(12-29-2020 09:36 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(12-29-2020 09:19 AM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2020 05:50 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2020 04:52 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-26-2020 08:16 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Next year will make or break for Bloom

Decent Chronicle article about the Rice season. No hint that Bloom is under pressure.


https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-s...830627.php

Decent Chronicle article? That's an oxymoron.

No real reporting here, just regurgitation of the Bloom's press releases.

In 2018, the Owls "pound-the-rock" Stanford-style rushing attack averaged 3.8 ypc; in 2019, 3.6 ypc; in 2020, 2.8 ypc. That's some hope inspiring progress all right. At this rate of progress, how many years will it take Rice to be competitive in even CUSA?

And just for reference, in DB’s final season, the 2017 1-11 debacle that finally got him fired, the Owls average 4.6 yards per carry.

McGuffie up the middle?

gawd that was awful-I think Bill O'Brien must have borrowed Bailiff's playbook. Lessee, plays with fast/quick RBs up the middle behind a subpar offensive line. when it is clearly running that play....

What saves Bloom is probably the same thing that saves Jim Harbaugh this year - a shortened season with variables outside the program’s control. I’m somewhat optimistic about what I saw this year. The team needs to learn how to and expect to win. That’s probably Bloom’s biggest unknown. Can he instill that into the culture?

(12-29-2020 10:41 AM)wiessguy Wrote:  What saves Bloom is probably the same thing that saves Jim Harbaugh this year - a shortened season with variables outside the program’s control. I’m somewhat optimistic about what I saw this year. The team needs to learn how to and expect to win. That’s probably Bloom’s biggest unknown. Can he instill that into the culture?

In addition to instilling a winning culture, he should consider installing another offense.

(12-29-2020 09:19 AM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2020 05:50 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2020 04:52 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-26-2020 08:16 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Next year will make or break for Bloom

Decent Chronicle article about the Rice season. No hint that Bloom is under pressure.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-s...830627.php

Decent Chronicle article? That's an oxymoron.
No real reporting here, just regurgitation of the Bloom's press releases.
In 2018, the Owls "pound-the-rock" Stanford-style rushing attack averaged 3.8 ypc; in 2019, 3.6 ypc; in 2020, 2.8 ypc. That's some hope inspiring progress all right. At this rate of progress, how many years will it take Rice to be competitive in even CUSA?

And just for reference, in DB’s final season, the 2017 1-11 debacle that finally got him fired, the Owls average 4.6 yards per carry.

It wasn't Bailiff's offenses that got him fired, it was his defenses and special teams. We had a defense with two cornerbacks who have played on Sundays for several years, and we were terrible on pass defense.

(12-29-2020 02:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-29-2020 09:19 AM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2020 05:50 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2020 04:52 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-26-2020 08:16 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Next year will make or break for Bloom

Decent Chronicle article about the Rice season. No hint that Bloom is under pressure.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-s...830627.php

Decent Chronicle article? That's an oxymoron.
No real reporting here, just regurgitation of the Bloom's press releases.
In 2018, the Owls "pound-the-rock" Stanford-style rushing attack averaged 3.8 ypc; in 2019, 3.6 ypc; in 2020, 2.8 ypc. That's some hope inspiring progress all right. At this rate of progress, how many years will it take Rice to be competitive in even CUSA?

And just for reference, in DB’s final season, the 2017 1-11 debacle that finally got him fired, the Owls average 4.6 yards per carry.

It wasn't Bailiff's offenses that got him fired, it was his defenses and special teams. We had a defense with two cornerbacks who have played on Sundays for several years, and we were terrible on pass defense.

1-11 got him fired. His defense was a major cause of 1-11, but not the only one.

Why is it Rice hire's a supposed defensive wiz, and the Owls' defenses are suspect? Then Rice hires a supposed offensive wiz, and the Owls' offense stinks. Maybe Rice should hire someone who is, say, good at medicine, and maybe both the Owls' offense and defense will be better?

(12-29-2020 02:17 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(12-29-2020 02:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  It wasn't Bailiff's offenses that got him fired, it was his defenses and special teams. We had a defense with two cornerbacks who have played on Sundays for several years, and we were terrible on pass defense.

1-11 got him fired. His defense was a major cause of 1-11, but not the only one.

Why is it Rice hire's a supposed defensive wiz, and the Owls' defenses are suspect? Then Rice hires a supposed offensive wiz, and the Owls' offense stinks. Maybe Rice should hire someone who is, say, good at medicine, and maybe both the Owls' offense and defense will be better?

Or do as Kevin Kelley suggests: among other things, quit running on 1st down. And, throw to backs coming out of the backfield, because, as he asserts, the toughest thing in football is to open field tackle.

(12-28-2020 05:50 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  In 2018, the Owls "pound-the-rock" Stanford-style rushing attack averaged 3.8 ypc; in 2019, 3.6 ypc; in 2020, 2.8 ypc. That's some hope inspiring progress all right. At this rate of progress, how many years will it take Rice to be competitive in even CUSA?

Ouch ... and that is without any tough OOC games that would likely drive down the ypc even more.

I actually think Bloomgren isn't a bad head coach ... he is just a bad OC for what he can recruit at Rice and his inability to move on from an offensive attack that simply hasn't worked in 3 years is showing a major coaching deficiency. His intransigence with the offense is starting to look like a fatal flaw as a head coach, despite a few other reasons for optimism about him.

(12-29-2020 02:17 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Why is it Rice hire's a supposed defensive wiz, and the Owls' defenses are suspect? Then Rice hires a supposed offensive wiz, and the Owls' offense stinks. Maybe Rice should hire someone who is, say, good at medicine, and maybe both the Owls' offense and defense will be better?

Did anyone here think Bloomgren was a offensive wiz when he was hired? I remember at least some people (and I have no memory of whether I was one of them) expressing optimism about him coming from Stanford and having won in a program that still values academics, while also being concerned about his offensive philosophy.

I'd be really curious to see what Rice's ypc is from different formations (maybe even looking at median instead of mean, since very few long runs could really skew the mean). One advantage of Bailiff's teams running the ball is that at least the defense was often spread out by the formations. Bloomgren uses a lot more compact formations than Bailiff did, which puts a lot more defensive players closer to the ball carrier. That is fine and dandy if the team is consistently winning the 1-on-1 blocks. But I doubt that consistently happens at Rice, and it only takes a single missed block or assignment to turn a 5-yard carry into no gain. If that happens 3-5 extra times a game because of more compact formations, well then we get what we have.

He's going to have a decent season next year. There are definitely 6 wins on the schedule in 2021. My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension. I'm praying that Karlgaard's contract isn't renewed. I've grown sour on this AD and the football program. It pains me to say it, but I'm pulling against them. I've never been as despondent toward Rice and Rice athletics as I am today. The whole group of them need to be flushed. Leebron first

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

(01-01-2021 06:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

Yeah, remember how impressed all the Bailiff haters were with Bloomgren's "Pound the rock and play great defense" moniker? That's all they had to hear to be won over. What a bunch of mindless sheep.

(01-01-2021 07:38 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 06:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

Yeah, remember how impressed all the Bailiff haters were with Bloomgren's "Pound the rock and play great defense" moniker? That's all they had to hear to be won over. What a bunch of mindless sheep.

I don’t remember a lot of support for “pound the rock”, more like a lot of skepticism. I do remember being impressed with his commitment to play more disciplined football, which has been the case by and large.

(01-01-2021 08:06 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 07:38 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 06:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

Yeah, remember how impressed all the Bailiff haters were with Bloomgren's "Pound the rock and play great defense" moniker? That's all they had to hear to be won over. What a bunch of mindless sheep.

I don’t remember a lot of support for “pound the rock”, more like a lot of skepticism. I do remember being impressed with his commitment to play more disciplined football, which has been the case by and large.

Fair point, but anyone could have played much more disciplined football than Bailiff's teams. Not hard to do. As far as skepticism goes, it existed from the beginning, but it ran rampant after Bloomgren's first season.

(01-01-2021 07:38 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 06:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

Yeah, remember how impressed all the Bailiff haters were with Bloomgren's "Pound the rock and play great defense" moniker? That's all they had to hear to be won over. What a bunch of mindless sheep.

Mainly I remember them just being happy that he (1) was from Stanford, and (2) wasn’t Bailiff.

Both of which he still is.

I don’t care if our next coach is Bailiff’s little brother and is from Wartburg, as long as he wins.


Bloom has had his moments, which, like Bailiff’s sometimes make me think the future just might be better. But if Bloom can win us into a bowl next year, I would consider that good enough for another year. I would not consider it as any more than a step in the right direction, but it would at least be that.

(01-01-2021 08:25 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 07:38 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 06:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

Yeah, remember how impressed all the Bailiff haters were with Bloomgren's "Pound the rock and play great defense" moniker? That's all they had to hear to be won over. What a bunch of mindless sheep.

Mainly I remember them just being happy that he (1) was from Stanford, and (2) wasn’t Bailiff.

Both of which he still is.

I don’t care if our next coach is Bailiff’s little brother and is from Wartburg, as long as he wins.


Bloom has had his moments, which, like Bailiff’s sometimes make me think the future just might be better. But if Bloom can win us into a bowl next year, I would consider that good enough for another year. I would not consider it as any more than a step in the right direction, but it would at least be that.

Absolutely right. A 6-6 season and a minor bowl game gets him another year, and that's fair, but it sure as hell doesn't get him a contract extension.

I'm not concerned about next season. I'm concerned about 2022.

(01-01-2021 08:06 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 07:38 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 06:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-01-2021 04:46 PM)Ourland Wrote:  My fear is that it's enough to get him an extension.

Sounds like the Bailiff years. We had people actively hoping for losses as they were afraid wins would get him retained. sounds like all we did was change the names.

Yeah, remember how impressed all the Bailiff haters were with Bloomgren's "Pound the rock and play great defense" moniker? That's all they had to hear to be won over. What a bunch of mindless sheep.

I don’t remember a lot of support for “pound the rock”, more like a lot of skepticism. I do remember being impressed with his commitment to play more disciplined football, which has been the case by and large.

Good defense, good special teams, and more disciplined football all appealed to me, but I never believed that we could recruit the specific skill sets we needed to be a successful "pound the rock" offense. Three years in, that's pretty much what we have. I actually thought that defense, special teams, and discipline would carry us further than they have, but I didn't really expect the offense to be this bad.

Play sound defense, win the kicking game, and do something different on offense kind of combines Fred's and Ken's philosophies, and that's what I'd like to see. My favorite offense, and about as different as it is possible to be, was Paul Johnson/Erk Russell/Bob Wagner's Georgia Southern/Hawaii flexbone/run-and-shoot combination.

By the way, the guy I liked, Alex Grinch, has gone to OU and taken a defense that couldn't play defense and turned it into a pretty solid unit in two years. Take Lincoln Riley's offense and add a defense that can play defense, and they are my dark horse for next year's national champion. Grinch is way out of our price range now, and if OU does win a NC next year, he will be on anybody's short list for a HC in 2022.

At this point, I would be very happy to give RUOwls a shot, particularly with the staff he had lined up when he was being mentioned as a replacement for Bailiff.