Tulsa Unanimous Choice to Win CUSA West

[MustangIcon]

Plus we get 3 bowl teams from the East. All in all about as difficult as a CUSA schedule as you could get trying to get out of the cellar-except we don't get ECU I guess-so we got that going for us.

You are right in that our schedule as a whole is pretty d@mn tough. 8 of the teams on our schedule this year were bowl teams last season. The 4 that aren't are Texas State, Rice, UTEP, and Tulane.

[SMU Hockey 2010]

And UTEP with Vittatoe starting at QB.

And Rice with the Clement-Dillard combo. Again.

Crap.

[Stallion]

while SMU was busy filling up its roster with midget QBs, Phil Bennett passed on Vitatoe who I thought was an excellent prospect who had won a State Championship and had incredible accuracy and athleticism. He was still there with ZERO offers late in the recruiting season until UTEP offered late. He really came on last year-probably improved as much as any player in CUSA.

[Mustangs35SMU]

SMU picked 5th in West

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/articl ... Tuls082038

Fair rating. They have to go prove it on the field.

100% agree.

[CalallenStang]

And UTEP with Vittatoe starting at QB.

And Rice with the Clement-Dillard combo. Again.

Crap.

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being most, this is how scared I am of Chase Clement at QB:

0

[Stallion]

Well then you aren't very knowledgeable-the kid can play and has brought Rice back to victory on numerous ocassions over the last two years. BTW anyone notice that Rice had 4 players on the All CUSA team voted by the Coaches. Brian Raines is another guy that made play after play against SMU on our last ill-fated trip to Houston-earning CUSA Player of the Week recognition. 10 Solo tackles-11 Total-2 Forced Fumbles and a Fumble recovery. Oh yeah, Raines was the guy who chased down DeMyron Martin and made what turned out to be the game winning tackle at the-what yard line was it? hmm-oh yeah the one yard line.

[CalallenStang]

Well then you aren't very knowledgeable-the kid can play and has brought Rice back to victory on numerous ocassions over the last two years.

Stallion, I've seen the kid play at least as much as you have over the last two years. And while you were following this kid's recruiting on Rivals, I was watching him play high school ball. I'm not afraid of Clement.

Am I afraid of Dillard? Heck yes...but if we can shut him down and make Clement beat us by himself, he can't do it.

[George S. Patton]

These pre-season ratings are a lot of water cooler talk. Go out and play the games and see what happens.

[Stallion]

He deserves a heck of a lot more respect than saying you are not concerned about him at all. Here's what he did against SMU last year:

Threw for 364 and rushing for 124 to lead an Owls rally at SMU one week after being named the Co-Offensive Player of the Week in C-USA for his effort against the Miners

Here's his bio-and let's not forget that almost every victory in Rice's first bowl team in 45 years was a 4th Q Comeback.

http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:ur ... cd=1&gl=us

[CalallenStang]

He deserves a heck of a lot more respect that saying you are not concerned about him at all. Here's what he did against SMU last year:

Threw for 364 and rushing for 124 to lead an Owls rally at SMU one week after being named the Co-Offensive Player of the Week in C-USA for his effort against the Miners

Concerned about him? Yes...about as much as I am concerned with most QBs...I just don't think he's any better than average. Therefore, I'm not scared of him.

Shut down Dillard, force Clement to beat you by himself, and he suddenly doesn't look as good.

We didn't shut down Dillard last year. If you let Dillard run all over you, Clement looks a lot better than he really is.

[George S. Patton]

If our offense makes one first down at the end of the game last year, we would have won that. But because we were so bad on defense, we blew it.

Clement made some plays, but I don't remember Rice's defense exactly shutting us down.

[jtstang]

But because we were so bad on defense, we blew it.

I am concerned about defense this year.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Rice also gets safety Bencil Smith back, after he missed last season with an injury. He was the guy that intercepted JW's hail mary in 2006, to put yet another knife in the hearts of SMU fans.