Thanks for the writeup!

One problem for Rice is that our OL is going to be only slightly worse than last year's; it's big, fast, and athletic with several future NFLers, and an underrated aspect is that defenses are afraid to break through it because then Johnny starts running, which is almost never a good thing for the defense.

Behind that line is as good a stable of running backs as there is in college football. Trey Williams is the fastest guy on almost any football field and a 5-star recruit; Ben Malena is uber-dependable, shifty and powerful; Brandon Williams is another 5-star guy who has it all at the RB position; Tra Carson is a bowling ball transfer from Oregon, and we have a big-time freshman in James White.

At QB we have Johnny Football. Behind him we have bigtime recruits Kenny Hill and Matt Davis, with Joeckel apparently looking as good as anyone (except Manziel) in spring ball.

At receiver, we started with Mike Evans (a big, talented guy who put up a 1,000 yards in the SEC as a freshman), then added a haul for the ages. 4 and 5 star players all over the WR corps. At some point you'll see a 4-wide set with 6-6 juco standout TE Cam Clear, 6-5 and number one WR recruit in the nation Ricky Seals-Jones, 6-5 Mike Evans, and either a 4.4 slot guy or one of the other 4 receivers above 6-2.

I hate to sound arrogant, but there are only a couple teams who can even slow our offense down, and Rice is not one of those teams.


On defense, you may have more luck especially early in the season. We'll probably already be prepping for Bama a little bit, and it will be our first game of the season with a ton of new faces on defense. We graduated a lot of our starters especially in the front 7. The DL will need a few games to settle into a rotation; there is existing talent and tons of freshman talent, but expect to see some experimentation with scheme and personnel that Rice may be able to exploit. We lost a lot at linebacker, but Steven Jenkins is a certified BAMF. We've got plenty of talent and speed, but it will again take some doing to adjust to the losses of Sean Porter and Jonathan Stewart. Our defensive backfield should be good, but I'm not sure whether Deshazor Everett and Floyd "The Raven" Raven will be available for the Rice game. We still have talented sophomore De'Vante Harris and loads of super fast guys back there. Alex Sezer is a DB I'm particular excited about; a 5'9 180 pound chunk who graduated high school early as salutatorian and is one of the fastest players in college football.

Here are the amount of points Sumlin has scored on the Rice coach over the years.

72
31
72
42

We will score 60. Relax.

OP, thanks for a good post. but, if you're from Rice,then you were smart enough to know in advance all the s*** you were gonna get in response.

enjoy the game

Thanks for the scouting report, but a little word of advice for your own self esteem and expectations:

The Aggies will roll, i'm talking destroy your owls. It will not be close, but yes you might get to evaluate some units on your team. For your own sake, and trust me I appreciate you rooting / pumping sunshine for your team, but A&M is on another level bud. Just saying it so you won't expect the Owls to win or even close, bc then you're setting yourself up for disaster. Gotta be realistic first.

We do try to go to other boards in advance of upcoming games and provide some scouting reports as many of other fans come to our board and do the same. Have done it at UCLA, Kansas, Purdue, Baylor, Vandy, and other C-USA teams, etc. over-the-years. Just try to get some actual football discussion going vs. the noise that usually exists. Has been a bit disappointing here compared to other teams boards where they have ~95% of the posts/replies being constructive and about the team/game/players/schemes/etc.. Alot more noise here.

Our board is called Parliament (a group of Owls) and is:

http://csnbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=444

To answer prior questions, our OL averages about 6-4 and 300 lbs. They are big and experienced as a unit. We will move the ball. We put up 33 first downs against La Tech last year (only common opponent). Our DL is smaller. Closer to 6-4/260 w/ our top guy out. I do think that will be one of primary difference makers in the game is your OL vs. our DL. They play hard but just not physical enough to match-up against A&M OL. I do expect to see us stack the box up w/ man on outside to counteract this weakness to get extra/unblocked guys on RB and QB. Our CB's are good enough to lock down to get away w/ this approach...but won't be enough over four quarters but do think we can get a few three and outs.

I anticipate a 56-21 type of game.

Owl - if future top 10 draft pick DBs can't cover A&M receivers what on earth makes you think your rag tag bunch of 2 stars stand a chance in hell?

I honestly believe we could spot rice 28 points to start the game and still cover the ~4 TD spread

owl - that's why this place is called the zoo. After the disaster of a decade that was the remaining years of R.C., Fran / Sherman, this place took a turn for the worst and doesn't look like it's getting better any time soon. So just try to ignore the posts you don't like and get the sparse football related posts where you can. Just the nature of this place.

[This message has been edited by Tamu_mgm (edited 8/20/2013 1:10p).]

Owl40, stacking the box and playing man outside is a recipe for disaster. Johnny will run for days while db's have their back fo him covering receivers.

Only problem is, other defensive strategies leave other things open for Johnny and the badass runners and receivers we have. Hell, just typing this I realize how grateful I am that it isn't my job to try and stop the 2013 Aggie offense.

EDIT---Also, my above statement about Johnny running is only on plays where receivers aren't open, which is pretty unrealistc, too. When u think of what it will be like to play against this Aggie offense, just YouTube "stoops cotton bowl 2013".

I like Rice a lot and hope you have a great season, but I dont envy you guys being our first opponent after the offseason we've had.

[This message has been edited by snowdog90 (edited 8/20/2013 1:31p).]

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If we can withstand the crowd, noise, game speed, etc. of the 1Q and keep it close, I think we have a chance to surprise some people…not necessarily with a W but with a competitive game that can have many Aggie fans concerned about the rest of the season….

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[This message has been edited by BlackLab (edited 8/20/2013 1:24p).]

Our team will not overlook Rice or SHSU.

They won't overlook Rice because I'd imagine they are kind of insulted by both their Coaches & AP rankings, all the offseason ESPN manufactured drama, and all of the talking ESPN heads calling them overrated. They will come out to set the world on fire and Rice will be ready to go home after a quarter.

They won't overlook SHSU for all the same reasons above, and because SHSU had some dirty plays against our guys last year and brought the trashtalk in Bush league style in a game that was played rather recently (last November). I doubt our guys have forgotten that.

Owl40, Thanks for taking the time to write that up about your team. It is much appreciated.

I actually attended every Rice game from about 1989-2004 as my family would sell chair-backs and programs at the games. I remember being told to leave my dad(Texas Alum) alone after Rice beat Texas in 1994 (thought we were Rice fans, not that day apparently).

Anyways, I wish y'all luck this year. I see this one being very one sided and over early. Player v Player, Rice's strengths are not stronger than A&M's weaknesses. But I hope both teams get alot out of the game, leading to successful seasons to both.

56-14 Ags

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Just try to get some actual football discussion going vs. the noise that usually exists.

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You flatter this board by calling what has gone on here as noise. I am surprised many of our posters can still spell football after this off season and all the drama surrounding it. Thanks for the info.....8/31 can't get here fast enough!!!!!

"ROGER - OUT"

Appreciate the write up Owl. Don't get your feathers ruffled over some of the bull**** on the board. It's the zoo, it's what we do. It means we like you, but think your optimism while precious, is misplaced.

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We will move the ball

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No, you won't.

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Our CB's are good enough to lock down to get away w/ this approach

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No, they're not.

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we can get a few three and outs

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No you won't.

the nature of the pace of the game that we play dictates they will move the ball some...that along with the players they return makes it almost a certainty...that however does not necessarily translate into points...esp td's....i do expect quite a few fg's with the owls kicker though

I think Rice will be able to move the ball, but as the game goes on our depth, size, speed, and coaching will start to catch up on the that side of the ball.

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Our CB's are good enough to lock down to get away w/ this approach...but won't be enough over four quarters but do think we can get a few three and outs.

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Again, I try not to be disrespectful, but no they are not. We have multiple future NFL players at WR. Huge, fast guys and lots of them, the kind that can only be covered when there is great pressure from the front 7. We have at least 7, probably 8 guys that any team in the country would love to have. Even if you have two future NFL all-pros at the corners, we're going to run 3 and 4 wide all game.

JFF is going to come out pissed off and put up 400 yds by half time on you. He will use you to prove he is better than last year. Your DL will be crushed and our RB/JFF will run rampant all over you. Then they will go over the top of you. You literally may let us score 70 if we try.

[This message has been edited by Aggie_2463 (edited 8/20/2013 3:01p).]

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DB
Our best position on D. We have two all-conference CB's who will be playing in the NFL (Gaines and Callahan). Gaines was named as pre-season defensive player of year in C-USA. That allows us to overcome some our other issues up-front as we can load a bunch in the box and have guys who can lock down outside the hashes

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Pleeeeease load a bunch in the box and put single coverage on Mike Evans and RSJ.

Please.

cue the video of evans pushing down OU defender and running on his way...

haha was this all a fackingg jokee

quote:

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the nature of the pace of the game that we play dictates they will move the ball some...that along with the players they return makes it almost a certainty...that however does not necessarily translate into points...esp td's....i do expect quite a few fg's with the owls kicker though

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This is solid. Remember how many total yards Arky had vs. us? They came fairly close to equaling our total for the game yet they only ended up with 10 total points. Yards =/= TDs, and Snyder has proven that time and time again. His defenses will bend, but they are hard to get a TD against.

^^^ shut up agswag

Good info Owl...Good Luck..hope you guys play well and don't get anyone hurt..us either.

Thanks for sharing Owl. I appreciate the facts(stats) of the post and understand your optimism (keeping it close/better than expected showing), but in my opinion, it is going to get ugly.
I wish Rice well starting week 2 and thanks for sharing.

A&M 63
Rice 17

Thanks as well Owl. Not everyone here is a a-hole. Only about 98%.

[This message has been edited by T-Bone Pickens (edited 8/20/2013 4:11p).]

Arrogance is unattractive whether clad in orange and white or maroon and white.

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Have done it at UCLA, Kansas, Purdue, Baylor, Vandy, and other C-USA teams, etc. over-the-years. Just try to get some actual football discussion going vs. the noise that usually exists. Has been a bit disappointing here compared to other teams boards where they have ~95% of the posts/replies being constructive and about the team/game/players/schemes/etc.. Alot more noise here.

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I have to say...maybe it's because Rice had much more of a chance against those teams you mentioned. There's a lot more noise here because I don't think anyone here expects this game to be remotely close...and honestly...rightfully so. These two teams are on completely different spectrums talent wise. You would probably get a similar response if you all played Oregon, Bama, Georgia, etc. and posted this on their board.

With that said...I appreciate your write up and wish Rice the best through the rest of the season. Looking forward to our match up.

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we actually beat UCLA last year after the first six min of game

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Laugh/cry

Who brags about this kind of stuff?

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Rice has a four ft tall RB....

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... And you forget to mention that his IQ is about 30 points higher than yours (and I may be underestimating). And that he is a harder worker than you will ever be. And that he is on a D1 team while earning a degree from the best university in Texas...

Posts like this and the ignorance that clouds CStat are the reason why many smart hometown kids choose Rice of A&M. Looking forward to the game Saturday but not to encountering many fans like the ones on these forums.

Biff, all in all the conversation with owl40 has been pretty tame for the zoo. Why stir the pot, troll?

Good notes op. we're looking forward to the game. Forgive the, "we're too good for you comments."

Loved owls Aggies games in the SWC, and was sorry to see it end. It will be fun. AGS by 35. Texas is blessed with several great universities, including A&M and Rice.