If the Big 12 wanted to bring up its GPA, what better school to help it than Rice. Rice fields a competitive football team that runs the option. Houston is a huge recruiting base for the Big 12. And having Rice would stretch us out from Ames, Iowa to Houston. Baylor offers little in terms of academics, and even less when it comes to sports. They bring absolutely nothing to the table, and they haven't won a conference game in 3 years. Bring on the Owls.
Not for a loooooooong time, at least. Rice is on the schedule for 3 years, 03-05 I think. If the team & boosters want games in Houston, I imagine they'll play the Owls 3-5 times a decade.
Rice can't compete in a major conference in anything but baseball at this time. Their admission standards severely limit the pool of athletes they can recruit from. There's no reason they can't field a competitive basketball team, but a serious football program is out of the question. Hopefully the new hoops arena gets the go-ahead soon & they can begin to improve that program. I'm sure the Big12 would love to be in Dallas or Houston, but there's just not a suitable school in either city. Rice also really doesn't need the $$$ that major conference membership would provide, it'd be nice, but they get by just fine. Now, if they can get Arkansas or LSU to defect, then maybe Baylor gets the boot.
Baylor has great baseball, woman's basketball, and track & field programs. Their men's basketball is on the upswing and I think the softball team is good as well. They ain't leaving the Bix XII, and definitely not for Rice. At least Baylor's been to a friggin' bowl game.
Rice has a great defensive player in Brandon Green and I've heard he could be the darkhorse for the NCAA defensive player of the year if he can keep his diabetes in check. His diabetes are what's going to keep him out of the NFL, most probably, but he'd probably go in the first 3 rounds next year if he didn't have it.
No way does Ark. or LSU come to the Big XII. They fit in perfectly with the rest of the Tier III backwoods universities in the SEC like Ole Miss, MSU, Auburn, etc. Baylor brings nothing to the table, IMO. There was talk a few years ago about TCU (when they had LT), but they have since joined CUSA. Mizzou has been rumored to be moving to the Big 10 for a long time.
I agree there's an infintesimal chance those schools leave the SEC. Alls I was saying was that it makes no sense to replace Baylor with another small institution, whether it be TCU, SMU, Rice, Tulane or even Tulsa, Colorado St, New Mexico, Utah etc..., when the effect on conference athletics would be negligible. The only way Baylor leaves is if a large athletically attractive school is interested, ala the 2 I mentioned. I haven't heard anything about Mizzou being unhappy in the Big12; and I always thought that Notre Dame would eventually be the 12th member of the Big 10.
Tonight Fresno @ Wisconsin. I'm taking Fresno although Wisconsin will come out fired up after losing to Fresno at home last year. With or without Carr, Fresno's dangerous.
I'm with you RM95, I'm pumped about football! I believe Fresno State vs #23 Wisconsin is on ESPN tonight. Fresno beat Wisconsin last year so it should be good.
Oops, I didn't see your post Smokey! I'm going with Fresno in an upset on the road. Wisconsin is one of the most vulnerable top tier teams in the country over the years.
The stupidity of your posts really amaze me from time to time. I think that Auburn has a pretty good reputation in the country when it comes to engineering schools. I also believe that Ole Miss has a pretty solid reputation for academics. Pretty good for backwoods...
"OSU apparently has some super-stud true freshman RB (name?)who'll be starting - something Archie Griffin & Eddie George didn't do. Pretty impressive. " Maurice Clarett the USA today player of the year last year. He is a stud. He may not get a ton of carries this year (we legitimately have 4 good TBs). Good news for Clarett is all of our FBs are hurt or suspended so he will get extra time with our 2 back sets. As for scouting OSU our O-line was suppose to be a strength but we are already sufferinf injuries. We have a thin O-line and have a fifth year senior (who was a walk on) starting at guard this week, shows how bad we are there. Still we have some horses in B. Bishop, Olivea and Stipanovich (going to be a great center). One of our better WRs (Vance) is suspended. But we have plenty of depth there. Our biggest question mark is again QB. Krenzel seems like he will be effective, but if we can't block up front we could be in trouble. Defensively OSU is a top tier program. Mike Doss is the best safety in college football this year. Will Smith is a monster at DE. Cehck out Wilhem at MLB, he is a new Chris Spielman, always around the ball. Only question mark is at CB, which TT could exploit. I wouldn't be surprised for it to be close but I really expect to see OSU run the ball relentlessly and win by 20+. But have fun to any TT fans coming to the game. I'll be tailgating from 8am til game time then afterwards as well! War Buckeyes!
Auburn has the #63 engineering program in the nation. Sounds like they have a pretty good reputation, huh? http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/engineering/phd/topprogs_withphd.htm Come to think of it, I don't see Ole Miss on this list at all....
Er, hello, McFly. Vanderbilt is #47...are they backwoods?? or how about Yale, Baqui?? They are #49. They surely in hell can't have a solid reputation for engineering can they?? I say if you made the top 100 of that list, you have a *good reputation*. Funny, how only Texas and Texas A&M were ahead of Auburn. I guess that means all the other Big 12 schools are *backwoods* like Kansas State, Nebraska, and Texas Tech, etc. And dude, can you not read ? I never said that Ole Miss was an engineering school. I said they had "a pretty solid reputation for academics." And funny but another "backwoods" school according to the great Baqui in LSU made your list of top engineering schools. I feel so stupid for engaging in this *meaningful* debate, so you'll excuse me for moving onto more stimulating stuff.
After last season, Florida St. isn't taking anyone lightly, especially Iowa State. This is their statement game to tell the nation - "we're baaack." The local cable company here in Tallahassee purchased 4 days of Fox programming just so most people in town could see the FSU game this weekend...it's a big deal. I'm looking forward to wasting my Saturday night doing nothing but watching the pigskin fly. Now to get tickets for Notre Dame-Florida State and Florida-Florida State; both of those games are going to be very tough tickets here at FSU.
Stupid penalties cost Fresno the game last night. The worst play had to be the offsides on the missed FG attempt, giving UW a first down. My prediction: the Big 12 will show today why they're the best football conference in the country. Watchout FSU! Lets roll
