Put me in the camp of thinking this is a great idea for the players. What an amazing opportunity for all of them. Sydney is one of the greatest cities in the world and they will remember this trip vividly for the rest of their lives.

Agree that it's very poor for the home fans. But in this case I think the positives for the players are more important.

I think it's likely our home game with Stanford would have been on ESPN or ESPN2 anyway (ESPN is obligated to broadcast 5 regular season CUSA home games - our game with Baylor was selected to be one of these and the only one of ESPN's 5 to be slated for the ESPN main channel).

Nevertheless a Friday night (USA time) game a week before the rest of the college season starts at least means this game would not be sharing the national sports viewing audience with other college games.

However, we do lose the potential of slyly scheduling Stanford for an 11:00 am CDT kickoff and catching them sleepwalking. They laid an egg at Northwestern recently (last year or maybe the year before?) in similar circumstances, and that was one of Stanford's best teams and a Northwestern team that proved to be nothing special. Houston heat and humidity could have been an equalizing factor as well.

For recruits, I think it would be much better for them to know they might get to play a game abroad during their time at Rice then it would be to watch Rice get slaughtered at home in by Stanford in front of a small crowd while suffering through sweltering heat.

I see both sides of the argument and given the money we stand to get, the quality of Rice football currently, and the ticket buying push back it makes sense to play in Sydney. However, once again it would be nice if we would hear the announcement and details from our AD instead of from other sources....sort of like the news of the retention of Bailiff. Mark Berman gave us the news not our AD.

(12-07-2016 04:28 PM)garthmanuel Wrote:  Put me in the camp of thinking this is a great idea for the players. What an amazing opportunity for all of them. Sydney is one of the greatest cities in the world and they will remember this trip vividly for the rest of their lives.

Agree that it's very poor for the home fans. But in this case I think the positives for the players are more important.

(12-07-2016 04:30 PM)mrbig Wrote:  For recruits, I think it would be much better for them to know they might get to play a game abroad during their time at Rice then it would be to watch Rice get slaughtered at home in by Stanford in front of a small crowd while suffering through sweltering heat.

Agree with these two posts.

Christian McCafferty is declaring for the draft. Hey that's a winnable game now!! </satire>

(12-07-2016 04:59 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Christian McCafferty is declaring for the draft. Hey that's a winnable game now!! </satire>

Rice's best chance of winning the game is if David Bailiff declares for the draft! </satire-back-at-you>

(12-07-2016 05:19 PM)mrbig Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 04:59 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Christian McCafferty is declaring for the draft. Hey that's a winnable game now!! </satire>

Rice's best chance of winning the game is if David Bailiff declares for the draft! </satire-back-at-you>

This could be a winnable game. I was not impressed by Stanford other than McCaffrey, their other speedy RB (guessing he returns), and their secondary. Their WR's were not impressive at all, and that is the key to destroying the Rice defense. While they ran for a lot of yards, their O-line wasn't exactly dominating our D-line, in fact I though the entire front 7 held its own. With a healthier D-line than what we fielded the final game of the season (Thompson and Abrecrumbia hopefully healthy to start the year), and Ellerbee returning, their run heavy offense plays into the strength of our D. Our O-line held up OK against their defensive line, Tyner had plenty of time to pass and there were some holes for the RB's. It was their secondary that dominated our WR's and the game. If the Rice offense can make a big improvement (obviously a big "if") we have a chance to make it a competitive game.

Despite their very good profile, Stanford is not as bad a match up for Rice as say, La Tech, WKU, UH, and those schools that have wide open pass offenses with limitless speedsters at WR. Of course, we'll need huge improvement out of the QB position and special teams, but again, it's not as bad a match up as it may seem.

I much prefer if this game were at Rice Stadium, but as always we seem to sell out our home field advantage in these home and away series against good P5 programs like Texas or Stanford. Guess we don't have a choice but to take the money. It's a good idea and a good opportunity for the players and for Rice, I just think we're giving up the home field advantage that could make the difference between a competitive and a non-competitive game, assuming we improve, against a team like Stanford.

(12-07-2016 09:31 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Wayne doesn't even want his players living on campus,

Disgusting point of view, IMHO.

(12-07-2016 05:56 PM)Buho00 Wrote:  This could be a winnable game. I was not impressed by Stanford other than McCaffrey, their other speedy RB (guessing he returns), and their secondary. Their WR's were not impressive at all, and that is the key to destroying the Rice defense. While they ran for a lot of yards, their O-line wasn't exactly dominating our D-line, in fact I though the entire front 7 held its own. With a healthier D-line than what we fielded the final game of the season (Thompson and Abrecrumbia hopefully healthy to start the year), and Ellerbee returning, their run heavy offense plays into the strength of our D. Our O-line held up OK against their defensive line, Tyner had plenty of time to pass and there were some holes for the RB's. It was their secondary that dominated our WR's and the game. If the Rice offense can make a big improvement (obviously a big "if") we have a chance to make it a competitive game.

Despite their very good profile, Stanford is not as bad a match up for Rice as say, La Tech, WKU, UH, and those schools that have wide open pass offenses with limitless speedsters at WR. Of course, we'll need huge improvement out of the QB position and special teams, but again, it's not as bad a match up as it may seem.

I much prefer if this game were at Rice Stadium, but as always we seem to sell out our home field advantage in these home and away series against good P5 programs like Texas or Stanford. Guess we don't have a choice but to take the money. It's a good idea and a good opportunity for the players and for Rice, I just think we're giving up the home field advantage that could make the difference between a competitive and a non-competitive game, assuming we improve, against a team like Stanford.

Can the rest of us get some of that Kool-Aid?

(12-07-2016 07:06 PM)Eat More Vole Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 09:31 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Wayne doesn't even want his players living on campus,

Disgusting point of view, IMHO.

It is not that Wayne does not want his players living on campus.

The problem is that given the way partial scholarships work, each player and his family are many thousands of dollars ahead getting a place off campus with teammates, rather than living on campus. For a lot of them and their families, the difference is too great to ignore.

(12-07-2016 07:20 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 07:06 PM)Eat More Vole Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 09:31 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  Wayne doesn't even want his players living on campus,

Disgusting point of view, IMHO.

It is not that Wayne does not want his players living on campus.

The problem is that given the way partial scholarships work, each player and his family are many thousands of dollars ahead getting a place off campus with teammates, rather than living on campus. For a lot of them and their families, the difference is too great to ignore.

Partly yes, partly no. I agree that baseball players come out financially ahead by living off-campus. HOWEVER, if you compared other partial scholarship sports to baseball, you'd see that baseball has the lowest % living on-campus.

Wayne Graham does not do much to foster athlete-"regular" student interaction, for better or worse.

(12-07-2016 07:13 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 05:56 PM)Buho00 Wrote:  This could be a winnable game. I was not impressed by Stanford other than McCaffrey, their other speedy RB (guessing he returns), and their secondary. Their WR's were not impressive at all, and that is the key to destroying the Rice defense. While they ran for a lot of yards, their O-line wasn't exactly dominating our D-line, in fact I though the entire front 7 held its own. With a healthier D-line than what we fielded the final game of the season (Thompson and Abrecrumbia hopefully healthy to start the year), and Ellerbee returning, their run heavy offense plays into the strength of our D. Our O-line held up OK against their defensive line, Tyner had plenty of time to pass and there were some holes for the RB's. It was their secondary that dominated our WR's and the game. If the Rice offense can make a big improvement (obviously a big "if") we have a chance to make it a competitive game.

Despite their very good profile, Stanford is not as bad a match up for Rice as say, La Tech, WKU, UH, and those schools that have wide open pass offenses with limitless speedsters at WR. Of course, we'll need huge improvement out of the QB position and special teams, but again, it's not as bad a match up as it may seem.

I much prefer if this game were at Rice Stadium, but as always we seem to sell out our home field advantage in these home and away series against good P5 programs like Texas or Stanford. Guess we don't have a choice but to take the money. It's a good idea and a good opportunity for the players and for Rice, I just think we're giving up the home field advantage that could make the difference between a competitive and a non-competitive game, assuming we improve, against a team like Stanford.

Can the rest of us get some of that Kool-Aid?

Same Kool-Aid that caused many on this board to predict a 6-, 7- or 8- win season this past year when based soley on returning, proven talent and schedule it was very heard to imagine us being better than 5-7 (absolute best case scenario, IMO).

(12-07-2016 07:46 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 07:13 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 05:56 PM)Buho00 Wrote:  This could be a winnable game. I was not impressed by Stanford other than McCaffrey, their other speedy RB (guessing he returns), and their secondary. Their WR's were not impressive at all, and that is the key to destroying the Rice defense. While they ran for a lot of yards, their O-line wasn't exactly dominating our D-line, in fact I though the entire front 7 held its own. With a healthier D-line than what we fielded the final game of the season (Thompson and Abrecrumbia hopefully healthy to start the year), and Ellerbee returning, their run heavy offense plays into the strength of our D. Our O-line held up OK against their defensive line, Tyner had plenty of time to pass and there were some holes for the RB's. It was their secondary that dominated our WR's and the game. If the Rice offense can make a big improvement (obviously a big "if") we have a chance to make it a competitive game.

Despite their very good profile, Stanford is not as bad a match up for Rice as say, La Tech, WKU, UH, and those schools that have wide open pass offenses with limitless speedsters at WR. Of course, we'll need huge improvement out of the QB position and special teams, but again, it's not as bad a match up as it may seem.

I much prefer if this game were at Rice Stadium, but as always we seem to sell out our home field advantage in these home and away series against good P5 programs like Texas or Stanford. Guess we don't have a choice but to take the money. It's a good idea and a good opportunity for the players and for Rice, I just think we're giving up the home field advantage that could make the difference between a competitive and a non-competitive game, assuming we improve, against a team like Stanford.

Can the rest of us get some of that Kool-Aid?

Same Kool-Aid that caused many on this board to predict a 6-, 7- or 8- win season this past year when based soley on returning, proven talent and schedule it was very heard to imagine us being better than 5-7 (absolute best case scenario, IMO).

Is it a different brand than the Omaha kool-aid?

(12-07-2016 07:46 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 07:13 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 05:56 PM)Buho00 Wrote:  This could be a winnable game. I was not impressed by Stanford other than McCaffrey, their other speedy RB (guessing he returns), and their secondary. Their WR's were not impressive at all, and that is the key to destroying the Rice defense. While they ran for a lot of yards, their O-line wasn't exactly dominating our D-line, in fact I though the entire front 7 held its own. With a healthier D-line than what we fielded the final game of the season (Thompson and Abrecrumbia hopefully healthy to start the year), and Ellerbee returning, their run heavy offense plays into the strength of our D. Our O-line held up OK against their defensive line, Tyner had plenty of time to pass and there were some holes for the RB's. It was their secondary that dominated our WR's and the game. If the Rice offense can make a big improvement (obviously a big "if") we have a chance to make it a competitive game.
Despite their very good profile, Stanford is not as bad a match up for Rice as say, La Tech, WKU, UH, and those schools that have wide open pass offenses with limitless speedsters at WR. Of course, we'll need huge improvement out of the QB position and special teams, but again, it's not as bad a match up as it may seem.
I much prefer if this game were at Rice Stadium, but as always we seem to sell out our home field advantage in these home and away series against good P5 programs like Texas or Stanford. Guess we don't have a choice but to take the money. It's a good idea and a good opportunity for the players and for Rice, I just think we're giving up the home field advantage that could make the difference between a competitive and a non-competitive game, assuming we improve, against a team like Stanford.

Can the rest of us get some of that Kool-Aid?

Same Kool-Aid that caused many on this board to predict a 6-, 7- or 8- win season this past year when based soley on returning, proven talent and schedule it was very heard to imagine us being better than 5-7 (absolute best case scenario, IMO).

And I remember that the board laughed at me when I predicted 3-9. I figured PV and two from Charlotte/UTEP/UTSA.

We were near the bottom of the second worst D1-FBS conference in the country. Nobody needs to be drinking any kind of cool-aid after that pathetic effort.

So somebody wasn't impressed with Stanford? How unimpressed must you be with the team that got blown out by them.

I don't feel like reading through 10 pages to see if this rumor has any legs... but hot damn I hope so!

Looking forward to getting 'absolut-ely shinless' with some Rice people in the greatest city on earth

(12-07-2016 08:19 PM)Jacknife Wrote:  the greatest city on earth

Yes, it is.

Mrs (dr) seniorowl and I went to the game in Palo Alto over Thanksgiving. Nothing like having your two schools play each other.

Two nights ago, we discussed how we were extremely excited that Stanford was coming to Houston next season. That being said...

We had planned (bought tickets, etc) on going to Sydney for our honeymoon in Fall of 2012 but Natalie was diagnosed with breast cancer and we had to cancel our trip. She is doing great four years later after chemo, rads, surgery, etc. If this game is really in Sydney, I hope that Rice will put a travel package together to let fans travel. It would be great to finally take her five years later...

(12-07-2016 08:31 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-07-2016 08:19 PM)Jacknife Wrote:  the greatest city on earth

Yes, it is.

Agreed.