Rice going to New Orleans bowl

Eagle1855 · November 28, 2006

just heard this on the radio this morning...

Anyone in Houston hear the Sports Radio 610 interview with Todd Graham this morning?

What a class act. I hope we can find a guy like that for NT

VideoEagle · November 28, 2006

What a class act. I hope we can find a guy like that for NT
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Yes, this is the kind of guy I’d love to have at NT. They are out there, but you have to look for them.

stebo · November 28, 2006

It's official (from CUSA site):

Under first-year head coach Todd Graham, Rice (7-5) is tied with SEC West Champion Arkansas as the most improved team in Division I-A. The Owls will make their first bowl appearance since the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on December 23 at 7 p.m. CST. Rice will face the champion of the Sun Belt Conference (either Troy or Middle Tennessee) in the game and will carry a six-game winning streak into the bowl. Rice is led by sophomore WR Jarett Dillard, a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award who has caught a nation-leading 20 touchdowns and has scored in 14 straight games, the second-longest streak in NCAA history.

"We're excited to have what we feel is the hottest team in the conference right now, " said Billy Ferrante, R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Executive Director. "Rice's proximity to New Orleans, enthusiasm, and anticipation of its first bowl appearance in many years should translate into an electric atmosphere in New Orleans."

The AutoZone Liberty Bowl, GMAC Bowl and Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl will be televised by ESPN, while the PapaJohns.com Bowl and R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl will air on ESPN 2.

By the way, Rice will end the season in third place - they are tied with E Carolina but they beat them in the head to head so they are the third place team. So we got 3rd place CUSA against 1st place Sun Belt - lets see how far we have come along...

Edited November 28, 2006 by stebo

NT91 · November 28, 2006

We get to eat Rice in 2007!

Eagle1855 · November 28, 2006

We get to eat Rice in 2007!
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that's not going be as favorable a matchup as we might have thought! Hard to believe it, but they were two points away from playing for the C-USA title this year

I'm looking forward to it. Its a big game for us, though I cant say I ever thought I'd be saying that!

Edited November 28, 2006 by Eagle1855

jperg2 · November 28, 2006

So what happened, earlier this week (i.e. yesterday) we had 3 SBC teams listed on various Bowl Projections... Troy, MTSU, and ULL. Now we are only going to the NO Bowl. Jeez... that sucks!

SOURCE: http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=451&p=2&c=557866

VideoEagle · November 28, 2006

So what happened, earlier this week (i.e. yesterday) we had 3 SBC teams listed on various Bowl Projections... Troy, MTSU, and ULL. Now we are only going to the NO Bowl. Jeez... that sucks!
SOURCE: http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=451&p=2&c=557866
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I think the story on Scout is wrong. I think a bowl has to take a 7-5 team over a 6-6 team, unless there was a PRIMARY conference tie in to the bowl. I think Motor City’s primary ties are the MAC and the Big 10.

stebo · November 28, 2006

I think the story on Scout is wrong. I think a bowl has to take a 7-5 team over a 6-6 team, unless there was a PRIMARY conference tie in to the bowl. I think Motor City’s primary ties are the MAC and the Big 10.
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You are right and the story is wrong. The only exception that could be made is if the MAC had two 7-5 teams and the bowl chose to play them against one another rather then choose a Belt team. I don't think that has ever happened and I wouldn't expect it to happen this year. But the new NCAA rules say that there can only be two primary auto-bids to each bowl and if the conference cannot fill their spot, the back-up invites CAN be 6-6, as long as there aren't any alternatives AT LARGE sitting at home at 7-5... if there is a 7-5 team, they have to take them over a 6-6 secondary invite team.