21 Years of Futility against Rice

[Dooby]

A lot of teams have thrown out the "We had a real tough nonconference schedule, but now that we are in conference, we think we are in a good position." card. Bennett tossed it out there more than once. To my recollection, Rice is only team that has ever actually pulled that off. Their 2006 team lost 5 of its first six games (1-3 nonconference-only win against Army) and then proceeded to win six straight. That was a different coach with different players.

For SMU to accomplish its goals for this season, this is a game SMU has to win. Jones and the team know this. We have five games in October, with three on the road; we need to win 4 of 5. Or if you break it down in 1/3's, we need to win 3 of 4.

[RGV Pony]

that was Darrell Dickey's m.o. at NTx. o-fer non conference then win em all in conference

[Dooby]

that was Darrell Dickey's m.o. at NTx. o-fer non conference then win em all in conference

Well, NTSU was in the sunbelt; only way to schedule was up. During the 4 year bowl run, they still managed to mix in a I-AA team and an expansion Troy (not yet in conference).

[George S. Patton]

Mark it down:

We will win at Rice. We have the better team. In every game we have played this year, I have yet to see where this team was not prepared to play. Against better teams in Tech -- I'd like another shot at them now -- and TCU, we just didn't have the personnel or the depth to sustain.

And what we see from an athleticism standpoint for the rest of the year will look nothing like what we saw against TCU.

If we prepare for this week like we have for all the others -- there's no reason to think we won't -- then we'll be fine. We might misfire to start because of a little TCU hangover, but we'll get past it and move on.

We will win down there and safely return the Mayor's Cup back to Dallas.

Go Mustangs.