The State of Rice Football...

Orginally posted on http://cornfedsports.blogspot.com/

Rice football has had a formidable last two seasons....

2006- Todd Graham's first and only season as Rice's head football coach. The Owls go 7-5, 6-2 in C-USA. Recieve first bowl bid since 1961. Lose the New Orleans Bowl 41-17. Graham bolts to become head coach at the University of Tulsa.

2007- David Bailiff becomes the head coach the 18th head coach in Rice University's football history. Enter James Casey, Cheta Ozougwu, and Scott Solomon. Casey is a former Chicago White Sox farmhand. The 23 year old freshman "TE" catch 46 passes for 585 yards and 4 TDs, rushed 45 times for 121 yards and 5 TDs, passed 7 times connecting on 2 for 32 yards and 1 INT. Ozougwu a part of the freshman starting defensive ends along with Solomon recorded 43 tackles, 26 solo and 17 assisted. Solomon recorded 49 tackles, 30 solo and 19 assisted. JR WR Jarett Dillard caught 79 passes for 1,051 yards and 14 TDs. JR QB Chase Clement accounts for 3,912 yards of total offensive. 3,377 passing, 29 TDs, 16 INTs, and a 127.44 passer rating. including a conference record 601 total yards of offense in the season finale against Tulsa. The Owls finished the season 3-9, 3-5 in C-USA.

The future in some departments looks great for Rice, Casey, Ozougwu, and Solomon are a solid foundation to build upon. Clement and Dillard each have one more season left to work some more magic. Rice has several incoming prospects, most intriguing is QB Ryan Lewis out of Baton Rouge, LA. Lewis is a 6'2" talented southpaw, who runs a 4.6 in the 40. Rumor has it that Rice is in the running for JUCO CBs out of California to sore up the defensive back corps. I will try to keep the updated as news becomes available.

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Cougar2000All-American

691 days ago

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The problem with Rice football this year? They weren't very good, although they did give Houston and Tulsa fights before losing. As for the Owl football program, they have to compete with not only the REAL C-USA school in Houston, they have to do battle with UT, A&M, Tech, Baylorprudesandmurderers, UTEP and SMU and that's just in the state of Texas. Add to that list Prairie View (which was respectable this year!) and that PVAM wannabe next to UH (Texas Southern) and the problems for Rice manifest themselves.

Am I advocating that Rice dumb down their entrance requirements? No. I tried to get into Rice and couldn't and wound up at UH. Add to it the fact that tuition at Rice is about the same as the cost of a new car and you can almost see the argument.

To go from 7-5 and a bowl game in 06 to 3-9 now is sad. Having 11,000 at your school's last game of the season doesn't help things either. Granted, it was Thanksgiving weekend and some of the student support was not there. I think Rice made a mistake in leaving the WAC to come to C-USA. Maybe they should think about being an independent for a while.

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