SOUND FAMILIAR?

Here are some quotes from a press conference earlier this week with Rice Head Coach David Bailiff (right):

On playing an SEC team

"Let me tell you this, in any game that we play we are going in there to win it. I don't care if it is the SEC — we're heading to Vanderbilt with the expectation that we are going to win. We're not going to change what we do offensively or defensively. You see what East Carolina has done: they've gone in there with a swagger, a determination that they are going to achieve something out of conference. That has to be the mindset — you can't just turn it off because we're leaving our conference and going to SEC country."

On coaching at a top academic school

"To me that's not a challenge, that's wonderful. You can take 75-percent of the recruits in the country and they can't come to Rice, and they probably can't go to Vanderbilt. It lets you narrow your focus on the ones that are great fits. I really think that's a positive and that's how we approach it here. We're going to get guys that are great fits academically and athletically. If you do your homework — you're out there [on the field]. That's why recruiting is going so well for us: because of our approach. I'll bet you that's what Bobby [Johnson] is doing too — they had seven guys last year from Vanderbilt that were either drafted or went into the NFL. That hasn't happened [by accident]. It's happening because he's embraced Vanderbilt. I think that's how you have to do it — you can't sit around and worry about it, you have to improve on what you have."