Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
The Rice Owls were inexplicably bad in 2009, coming off a 2008 campaign that featured 10 wins including the Texas Bowl. They came back to earth hard, going just 2-10- losing their first nine before knocking off Tulane and UTEP at the end of the year.
The question then becomes, just which Rice team is going to show up this year? No team in Conference USA has as many starters coming back (9 on offense including QB Nick Fanuzzi, and 8 on defense) as the Owls do, and their schedule is not an insurmountable one.
Schedule
9/4/2010 vs. Texas
9/11/2010 at North Texas
9/18/2010 Northwestern
9/25/2010 Baylor
10/2/2010 SMU
10/9/2010 at UTEP
10/16/2010 Houston
10/23/2010 at UCF
11/6/2010 at Tulsa
11/13/2010 at Tulane
11/20/2010 East Carolina
11/27/2010 UAB
The Owls are keeping it close to home this year, with all four non-conference games being played in Texas. They should be superior to North Texas; a loss there could be bad tidings for the rest of the season. After that though, games against SMU and UTEP should establish what we can expect from Rice through the rest of 2010.
Coaching
David Bailiff has three years under his belt at Rice with a 15-22 record, after spending 3 years in charge of 1-AA Texas State. There is no indication that he is in the hot seat- last year was bad, but the first 10 win season since 1949 (only the second ever) seems like it should buy Bailiff time to settle things down.
Rankings
Conference USA does not issue media or coaches preseason polls. Rice does not figure in the national polls.
Outlook
If the ten win season was a bit of a fluke, so too was the two win one. C-USA West certainly looks like it’s going to be Houston and a fight for second place, but I think Rice could be in the mix for that spot. However, I think Rice will need to get through six games at 3-3, and that will mean beating one of SMU, Baylor, and Northwestern to pull that off. If they do, I think they get to 6 or 7 wins and into a bowl game. If not, 6 could be tough to scratch up, although a balanced 5 win season is a big step forward from 2 a year ago.
Rice Connections
The Parliament- NCAAbbs message board
Houston Chronicle – local coverage of the Owls