Texas-Rice Football Preview 2010

“trading out T&A for GPA”

This slaughtered me.

I think y’all injure a quarterback and cover the spread.

Very good, your advice on taking the over hits me like self-evident truth, Descartes is born anew in your gambling wisdom.

I’ll supplement your RB analysis with the following name, Tyler Smith. Younger brother of Quinton Smith, the first great star at Cedar Park High School who started at the same position at Rice and made New England’s practice squad, and current starter in the Rice system. Until recently (Espinosa, Drango, Chet Moss, etc) Cedar Park was producing Rice Owls, Texas State walk-ons, and North Texas defensive backs. Now they are cranking out 300 lb. Division I linemen like Kilgore. In my senior year the starting Left Tackle was all-district but was the heaviest lineman at 240. The right side barely tipped the scales at 200.

I’m surprised they don’t deveop their WildOwl into a layered single-wing type offense with which to run half their snaps because Ross, Smith and McGuffie make up the majority of their offensive potential.

For those of you with a gambling bent, I hope you jumped on the line when it was in the high 20s. The notion that Texas is coming out running the Veer and will begin kneeling to melt clock in the 3rd quarter is bizarre. We have to get Gilbert ready and that means throwing the ball around. Additionally, when your defense keeps the other teams’ scoring at the number 0, 3, or 7, it’s pretty easy to cover the line. Or perhaps you foresee Rice dropping 24 on us?

Or any of you readers could test your gambling skillz for free at the FLV Sportsbook.

(/plug)

I have been waiting what feels like an eternity for the first one of these.

NOW, it’s game week!

as a longhorn fanatic, i say leave my kraftwerk outta this.

So how about some info on the BC Rice tailgate.

i’m feeling it already:

http://hungoverowls.tumblr.com/

I had no idea Sam Mcguffie had transferred to Rice. How’d I miss that?

Speaking of the line, what site do you all use when making wagers? I’m in the market.

a little surprised they are getting some skill position transfers from schools of the caliber of Miami, Alabama, Michigan, etc. Who knows, maybe they surprise and post a 6-6 type year.

1. I wonder if those crazy Rice coeds will have their “Tuck Fexas” shirts on.
2. I think their band sucks.
3. This was spot on: “Decent TD/INT ratio, but averaging less than 10 yards per completion doesn’t blow up any skirts. Not that you’d want to see that with a Rice co-ed.” I went to law school in Houston and was always amazed at just how poor the quality of tail was in Rice Village.
4. I made it through :45 of the first video.
5. would love to see Cody rumble for 200+.

I saw that -28 line a few weeks ago and thought it was a mistake.

A 28 point win over Rice seems like a worst case scenario for Texas, not a coinflip. Of course every time I get supremely confident in a line it goes the opposite direction, so whatever.

Seconding t1climb1 – I’d like to know where to go.

Excellent breakdown. Who knew a flock of owls was called a Parliament? Owls weren’t the only ones not voting Labour apparently.

I can’t wait to see how we play. While I am glad to learn that Rice returns 18 starters, these early games are all about us. Going back over the Mack years, when we have shown some form of weakness in an early game against a weak opponent it has come back to bite us in the ass. Remember the first few years it was all about “special” teams and would we show improvement from the previous year? Good times.

I’m guessing we stay vanilla on D and see how we do playing out of different bases without a ton of blitzing. We will rotate freely and when your number is called, you better bring it.

Offensively, it’s all about the line and the new TE/H-Back/FB. I’m not worried about RB, QB or WR like some are. Can we manhandle Rice up front? Will we stick to the TE, H-back or FB offense or will Greg freak out after being stopped once and come out in 4-5 wide? Those are the questions that I will be looking for answers to on Saturday.

I still haven’t tired of the Nkwopara joke – gets me every time.

I’ve got a good friend who used to coach with some of the Rice staff and we went and checked out a Rice practice last year (time didn’t permit this year). Fanuzzi did not impress at all. Sometimes a major program reaches just to get a body in there. See: OSU taking Kenny Guiton out of Eisenhower a couple years ago.

They do expect big things out of McGuffie and the kid is a freakish athlete. Good enough that Rodriguez should have let him look out the ear hole while running.

SynTex, they don’t have the athletes to go 6-6, but Bailiff is a good football coach and a hell of a man. I hope I’m wrong.

Here’s why I think you see skill players transferring to Rice:
(1) you’re a high school player and you completely wreck shop, famously jumping over a kid and becoming a YouTube legend in so doing;

(2) then you sign a big schollie with a big-time school that has big-time pressure and big-time D-1 opposition; then you realize that you’re 5’9" with good straight line speed and not a lot of wiggle and there is not a lot of starting or NFL in your future;

(3) so finally, your folks convince you that you might as well parley this thing into a a real, live college education since you won’t be playing football on Sundays; and

(4) wisely, you transfer to Rice.

Will we stick to the TE, H-back or FB offense or will Greg freak out after being stopped once and come out in 4-5 wide?

Yeah, because if there’s one thing that Greg Davis is known for it’s adjusting on the fly.

He’s extremely fast, likes to leap over people who aren’t paying attention, and he may die on the field if he tries to do that to Christian Scott.

I laughed at the gasps this inspired on Youtube during his recruitment. I was like “Nice highlight. Something guaranteed to fail at the next level.”

In regards to the 28 pt line. Just depends on if we’ll be trying to work up either the running game or the passing game. If we run the same 3 run plays over and over…. that could be a tough get.

My thinking though is that this is an overreaction by Vegas. Its like they think we turned into Bama and will be a run first and second type team.

“The Owl”

Heh heh!

Where the hell do you find this stuff?

Oh, yeah…the internet.

It’s more about reverting to your mean comfort level. His comfort level is throwing it 35 times.

Remember the game against Lousiana Lafayette to open the 2000 season and we were going to run the ball after getting shellacked by Nebraska and Arkansas to end the previous season? We came out, tried to run, fell behind 10-0 at the end of the 1st and then went 4-5 wide the rest of the game? That’s what Davis will do when he gets in a bind, try and throw his way out. It’s not a knock, just an observation.

My thinking though is that this is an overreaction by Vegas. Its like they think we turned into Bama and will be a run first and second type team.

And meanwhile ’Bama has a 38-1/2 point line in their game.

“I laughed at the gasps this inspired on Youtube during his recruitment. I was like "Nice highlight. Something guaranteed to fail at the next level."”

Eh, will he meet the expectations that that video created? No, but only because the people that allowed that lone highlight to create their opinion of him are idiots.

Here’s what I saw. A smaller yet well built back who liked to bounce it outside too much. Not because he’s afraid of contact, he actually doesn’t shy away from it, but because he has too much confidence in his speed. I don’t believe he should have been ranked as highly as he was, but he’s certainly a better prospect than Brett Robin or Rex Burkhead, and I like Burkhead.

Toadvine might be on to something, but if I was McGuffie, I would have transferred to UH and let the spread out offense create the space to accentuate my speed.

He’s not a novelty act. There’s a reason the kid had the offers he did coming out.

Dear Lord, I love this post.

I have no idea what you said about the game – doesn’t matter anyway, it’s Rice.

Kraftwerk and Transformer Owl. I’m done for the day. Too bad it’s not Friday already…

Wow. Bama line does seem high. Even though their opponent was 117th out of 120 in rushing defense last year. And their opponent only had one win versus and FBS team last year.

Oops… 119th out of 120 not 117th.

Giggle inducing whilst informative as usual. Definitely needs a picture from Hungover Owls. If anyone wants to see what happens when good content makes it to the mainstream, go have a gander at the UT/OU comparison written for BC that was posted on the Bleacher Report section of the Houston Chronicle website (congrats on making the big-time?). The comment section confirms that sad truth that good analysis in the truly public arena only serves to whip the mouth-breathers into a greater froth. Saying OU has a clear advantage at DE is indicative of years of crystal meth abuse.

“I don’t believe he should have been ranked as highly as he was, but he’s certainly a better prospect than Brett Robin or Rex Burkhead, and I like Burkhead.”

Burkhead, Brett Robin, and Sam McGuffie. What an odd mix of players. I can’t possibly think of something that would link all of them together somehow.

“Yeah, because if there’s one thing that Greg Davis is known for it’s adjusting on the fly.”

This is actually something I’ve thought about – GD deserves most of the criticism he gets, but at the same time I think we-who-are-too-largely-invested-in-the-horns mainly remember the failed drives over the last few seasons and forget a lot of 80 yard scoring drives. We have been one of the best second-half comeback teams in football due in large part to halftime adjustments.

So, not to go all echeese, but I think GD is close to an average OC. What he lacks in designing a coherent scheme with sufficient constraint plays, I think he makes up with decent in-game adjustments. After we’ve been stuffed a couple of times, he seems to find a way to put up points – even with a frosh at the helm against Alabama.

“Fear this animal, Nkwopara!”

Ha!

Texastough, that was more an attempt at humor than anything, however there was a grain of truth to it in my opinion. While I do think Davis has done a decent job of making halftime adjustments in the past, I don’t think he does a very good job of adjusting on-the-fly, that is to say, from one series to the next or even one quarter to the next. Also, for every game in which he has made good halftime adjustments, he has games where he has also failed in that arena (anyone remember OU 2007?). I do think he is a decent OC, and he does have some strengths but I don’t personally consider in-game adjustments one of them.

That is some really awesome facts about owls… I wonder if pregame bailiff suggests that the team put on their “Count Dracula cape and glare faces” to show Texas what is in store for them .. …40 minutes of evil owls

The Rice Owls beat Texas 24-19 (or something) in 1997. That spelt (sic) the beginning of the end for John Mackovica (sic).

1994, imo.

Kraftwerk. Nice.

This phrase is not getting enough love. Legit LOLs.

“Burkhead, Brett Robin, and Sam McGuffie. What an odd mix of players. I can’t possibly think of something that would link all of them together somehow.”

All three would have been OK takes as third down backs.

When comparing white players, no matter the sport, you MUST compare them to another white player….This is standard sportscasting 101.

I’ll just leave this here…

http://hungoverowls.tumblr.com/

Adam should be starting games.

When comparing white players, no matter the sport, you MUST compare them to another white player….This is standard sportscasting 101.

If it’s a problem, it’s a problem that most fans also have, and I suspect coaches as well.

I remember the flap when it was alleged that white NBA players worked harder than black players (using Larry Bird as the white example, and Isiah Thomas and (I think) Magic Johnson disputing that). I posed this serious question to co-workers: Can you name a black NBA player whom you would say is fundamentally sound above all other attributes?

The best we could come up with was Rodney McCray.

Nkwopara jokes never fail. I can still see that hawk animating off of Muschamp’s ball hawk shirt and carrying him off.

“Can you name a black NBA player whom you would say is fundamentally sound above all other attributes?”

Tim Duncan

Yeah, I mean don’t they call him “The Big Fundamental”?

“The Rice Owls beat Texas 24-19 (or something) in 1997. That spelt (sic) the beginning of the end for John Mackovica (sic).”

1994 game actually. So sadly it did not bring about the end. I was there. Thurs night game in Rice stadium with rain. We had two kickoffs to us fall between the levels and get recovered by Rice.

This was about 25 years ago, people!!!

But, the point is proven.

That rainstorm was a preview of Alison for the Houston area. At one point, the San Jacinto River caught on fire – a gas line broke under all the pressure from the flooding and something sparked it.

It destroyed a number of homes in the Baytown/Channelview area. Property values actually went up afterwards.

Utterly miserable night.

I think the 1994 loss to Rice was on a Sunday night (Oct. 16), the week after the OU game (Oct. 8). Either way, it was a miserable game.

It was a horrible night. I watched from the Rice student section of all places. The rain and wind actually picked up when we had the ball in the second half (really). I think we were about 20-22 rushing. Ndukwe Kalu launched his career with 18 sacks of Morenz (who started despite James Brown engineering the upset of OU the week before). Dropped passes galore. I think Mike Adams got suspended because he ran his car into a business on the Drag late at night without texting (something happened to cause suspensions at any rate, there was reportedly a lot of team dissension). Playing that game on a Sunday for the exposure is something I also point to as evidence that jumping up and down when TV whistles isn’t always a good thing. Texas just set Rice up for a mid-season bowl game. Mackovic later claimed to have been suffering from post-concussion syndrome.

What a mess of a night.

Thankfully the roof will be closed Saturday. If not for protection from inclement weather, any chance Nkwopara gets carried off and digested into a pellet will be greatly diminished.

Schoolchildren could dissect Nkwopara pellet and learn a great deal about human physiology.

Is Clipper Cooper from the Houston area?

The 1994 game was classic Mackovic. He’d rather lose with his guy than let James Brown come in and save the day. Something was clearly wrong with Morenz but Mackovic just wouldn’t want somone other than him to save the day.

The Two kickoffs were totally ridicoulous, i remember sitting in the stands watching it like it was in slow motion. Both went to the exact same place, Texas has a huge gaping whole in its coverage at about the 35 yard line. Typical of a Mackovic run team.

“I think the 1994 loss to Rice was on a Sunday night (Oct. 16), the week after the OU game (Oct. 8). Either way, it was a miserable game.”

Pretty sure the Rice game was before OU because the 94 OU game was when James Brown had his coming out party and, from then on, Morenz never saw the field again.

The 1994 Rice game was moved to Sunday night and nationally televised after MLB went on strike. Izzo and Kalu looked like all Americans. Mackovic’s response, “you can’t beat Rice every year” Those were rough times on the 40. BTW I have been looking for years for individual game stats from 1994? when we mase every single running back look like an All American (Salaam, Curtis Martin, Bam Morris, some dude from Lville, etc.)

Line’s already up to 30 1/2. I expect it to hit 32 1/2 or higher by Saturday. It might be worth it to take the Over instead in case Rice shows some surprising stuff. Hey, who knows, it’s not like they have anything to lose so they might wing it all over the place.

Put me in the Under camp. 49-3, imo.

they might wing it all over the place

In that case, take the under.

I have a feeling Tech will win these ball game, and I sure hope I am right. Otherwise, we will have to hear about Boise State all year long and why they “deserve” to be in the national championship. I do feel both teams are overrated and both will benefit on each other’s “overrated” rank. Should be an offensive shoot out in my opinion.

i just realized I left that under the wrong topic..well on point with the subject at hand. Rice won’t present much of a challenge as usual. Look for a chance for Gilbert to get warmed up and pad his statistics a little bit.

Is BC hosting/sponsoring a tailgate at Reliant on Saturday? If so, where?

I think there are masses of people like me, who happen across varied strong blogs or sites by fortune. Your site appears to hold a good community and a sound blogosphere presence. Its healthy to have absorbing and different positions on issues.

Iubirea este raspunsul, dar in timp ce astepti raspunsul, sexul ridica niste intrebari bunicele. Woody Allen