The toughest part about labeling teams as good or bad is that some teams seem to be both. It’s also why any team can beat any team at any time. It happens so often that bad teams on a good day upset good teams on a bad day. It also happens the most when the bad team is at home and the good team is on the road. Which, when you break it down that way is why I’m also not ready to label us a good team or Memphis a bad team yet. I think Navy will give us a run for our money (pun intended) and I think UCF could struggle at Memphis.
What we can/maybe/possible conclude is that the AAC is possibly just fair to good this year !!
Of course, the same can be said about 60% of the so called P5 teams…every year.
I believe last year was the first year that the AAC had 3 teams ranked in the AP and Coaches poll at the end of the year. If it happens again this year, it not only should mean that our conference is improving but also others are taking notice to it.
bad on the road, good at home.
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Not sure how we can tell. So far their home games have been against Mercer, Georgia State, South Alabama and UConn. But yes, they are objectively bad on the road, having played only 2 road games, losing both.
How about splitting the difference. An average team that is better at home than on the road. 
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Or better yet…
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beating barking dogs means zero…they lost to average teams on the road and beat terrible teams at home…They lost to Tulane badly…They lost to an average Navy team. Theyll lose to UCF, probably badly, and theyll lose to Mizzou. They likely lose 1 or 2 more games among Tulsa, SMU and ECU before we play them. They do NOT have a good team, not REMOTELY as good as previous 3 years. This is a game we should be expected to win.
So take UCF and give the 5 points? I think that is a solid bet even on the road.
Tulsa and Rice are a combined 0-9 against the FBS. That means you only have one game to point Houston vs Arizona, to say we have a good team. It’s not exactly a deep resume.
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You obviously flunked history 101. It is not too late to get back into your history books.
I 100% agree that our stadium should be full for every home game. Here is a good article about ECU.
http://www.reflector.com/ECU/2017/10/06/Attendance-in-focus-in-AAC.html
Here is the thread that Pray started:
Granted it is a different market altogether. Chris Pezman lived through the Astrodome later years. I feel he has the right mind to change an attitude that reflected(s) most commuter Schools around the nation. Ticket sales is always a catch 22 situation. Do we want to give away seats and have a full stadium or pricing tickets reflecting the market? The discussion can go on and on.
Do you remember when Toyota started selling Lexus at a lower cost than what it cost them to produce them? Yes, they were convicted of dumping. How many Lexus are sold today? It happens more often than you think. Can we “buy” a fan base? Can we economically support it? Yes it is far fetched but there is one number that is astronomical. Our Alums living in the Houston area. It makes absolutely no business sense that we can’t seem to generate more fan base. How are political campaigns run? Through analytical data that are then “exploited” I have no clue if we have ever contacted an “outside” party. In case we have not I suggest that we find a way to “contact” the 100’s of thousands of U of H Alums within a 500 mile radius. Find out why they do not & why they attend games. This is not cheap but the rewards can be limitless. I keep writing it but when is our Bauer School going to be involved into solving this business issue? In case it is my apologies. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over & over again. There is one stat that does not add up. We are the third most supported program in Texas. So why are we averaging such a low attendance? Knowing our Alums, knowing our market, knowing our potential is at the core of our future. We can erect a couple of statues or two but winning SWC Championships while mostly on probation is by itself an amazing accomplishment. Our SWC Championships banners & major bowls victories should be displayed front and center in & outside of the stadium. A small banner is pointless. Being proud of our past is to be proud of what’s to come.
So, they question is “Are we a good bad team” or “a bad good team”? 
I think both CMA and CMD know what they are doing. Whether what they are doing is the right thing to do is another question altogether. It looks to me like CMA has told CMD to ditch the bend don’t break stuff and get on the attack. It looks to be working. I will see how the season plays out before I decide what I think of our progress on the coaching side.
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Wait, are you saying the French aren’t still French?
BTW here are Rice’s conference championships:
| Year | Conference | Coach | Overall record | Conference record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Southwest Conference | Jimmy Kitts | 9–1–1 | 5–1 |
| 1937 | Southwest Conference | Jimmy Kitts | 6–3–2 | 4–1–1 |
| 1946† | Southwest Conference | Jess Neely | 9–2 | 5–1 |
| 1949 | Southwest Conference | Jess Neely | 10–1 | 6–0 |
| 1953† | Southwest Conference | Jess Neely | 9–2 | 5–1 |
| 1957 | Southwest Conference | Jess Neely | 7–4 | 5–1 |
| 1994† | Southwest Conference | Ken Hatfield | 5–6 | 4–3 |
| 2013 | Conference USA | David Bailiff | 10–4 | 7–1 |
† indicates a shared conference title.
Here are UH’s conference championships:
| Year | Conference | Coach | Record | Conference Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Missouri Valley Conference | Clyde Lee | 8–2 | 3–0 |
| 1956 | Missouri Valley Conference | Bill Meek | 7–2–1 | 4–0 |
| 1957 | Missouri Valley Conference | Hal Lahar | 5–4–1 | 3–0–1 |
| 1959† | Missouri Valley Conference | Hal Lahar | 3–7 | 3–1 |
| 1976† | Southwest Conference | Bill Yeoman | 10–2 | 7–1 |
| 1978 | Southwest Conference | Bill Yeoman | 9–3 | 7–1 |
| 1979† | Southwest Conference | Bill Yeoman | 11–1 | 7–1 |
| 1984† | Southwest Conference | Bill Yeoman | 7–5 | 6–2 |
| 1996† | Conference USA | Kim Helton | 7–5 | 4–1 |
| 2006 | Conference USA | Art Briles | 10–4 | 7–1 |
| 2015 | American Athletic Conference | Tom Herman | 13–1 | 7–1 |
† Co-champions
It is silly to compare how many they won in the entire history of the SWC when we were only in the SWC a short time and were therefore not eligible to win. But their total conference championships are 8, ours is 11.
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No sir. Straight student in history but I don’t like the French which was my reference.
Mike
Good post. The defense is definitely feeling the effect of the offense pace…UH is running 3.22 plays per minute. By far fastest pace in nation. 2nd team is at 2.97. It is a huge part of why we are facing so many plays on defense.
TOP works like this…either you use the time or the opponent uses it.
UH is snapping ball in about 18.50 sec approximately…if they slowed to say 20.50…that would use an additional 2:37 of clock…that other team couldn’t use. UH opps run 2.50 plays per minute on avg…so that’s 6.55 plays less. If we held it for 4 secs longer…same pace as TT…would double to 13.10 plays less defense would see per game.
I don’t think it is silly. When talking about the football history of a school, you talk about the history. All things, teams ebb and flow between greatness and insignificance.
The whole point was to show the SWC might as well be ancient history. Whether it is early SWC or late SWC, the conference is dead and has been dead for a long time.
Can’t believe I just read that.
Rice was overall 5-6 and was “conference champion.”
WOW!
Talk about a participation ribbon.
Tough to celebrate that “championship” when you weren’t even bowl eligible.
The banner still hangs today though.
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The real winners were on probation and therefore ineligible. The actual cheating back then was extreme. Reggie Bush barely did anything by comparison to some of the stuff in the SWC.
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