What-the-f$%^ Rice wins

[SWC2010]

The streak ends!!! Rice beats Tulane 42/34. Thanks, silk. I was thinking about tulsa getting bowl elgible while typing this upset

[Silk]

Actually, it was Tulane they beat.
And Okie State beat Texas Tech.

[Vitale]

Considering we beat Rice and lost to Tulane, is this good or bad?
I'm happy for Rice, I suppose. We all can attest to the fact that a winless season is tough on the fans.

[Buckethead]

The best part of Rice stopping there streak is it wasn't against us.

[Mustangs35SMU]

Wow...

Just wow...and how on earth did we lose to Tulane?!

[couch 'em]

Well if Rice beat them, it is clear that we didn't run the ball enough.

[Hoop Fan]

Tulane has been living on the road for 2 months now. They are clearly not the same team that played us early in the season. The Tulane team that was in Dallas was far too talented to lose to Rice this year.

[Sam I Am]

I've been a Hatfield fan for a long time and have seen Rice as the antedote to all the excuses making we've made about the problems of winning at SMU. Quite possibly Hatfield has finally lost his effectiveness with the Owls and will have to move on. Too bad SMU played Tulane early in our schedule becasue look at them now.

[SMU Football Blog]

Tulane has been living on the road for 2 months now. They are clearly not the same team that played us early in the season. The Tulane team that was in Dallas was far too talented to lose to Rice this year.

They've been sleeping in the same beds for two months at least. They haven't had to wake up wondering where they were going to practice. They have been able to practice regularly. None of that could be said when Tulane played SMU.

This only highlights how disappointing the loss at home to Tulane was. Tulane has two wins. One to a I-AA team and one to SMU. That is probably how they are going to finish the year.

The SMU team that played Tulane was flat. The offense was its usual terrible self. The defense was terrible, too. The team had no energy and allowed itself to get pushed around by a homeless team.

Think about this: If SMU had won that Tulane game, and it irritates me that it didn't (and it offends me they way they lost it), and if SMU had beaten ECU in a game at home in which it was favored, SMU would be 5-4 and 4-2 in conference. SMU would then be 5th in conference USA and needing to win one of its last two to be bowl eligible. The last two games would be challenges, but they would be meaningful games in November. I can't excuse these two losses. And nobody else should either.

[Bergermeister]

Tulane couldn't help beating us with the pathetic, lackadaisical effort put forth by the home team that day.

[Hoop Fan]

Tulane has been living on the road for 2 months now. They are clearly not the same team that played us early in the season. The Tulane team that was in Dallas was far too talented to lose to Rice this year.

They've been sleeping in the same beds for two months at least. They haven't had to wake up wondering where they were going to practice. They have been able to practice regularly. None of that could be said when Tulane played SMU.

This only highlights how disappointing the loss at home to Tulane was. Tulane has two wins. One to a I-AA team and one to SMU. That is probably how they are going to finish the year.

The SMU team that played Tulane was flat. The offense was its usual terrible self. The defense was terrible, too. The team had no energy and allowed itself to get pushed around by a homeless team.

Think about this: If SMU had won that Tulane game, and it irritates me that it didn't (and it offends me they way they lost it), and if SMU had beaten ECU in a game at home in which it was favored, SMU would be 5-4 and 4-2 in conference. SMU would then be 5th in conference USA and needing to win one of its last two to be bowl eligible. The last two games would be challenges, but they would be meaningful games in November. I can't excuse these two losses. And nobody else should either.

sorry but youre crazy if you don't think Tulane's situation hasn't taken a giant toll on that team as the season has gone on. Adrenaline is huge in a situation like that and they ran out of it weeks ago. Losing to a HORRIBLE Rice team proves it. SMU played both of them, so I am perfectly objective, not trying to spin it either way. Our win over Rice does not look bit one more impressive at all for them beating Tulane at this point. Rice sucks bad this year, and Tulane has fallen apart but they were bigger, stronger and faster than SMU across the field, unlike Rice. Tulane is a better football program than we are (by the way they were favored by 4 at our stadium) and they came to play that day. Even if we played better, we would have still lost because Tulane came on a mission and had better talent period. I guess we could sit here and wish that Tulane wouldn't have played hard and well, but they did.

[SMU Football Blog]

The players that are "bigger, stronger and faster than SMU across the field" still are and still are coached by the same coaches. Those same players lost to Navy by four (FOUR) touchdowns. They moved twice in the month before playing us but that had less to do with their ability to play than the two months they have had to spend in dorms at La Tech.

I can't believe we have to argue this point. That Tulane team has been in shambles all year; not just the last six weeks. The only IA team that couldn't take advantage of it was SMU. Even Southeast Louisiana could score three touchdowns on them seven days later, but that was just too much for SMU because they were "bigger, stronger and faster."

Call it what it is: a missed opportunity. SMU didn't lose because Tulane was "bigger, stronger and faster," SMU lost because it played like CR@P.

[Stallion]

I don't have any doubt that Tulane had a much better football team than SMU and would have contended for a bowl in this really weak CUSA West. No doubt whatsoever. Don't think any of us can comprehend what they have been through and how it has ruined their training schedule. They've also had some major injuries to several of those players who spent the afternoon in SMU's backfield.

[SMU Football Blog]

I don't have any doubt that Tulane had a much better football team than SMU and would have contended for a bowl in this really weak CUSA West. No doubt whatsoever. Don't think any of us can comprehend what they have been through and how it has ruined their training schedule. They've also had some major injuries to several of those players who spent the afternoon in SMU's backfield.

I don't have any doubt about that, either. I think before Katrina, I had them 2nd in the West ahead of Houston and Tulsa-we talked about this.

But a lot of the damage was done in August and September-not OCTOBER. I can't look at a team that has given up at least three touchdowns in every game except against SMU and just throw up my hands and say "Gosh, they are just that much better than SMU." If a I-AA team can put up 21 points seven days later, can we not at least expect SMU to do about as well, and if we can expect that, is it out of line to ask "why didn't we?"

[Hoop Fan]

you really think the Tulane team took the field in Dallas that day would have lost to Rice? That Tulane team played with energy and determination that day, and they had talent. That team beats SMU 8 or 9 times out of 10, no matter how WE play. It sure looks obvious that they have really fallen apart at the season has gone on. They havent had a home game all year, try that for a whole season, its demoralizing once the adrenaline of the tradegy wore off I'm sure. Plus they probably felt somewhat comfortable in Dallas after living here for weeks and actually had some fans at our game. That may or may not have been a factor, but it probably was.

I lament the ECU choke alot more than not getting a gift from Tulane by them playing terrible.