Texas trophy for AAC?

cousin oliver · June 29, 2023

Hunter Green · June 29, 2023

It will be interesting to see if Rice will start investing in football like their cousins to the north. Smut needs a private rival.

NT80 · June 29, 2023

11 minutes ago, Hunter Green said:

It will be interesting to see if Rice will start investing in football

Rice does need to up their game. Otherwise they are just like Vanderbilt = football cellar dwellers.

What is that team labeled Dallas? NO such school exists!

El Paso Eagle · June 29, 2023

3 hours ago, Hunter Green said:

It will be interesting to see if Rice will start investing in football like their cousins to the north. Smut needs a private rival.

3 hours ago, NT80 said:

Rice does need to up their game. Otherwise they are just like Vanderbilt = football cellar dwellers.

What is that team labeled Dallas? NO such school exists!

I think the biggest obstacle for Rice is, and I would almost guarantee, they will not change or lower their academic standards to bring in an athlete like SMU did. Now, if they start investing, they could possibly have a shot at being the G5 version of Stanford.

untphd · June 29, 2023

4 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

Might there be a traveling trophy?

JT Hammons · June 29, 2023

Looks like Memphis and UAB have a rivalry. Did not realize that.

THOR · June 29, 2023

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

I think the biggest obstacle for Rice is, and I would almost guarantee, they will not change or lower their academic standards to bring in an athlete like SMU did. Now, if they start investing, they could possibly have a shot at being the G5 version of Stanford.

they shouldnt lower their standards. rice is an amazing institution that should not cater to sports.

El Paso Eagle · June 29, 2023

4 minutes ago, THOR said:

they shouldnt lower their standards. rice is an amazing institution that should not cater to sports.

I agree and hope they never do, but seeing them invest in athletics would be nice.

Mean Green 93-98 · June 29, 2023

42 minutes ago, JT Hammons said:

Looks like Memphis and UAB have a rivalry. Did not realize that.

Memphis has played North Texas more times than UAB (20 vs. 15), and the rivalry (if you want to call it that) goes back much longer (1960 vs. 1997). That said, UAB has historically done much better against Memphis than we have (10-5 vs. 3-17).

NT80 · June 30, 2023

2 hours ago, THOR said:

they shouldnt lower their standards. rice is an amazing institution that should not cater to sports.

Rice used to be a football power back in the 50's, thus their huge stadium. But if they now don't intend to compete fully and seriously in sports at the FBS level then they should not be taking up space in a major FBS conference.

GrayEagle · June 30, 2023

8 hours ago, NT80 said:

Rice does need to up their game. Otherwise they are just like Vanderbilt = football cellar dwellers.

What is that team labeled Dallas? NO such school exists!

It's the University of Dallas wannabe.

GrandGreen · July 1, 2023

On 6/29/2023 at 5:30 PM, El Paso Eagle said:

I agree and hope they never do, but seeing them invest in athletics would be nice.

Not sure what standards are being referred to, Rice probably doesn't have a handful of men scholarship athletes that would be accepted at Rice unless they were athletes.

Texas Stranger · July 1, 2023

On 6/29/2023 at 9:54 PM, GrayEagle said:

It's the University of Dallas wannabe.

Which is in Irving. And UTD is in Richardson.

97and03 · July 2, 2023

On 6/29/2023 at 8:35 PM, NT80 said:

Rice used to be a football power back in the 50's, thus their huge stadium. But if they now don't intend to compete fully and seriously in sports at the FBS level then they should not be taking up space in a major FBS conference.

Well they do have a national championship this century (baseball) which is more than anyone else in this conference can claim.

NT80 · July 2, 2023

8 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

Well they do have a national championship this century (baseball) which is more than anyone else in this conference can claim.

What is this "baseball" sport you speak so fondly of?

Is any school in this conference allowed to play it, even UNT??

97and03 · July 2, 2023

44 minutes ago, NT80 said:

What is this "baseball" sport you speak so fondly of?

Is any school in this conference allowed to play it, even UNT??

Honestly I don’t support adding baseball until we have our shit together in general (weight room and AC expansion, center court for tennis, etc), but it is definitely a big deal in college athletics. I hope we can responsibly jump into it when we can.

untphd · July 4, 2023

9 minutes ago, GrayEagle said:

I don't see how you could do that. This year we play SMU and UTSA but we do not play Rice. I doubt that there will be a year when we play the other three. The only solution might be a committee that selects the top Texas team.

That sounds like it is on the right track.

Cougar King · July 4, 2023

On 6/29/2023 at 5:25 PM, THOR said:

they shouldnt lower their standards. rice is an amazing institution that should not cater to sports.

Rice actually did an experiment during the SWC where they lowered their standards to get better players. It didn't go well.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Cougar King

NT80 · July 4, 2023

1 hour ago, Cougar King said:

Rice actually did an experiment during the SWC where they lowered their standards to get better players. It didn't go well.

So, curious, do many private schools lower their standards for athletes? Notre Dame, Stanford, Vanderbilt, TCU?

Cougar King · July 4, 2023

5 minutes ago, NT80 said:

So, curious, do many private schools lower their standards for athletes? Notre Dame, Stanford, Vanderbilt, TCU?

Yes but not drastically. For example Richard Sherman was the salutatorian of his high school class and graduated with a 4.2 GPA. If he didn't play football, he likely would not have gotten into Stanford since people with higher GPAs have gotten rejected.

The problem for Rice, is that most of the talented athletes that also happen to be smart mostly go to Stanford. So Rice has to recruit the guys who are smart enough for Stanford but don't have nearly as much athletic talent.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Cougar King

NT93 · July 4, 2023

7 minutes ago, NT80 said:

So, curious, do many private schools lower their standards for athletes? Notre Dame, Stanford, Vanderbilt, TCU?

You can probably look at their won-loss record and determine how much they lower their standards.

Edited July 4, 2023 by NT93

GrandGreen · July 5, 2023

On 7/1/2023 at 12:11 PM, GrandGreen said:

Not sure what standards are being referred to, Rice probably doesn't have a handful of men scholarship athletes that would be accepted at Rice unless they were athletes.

As much as I appreciate the negative feedback, how about actually debating the issue.

If you think the Rice athletes are representative of the academic status of the rest of the student body, present your data.

I have no doubt that they are superior students relative to the norm of the AAC or CUSA leagues', but not even close to their fellow students at Rice.

LongJim · July 6, 2023

https://riceowls.com/news/2023/6/23/general-rice-student-athletes-shine-bright-with-academic-success-in-conference-usa

"Rice University's student-athletes have achieved remarkable academic success throughout their membership in Conference USA since 2005. Their outstanding achievements exemplify Rice's commitment to excellence both on and off the field.

Rice Athletics has been honored with 14 out of 18 C-USA Institutional Excellence Awards, underscoring their consistent dedication to academic excellence within Conference USA.

This remarkable milestone is a testament to the fact that Rice student-athletes have demonstrated unparalleled success not only in their athletic endeavors but also in securing rewarding careers, with a remarkable 100% career placement rate.

Among all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institutions, the Rice Owls proudly hold the fifth overall ranking in the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR), a testament to their commitment to fostering well-rounded student-athletes. Additionally, the Owls have consistently surpassed expectations, achieving an impressive 83% FGR (2012-2015 Cohorts) compared to the national FBS average of 69%.

In its final year in C-USA, a record-high 89 Rice student-athletes were awarded the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal after compiling a GPA of 3.75 or better, with 49 of them posting a perfect 4.0 GPA this year.

Additionally, Rice student-athletes maintained an impressive cumulative GPA of 3.44, and 298 were named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll. Since 2005, Rice student-athletes have been honored over 4,000 times as members of the honor roll reflecting their commitment to achieving academic success alongside their athletic pursuits.

Rice University's student-athletes have consistently set the standard for academic success in Conference USA over the past 18 years. Their exceptional achievements are a testament to Rice University's commitment to nurturing well-rounded individuals who excel both athletically and academically."

GrayEagle · July 6, 2023

On 6/29/2023 at 7:35 PM, NT80 said:

Rice used to be a football power back in the 50's, thus their huge stadium. But if they now don't intend to compete fully and seriously in sports at the FBS level then they should not be taking up space in a major FBS conference.

I believe that Rice will invest perhaps a similar amount of money as they did in their SWC days. I can see why they didn't want to invest big dollars into CUSA; it just wasn't worth it. Now, is different. They are competing with "private" schools on the same level. I believe that the AAC has more private universities than any other FBS Conference with SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, and Navy, with Rice making the fifth. All have been at the lower level except for SMU.

Rice needs to find a Jess Neely type coach and let him build a contender. I expect Rice to bend their academic requirements only slightly at the most with only Navy in contention for extremely high grades.