Rice is Terrible. Always

Tulane picked up a decent win last night- if just because they were something steady like 0-10 on the road heading into the contest- by felling Rice 70-53. One plus of being a Tulane fan- and there are admittedly not many- is that when the Green Wave wins a road game, you are just about guaranteed a fun read in the opponent's local paper, where their coach absolutely kills his team focus and effort and damns the Wave with faint praise. There is a great example here: "Wilson blasts Owls' effort after defeat".

It was sort of a semi-important win too- as now this time next week the Wave has a real good chance- in fact, it is pretty probable- that they'll be .500 in the League. They get Marshall & SMU at home. I realize the Wave is no lock to beat a non-Division I team- for example, literally St. Whatever- but Marshall & SMU frankly bring to mind those biblical injunction concerning "the wretched of the earth."

Of course, the next four tilts after that are probably hopeless. The Green Wave is normally terrible on the road. And they are not beating Memphis unless an asteroid hits the Tiger bus. So it would be kind of miraculous to get even one. But at least they could be four up/four down going into that challenging stretch. It is more than I thought possible after some of the early games.

The recruiting train rolls ahead for football- bringing some hope to a truly barren roster. It is tough to tell about a team until at least the spring- and you get a look at who is still there and who is moving in. But my gut feeling is next year is going to be a disaster. Two, three wins again: four or five bad, candidly uncompetitive spankings- five teams scoring north of 40- another three north of 30- but without the "Katrina excuses". Other than wide receiver- name one position collective that projects better than average in C-USA? Maybe DL? Ugh- I don't know. I increasingly think a lot of things said and written about our young DL stockpile are Kool-Aid. See- I saw them play against Rice.

The defense is catagorically going to be worse than 2005- and that is saying something. The offensive line, which I thought was pretty okay last season, loses two “all league” players- plus some other starters. Forte and Ricard have shown little in fifteen or so games.

It isn't hopeless. Ricard is clearly the key. While he showed nothing last year- he's clearly had flashes in the past. The League is horrid. Get three starts like UAB in 2004 and four more more like Army in 2004 from Ricard- and there are wins, some, out there.

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