Army has close win with lowly Rice
Rice, far from a powerhouse, gives Army a run for its money.
Last year, Rice's was 2-11. They had blow out losses to Houston, Hawaii, Southern Mississippi, Wake Forest, UAB, North Texas, and LSU. Their offense ended up ranked 125th. Their defense 106th. But they just ended a close game with Army.
If Michigan can get two blow out wins to start the season, it could help the new offense hit its stride, and the young defense gain confidence.
Good reason to be happy about your team.
Go Blue!!
August 30th, 2019 at 10:59 PM ^
Are you saying that you are not concerned? Millions of dollars in psychology and psychiatry bills have been generated from fears expressed on this blog about Army for >4 months, and now you are trying to convince us to not have any concern? This - concerns me greatly.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:04 PM ^
LOL, that's funny. Thanks for the good laugh after a rough day at work!
August 30th, 2019 at 11:00 PM ^
I’m still concerned
August 30th, 2019 at 11:48 PM ^
I ain't scurred.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:51 AM ^
Anybody who has paid any attention would know that Army isn't going to blow out teams. They're just going to eat clock and give you little opportunity to score points.
Just look at their last touchdown drive. 18 plays. 96 yards. 9 minutes 21 seconds.
Yeeeeesh.
August 31st, 2019 at 5:50 AM ^
They won their bowl game 70-14 but other than that I tend to agree.
August 31st, 2019 at 7:27 AM ^
They scored 70 points in their bowl game... Rice is so bad, they should accidentally blow them out. They did not. They did not crack 300 yards. They did not crack 5 ypc. They held the ball for 35 minutes.
Rice is awful. Michigan is not Rice.
August 31st, 2019 at 9:42 AM ^
Early in the season so who knows how good rice is this year. Every year can be completely different in college football but yes I think Michigan should have no trouble with Army.
August 31st, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
Rice went 2-11 last season, and ranked in the bottom 10 both offensively and defensively. I’m not sure how much improvement you think they can make. They’re not good. I can pretty much guarantee it. Maybe they make the jump to 5 or 6 wins. That’s still a .500 mid-major. Not good.
That being said, of you can’t move the ball on Rice, you’re probably not going to do so against Michigan.
August 31st, 2019 at 8:29 AM ^
As a counter, the fact it took them 18 plays to score against Rice is not a good sign either.
Army is slow but on a per-play basis last year they were around 5.5 too (teams like Duke, Texas, and UCLA were in the same vicinity). Rice was in the MSU/Rutgers territory of 4.8 ypp. In this game Army averaged 4.4 ypp. So against a terrible defense they really struggled to move the ball, and were helped that Rice couldn't get anything on the board either. That won't remotely be the case against UM.
I think Army is good but they went something like 8-2 in 1 score games the last two years. That's part of their system yes but part of it can just be you can get blown out if the other team doesn't shoot itself in the leg.
August 31st, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
Speed in space would seem to suggest that UM won’t need lots of oppportunity to score.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:01 PM ^
I'm concerned that you didn't think this was discussed in the "Army is Playing Rice on CBS Sports Network Right Now" thread, 6 down.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:03 PM ^
I am concerned that points stopped working.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:16 PM ^
A meaningless +1 to you!
August 31st, 2019 at 8:35 AM ^
August 30th, 2019 at 11:07 PM ^
I was very surprised at this score
August 30th, 2019 at 11:09 PM ^
Yeah but on wisc looked pretty good.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:28 PM ^
Yeah, after tonight I’m not scared losing to Army.
After tonight, I’m scared of:
1) The health of our lineman’s knees against Army; and
2) Wisconsin
August 31st, 2019 at 1:53 AM ^
USF looked rough. I turned it off halfway through the 2nd, but their WR's were dropping passes like they were hot. Heard Eddie McDoom's name a couple times but he doesn't make the box score.
August 31st, 2019 at 7:32 AM ^
He dropped a deep shot where he was open. It hit him squarely on the hands.
August 31st, 2019 at 8:08 AM ^
Wisconsin looked really good, but USF also looked reeaaallly bad. I suspect Wisconsin is back to to their top 10ish ways, but they still look like a running team with a mediocre QB to me
August 31st, 2019 at 9:10 AM ^
I’m scared of stopping Taylor. On a side note that kid has rushed more times than any college player should have at this point. His poor body is gonna be beaten down by draft day.
August 31st, 2019 at 8:23 AM ^
Wisconsin is a much, much bigger threat than Army. However, if UM bottles up their RB then that should translate to a win.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:13 PM ^
The Horror and Toledo reminds me that nothing is a sure thing.
Besides, if you go by overall record Army should win.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:47 AM ^
To be fair, this team ain’t the 3-9 team that lost to Toledo.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:13 PM ^
I should have included this in the post: Oklahoma had an even worse defense than Rice last year:
August 31st, 2019 at 12:08 AM ^
Didn't OU have the worst defense of literally every P5 program last season?
August 31st, 2019 at 12:18 AM ^
I think no. But it was bad.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:40 AM ^
Ok, just worst of the Big 12 then.
August 31st, 2019 at 8:35 AM ^
Texas Tech (three spots lower than Oklahoma) says, "Hi!".
August 31st, 2019 at 8:56 AM ^
Dammit, completely overlooked them somehow.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:15 PM ^
Beat Middle Tennessee
Beat Army
Etc
August 31st, 2019 at 7:58 PM ^
Beat. Middle. Tennessee. State!
August 30th, 2019 at 11:18 PM ^
Worry more about Wisconsin, they just beat the living holy hell out of USF in a game everyone thought they'd struggle in. Hard to not to see Jonathan Taylor gashing Michigan's D line in a few weeks.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:22 PM ^
Linebackers will have to be up to the challenge. Focus on the run make them beat us through the air.
Also score massive amounts of points.
August 31st, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^
Also score massive amounts of points.
Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:30 PM ^
USF was ranked 104th in total defense last year, 122nd against the run. No surprise they weren't able to contain Taylor.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:39 AM ^
I'll worry about the tough environment. There's no doubt it will be a difficult game to win. And Taylor will worry me no matter how tough our defense is.
But I'm not going to worry about them over the fact that they just beat the tar out of a team coming off a second to last place finish in the "mighty" American Athletic Conference. And what's this about everyone thinking they would struggle in this game? Against South Florida?!? Did South Florida suddenly become this respectable powerhouse of a program while I wasn't looking?
August 31st, 2019 at 12:59 AM ^
You might not have read the betting thread from a day or two ago. If some of those comments were accurate, then a lot of people on this board lost money tonight betting on USF to cover. Night game on the road, humidity, new QB (who is boring, but likely an upgrade from Hornibrook anyway), had everyone feeling pretty confident it was either going to be close, or an outright upset.
Wisconsin is going to be back to form after having a lot of terrible injury luck and some locker room issues last year, and Harbaugh's teams don't exactly have a stellar record in tough road environments.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:59 AM ^
Double post
August 31st, 2019 at 2:00 AM ^
"everyone thought they'd struggle in"
I predicted Wisconsin would cover. Mantis thinks they're going to struggle a bit this year, but I think they'll be what they always are.
August 31st, 2019 at 7:14 AM ^
Wisc looked solid yesterday. I was expecting USF to make that a tight game, even a scary game.
August 30th, 2019 at 11:32 PM ^
Lowly Rice!? It’s a staple food for a large part of the world!
August 30th, 2019 at 11:50 PM ^
Lol
More anglocentric arrogance - and right when we thought we were making progress...
August 31st, 2019 at 12:36 AM ^
Can confirm.
Source: I'm Asian and I will never go keto.
Edit to add: Fuck xOSU.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:20 AM ^
Last year Army lost to Duke by 20 to open the season and couldn't move the ball on the ground like they were accustomed. It's Game 1 and it takes time to get things going full speed, especially with a precision offense like that and especially when you don't have an inordinate talent advantage.
If Michigan can contain the flexbone offense and my guess is Army will operate it better after this week, they should be just fine. If not, all bets are off. Rice only ran 44 plays in the football game despite Army's poor offensive output.
As an aside, the Rice offense is a great example of thinking the scheme is more important than the talent. You can't run that offense if that's the guy you have at QB. They ran for 6 yards a carry (which is exactly what you want to open up big pass plays) and that guy couldn't hit a high school boot route.
August 31st, 2019 at 12:32 AM ^
Last time they lost was in OT in Norman last September. Might not wanna take em lightly.
August 31st, 2019 at 2:05 AM ^
Rice is awful. They are one of the top 10 worst FBS teams. That said, Army was looking ahead to our matchup with them and will likely be ready. We better be ready.
August 31st, 2019 at 7:16 AM ^
I'm sure Army kept some things vanilla for this game, but we will be BIG favorites next week. I have zero concern for that game.