, WKU, Southern Miss) at home, and the ones ranked below us (FAU, UTEP, UTSA) on the road. If the scheduled home/road games were flipped, I'd give us no shot at winning CUSA. But considering the fact that our toughest games are all at home, I can actually see us winning our Division and playing for the championship.

I feel the same. We'd have no chance against WKU and LTU if we played them on the road. This schedule works out perfectly for us. I hope we can take advantage of it.

(09-28-2015 12:20 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  I feel the same. We'd have no chance against WKU and LTU if we played them on the road. This schedule works out perfectly for us. I hope we can take advantage of it.

Someday I'll hopefully understand comments like this. If we have no chance against teams ranked somewhere in the 50's on the road, what the hell are we doing?

(09-28-2015 12:23 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 12:20 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  I feel the same. We'd have no chance against WKU and LTU if we played them on the road. This schedule works out perfectly for us. I hope we can take advantage of it.

Someday I'll hopefully understand comments like this. If we have no chance against teams ranked somewhere in the 50's on the road, what the hell are we doing?

Playing football really poorly on the road. Weren't we near the top of the heap in terms of "home field advantage" when someone published an article on The Parliament earlier?

And it wasn't because our home field is so intimidating, but because we cannot seem to show up during our away games.