NCAAbbs

I've only been following Rice football closely for a little over a year, so I ask this of long-time die-hard fans- have we ever looked better before the first game?

Have we ever had 3 offensive players with national accolades? 4 players on Dave Campbell's 2-deep? (and they left out Thor!) Both DE's with Freshman All-American honors? A half-dozen or more probable All-Conference players? OL, DL, DE, Backers, safety, corners, receivers and RB's healthy and deep? A quarterback and receiver duo set to break some conference records? And some great individual stories of comeback, re-invention and raising the bar: Will Moss, Corbin Smiter, Toren Dixon, Patrick Randolph, Chance Talbert, Davon Primus, Tanner Shuck, and Brent Hotard. All this and just a few serious injuries- Hill and Leary come quickly to mind. Search your memories and tell me if we've ever looked better at the end of 2-a-days?

1993 for sure - we were coming off our first winning season in 30 years and had a ton returning (Bert Emanuel, Chris Cooley and Emmett Waldron most notably). We ended up with 12 all-conference players that year but ultimately our defense just wasn't good enough so even though we went 6-5 again, we were 3-4 in conference and didn't go to a bowl.

We had a ton returning in 1994 as well but the new coach and coaching scheme set us back a little right away and we lost our opener 15-13 to Tulane at home and that probably cost us a bowl (as did late losses at TCU and to Baylor which negated the wins over Texas and Texas Tech).

We had quite a bit returning in 1996 and 1997 too. I'm a little fuzzy on whether we've had this type of returning firepower in the last decade. Probably not on offense but I suspect we've had years when our defense looked better than this on paper.

Yeah, this story sums up the optimism

http://www.rice.edu/projects/thresher/is...ory03.html

But we're playing SMU, not Ohio State!

My memory of that Ohio State game is that we actually hung in there for a while. We were down, I think 7-0, and they had the ball near midfield. Kalu got a sack and then they got a penalty for holding Kalu and it was 3rd and 29. I'd had several lively discussions with Fred over the years about my feelings that we played too much soft zone and got killed because we couldn't pressure the QB, and that I'd like to see us get a little more aggressive and blitz and play some man from time to time. So we blitz and play man, our cornerback slips, and they hit a 70 yard touchdown. After the game, Fred made a point of telling me, "That's why we don't blitz and play man." My response was, "Gee, Fred, 3rd and 29 wasn't exactly the down and distance I had in mind."

I was at that 1993 game, and I've got to be honest - I don't think I felt like we were ever in the game. Maybe I'm confusing it with some other blowout, but I don't think we were ever really in it. Wish I could find a box score on it. I remember it being a big bummer of a drive back to Cincinnati with my friend after that game. The details of the game are sketchy in my mind, though. We didn't expect to win, but the talent differential was pretty clear on the field that day.

When I say we were hanging with them for a while, I think the play I have in mind was early in the second quarter, so we were only hanging with them briefly. After that the floodgates openend and I think they had scored 27 by the half.

The one that was the real blowout was the team that Ken took up a few years later and gave up 70-something. We took the ball to start, couldn't move it, punted to midfield, and they took it in. Same thing, second verse. Same thing, third verse, and it never got any better.

Going from memory here, but I think it was 20-0 at half and 34-7 final.

what should have been a positive topic has somehow become a rehash of something less that positive,, what gives?

anyhew

if we win 7 I'll be content to be bowl eligible,,,but Id be less than honest if I said Id be happy with less than 8 wins ,, we could win 11 thats not unreasonable. other than ut who is on our schedule we cant beat? I expect to win 8-9.

as long as we stay healthy,,not making an excuse in advance just recognizing we need to have our starters finish

In 97 we were coming off a 7-4 season with everyone but Kalu returning. The team went 7-4 again, but again no bowl game. Nelson, Wood, and Perry all had near or over a 1,000 rushing. There were probably more blowout wins in 96 and 97 than in any other time at Rice. The 97 team won @Northwestern (they were defending Big Ten co-champs), crushed BYU (ranked in top 25), but lost a key season and conference opener to Air Force (in the first Operation Sellout??) and then late in the year a huge game @SMU - had we won that game I think a conference championship was likely. Now we have SMU in a season/conference opener that could have huge implications.

God I remember that miserable day in the Cotton Bowl in 1997...

Inexplicable. After laying an egg against Air Force in the opener, and especially after the coulda-shoulda-woulda in Texas' last trip to Rice Stadium, that '97 team really got it together and was rolling. In the driver's seat in whatever WAC division we were in. And then SMU took the opening kick and went down the field in about 5 plays (Ramon Flanagan?) and that was that. No signs of life that day. Disappointing and surprising -- kind of like the New Orleans Bowl.

Pretty good. Here's the Thresher game recap.

http://www.rice.edu/projects/thresher/is...ory02.html

August has historically been the best month to be an Owl Football fan with all the optimism. As MK has on his blog, last year had a bunch of optimism following-on w/ the Bowl game, with the nucleus returning (minus Q), but with 20/20 hindsight, the optimism was over-stated.

IMO, this year poses one of the greatest opportunities in recent memory b/c of the combination of depth, stability, and most importantly, every game on the schedule minus the trip to Austin is winnable (and I think that has potential to be much closer than the last few). In prior years, you have had the tough pre-season money/cash games (Texas plus a Tech, Fla St, UCLA, etc. type team) that would result in a few injuries. Then a thin Owl team that could play 1-deep gets exploited later in the year w/ 2-team weak link that could be an OL, CB, Safety, etc.

This year the depth (minus an injury to Chase) is improved from recent memory (especially at WR and Defense) and if they can go into the heart of conference play at 3-2 or 4-1 the upside is there for a big year. However, if they go into those games injured and 1-4ish it could be a really long year at 3-9. That is why it seems like you are seeing predictions ranging from 8-wins to 2-wins. Lots of games that will be determined on season momentum, whether any of those even pre-season teams mail it in later in year (e.g., UTEP, UofH?), and health as the conference/schedule looks really even out-of-the-gate.

The four biggest risks I see (in order) are...

1) Injury at QB
2) Kicking Game (punting, returning, and coverage)
3) Bailiff and staff-great recruiting- bad/conservative game day X's and O's
4) No running game except Chase running for his life

How about 1994 when he played TCU in Fort Worthless? We had that game at Halftime..

And then, it was like a call came into the Ref's from the Cotton Bowl Committee at Half time...

"Don't let Rice win"....

We couldn't get a call at all in the Second Half, and had some massive BS calls against us.

Same thing at SMU about 3 or 4 years ago IIRC. I don't care to remember the details. They aren't applicable now to THIS team.

Great optimism exists, and for good reason. Great offense, improving defense. Continuity. Manageable schedule. What's not to like. I'm predicting 8 wins.

I'd say, off the top of my head, that Vandy is our other tough non-con game this season, which is certainly and great step in the right direction away from body bag games of past years.
I would, however, add, as per MK, the thin-ness at corner to your list of risks, because it is only 5-deep without Leary and that includes 2 true freshmen.
Also, I feel like the running game should get better this season with more use of the pistol and a better O-Line (although the loss of Hill could hurt unless Goodson is as good as advertised); and I think you're discounting J.T. Shepherd, who has apparently shown a lot of improvement in camp (I didn't get a chance to see it, but that's what I've been told).
All in all, I think anywhere between 5 and 8-9 wins is likely, and I guarantee I can narrow that down by halftime of SMU (I certainly revised my prediction for last season by the middle of $0.05 State). This season has the makings of another bowl trip that cements Rice's movement in the direction of regaining respectability, or it could be one that shows the program still has trouble catching a break (maybe we blew all of our karma in '06) and has more climbing to do than we think...

Wasn't Flanagan the starter on the SMU team that returned from the Death Penalty under Forrest Gregg (in their first flirtation with the Run and Shoot)?

Good point on Vandy game and about the CB depth.... I've been drinking cool-aid on Chris Douglas improvement but we have seen in prior years that one hurt DB can get exploited fast.

I don't have the confidence in JT Shepherd. Seen him play both live in practice where he looks great and seem him play live in multiple games (most vividly against UCLA) and he is not even in same zip code as Chase from presence, command of offense, ability to throw a tight spiral, and footwork/mobility. Given the lack of running game and reliance upon the spread, an injury to Chase just puts too much pressure on him to succeed. If he had a Quinton Smith to give the ball to, I'd feel much better. He's a good wear the cap backwards carrying the clipboard guy..

Ugh, now I remember much more vividly. Yeah, that last score really didn't make the ride home any easier. At least we didn't get ragged on as we walked back to our car. The Buckeye fans just kinda took it as it was - a win.

Seeing those names on the TD hookup, though, gave me some positive memories (about the future they held).

I believe Flanagan came to smu with Dickerson and James and the rest of Mustang Mania, and is now a redshirt junior.

No that was Mike Romo. Probably no relation to Tony.

Hatfield's (God bless him) teams laid more eggs than any team at Rice I can remember in the last 40 years. Mind you, we've had a lot of coaches much, much worse than him on campus over the years, but Hat Daddy would raise expectations with a great quality win, then look like crap the next game against a beatable team. His worst performances year-in and out were the games coming back from the off-week. We just were never there mentally in those games, and that usually killed the season IIRC. Also, we typically bombed the Operation Sellout games, which put a 'same ol Rice' mentality picture into the minds of the 50,000 fans that showed up, and killed any fan momentum for that season. The Hatfield era really had its ups and downs.
But enough of this past history negativity ! I agree that we now have more depth of quality athletes than I have seen in a LONG time on So Main. I don't know if we match up just yet with the typical Big 12 teams in terms of talent, but I do know that we are closing in on them. Now, if the injury gods will just treat us a little kinder this year !

Nice!

His 6 years of playing college football must be at least tied for a NCAA record.