Gator Country

Chompsuey · 03-20-2013, 10:52 PM

Texas OOC schedule
2013 BYU, New Mexico state, Ole Miss
2014 North Texas (See BAMA) , BYU, UCLA
2015 ND, Rice, Cal
2016 ND, Utep, Cal
2017 Maryland, UCF, USC
2018 Maryland, USC
After that they will play OSU again, Arky, and ND. The love fest for aggy is unreal just because they are now in the SEC. UT is the superior school and as you can see from the full OOC schedule the reason aggy isn't being discussed.

gatorev12 · 03-21-2013, 12:41 AM

The reality is: Texas is the flagship university of that state and, like Florida, will almost always be the alpha dog among the other universities.

I dare say that if f$u switched conferences and left the annual rivalry game up in the air--with Florida responding by cancelling it altogether and scheduling other OOC opponents, many people on here would celebrate and applaud the move. The vast majority of Gator fans would completely back Foley for coming out and saying "we didn't know what they were doing and we didn't want to wait around to find out either...there were good opponents who wanted in and we took it."

It's a little disingenuous for A&M saying they didn't want to end the series...that might well have been the case, but it's not like they could guarantee the annual Thanksgiving fixture would be held open at the time the series was cancelled--the SEC hadn't even begun to start readjusting schedules at the time.

**HungaryGator** · 03-21-2013, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorev12

The reality is: Texas is the flagship university of that state and, like Florida, will almost always be the alpha dog among the other universities.

I dare say that if f$u switched conferences and left the annual rivalry game up in the air--with Florida responding by cancelling it altogether and scheduling other OOC opponents, many people on here would celebrate and applaud the move. The vast majority of Gator fans would completely back Foley for coming out and saying "we didn't know what they were doing and we didn't want to wait around to find out either...there were good opponents who wanted in and we took it."

It's a little disingenuous for A&M saying they didn't want to end the series...that might well have been the case, but it's not like they could guarantee the annual Thanksgiving fixture would be held open at the time the series was cancelled--the SEC hadn't even begun to start readjusting schedules at the time.

Where the analogy fails though is that aTm is as old as UT and is as big and has oodles of its own money and is in the AAU etc etc. sow is not as old as UF, not as big, not as highly ranked academically and sow was the one that had to go whining to the state government for UF to give them a game. UF did not seek that.

and I for one would applaud dropping fsu as an annual opponent right now so that we too could schedule intersectional opponents. I'd be just fine with only playing them occasionally as we do with scUM......of course having seen several Texas fans whining about our much tougher schedules since we don't play out of conference teams outside the state on a Tuesday when Venus is in its 3rd phase and Punxatawny Phil has seen his shadow or whatever other BS random criteria certain whiners who play easier schedules than UF want to try to use, I am not particularly inclined to cut them any slack for refusing to play aTm. I think they're just chicken. What goes around comes around.

Chompsuey · 03-21-2013, 05:54 AM

75-37-5. Texas owns the series. Definitely chicken.

**gatorchris** · 03-21-2013, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atlantagator86

While I get what your theory is here, I think it's actually working in reverse. Did you see where in the city of Austin (UTX's hometown), the TV ratings of Texas A&M were better than the ratings of Texas games head to head? Texas has already lost that "local advantage".

Keeping A&M from playing games in Texas isn't hurting them with state recruits, It's actually the biggest recruiting advantage UTX gave them.

Texas A&M can show a kid the comparable schedules and do you think a kid would rather play in-state road games against Baylor and TCU or play in stadiums like LSU, Bama, Auburn, UF, Tennessee and UGA? Do you seriously think that hurts A&M?? And how many Texas kids are going to be turned off by the idea of playing in undeniably the best conference in the country but staying in-state. Texas A&M has a HUGE recruiting advantage now.

Now whether Texas playing Texas A&M helps or hurts one program or the other is debatable. It really probably benefits both at some level. But in my opinion, not having the game is probably going to hurt Texas more than it hurts Texas A&M. Dodds may think he's hurting Texas A&M by denying them the game, but I think his stance and his arrogance about it will probably hurt Texas much more in the long run.

I didnt mention the kid, I mentioned momma, who will pick 9 games she can drive to versus 6 every day of the week. Texas is still the bigger draw in this state by a long shot. A&M has generated more buzz with the season they had and everything Johnny Football but Texas is still the team to beat for most kids here. Once Texas addresses Mack Brown spiraling the drain like Bobby Bowden Texas will be running recruiting in this area like they always have. A&M needed the B12 to blow up to really gain a long term recruiting advantage. With the B12 still in place a lot of these schools can pitch the "home" card. Oh and the arrogance card plays pretty well amongst Texas fans when it comes to A&M, think Spurriers digs at Georgia and/or TN back in the day.

A&M has some negatives that they just wont ever overcome. Their location will always be second fiddle to Texas (College Station vs Austin isnt remotely debatable), they wont ever approach the money or academics of Texas. A&M's recruiting will get a bump from the SEC shine but its just as likely that a kid will go to LSU instead of playing at A&M if they want some SEC action but want to still be close to home. Austin is almost dead center of all the populated areas of Texas. A&M is pushing to the east side of the state. I think you understate how important the local factor is.

twk · 03-21-2013, 04:16 PM

A few thoughts on this subject from an Aggie:

Dodds's reaction to A&M leaving is an understandable emotional reaction, but not an intelligent reaction. He should have recognized that getting out from the Horns' shadow and into a different conference had the potential to be a game changer for A&M, and the best way to mitigate that would have been to keep the A&M game on their schedule as an end of season fixture. Imagine if A&M and Texas had played this year--a Texas losss would have been written off as losing to an SEC power, while a Texas win would have been a huge blow to A&M's attempt to position itself as the hot choice for recruits. Now, even if the series resumes someday, it will likely be relegated to an early season matchup, as too many deals are being made within the SEC to work out the schedule for the final weekend--deals that will keep A&M from asking the SEC to accomodate Texas if they want to renew the Thanksgiving tradition.

A&M leaving the Big XII for the SEC was a classic case of finding the right fit. With three other schools in the state, including Texas, A&M was a surplus part for the Big XII, but, for the SEC, A&M was an admission ticket for one of the largest states in the country. While going from 12 to 14 has caused some headaches for the SEC, the payoff was big enough to compensate for that. Had Larry Scott been able to pull off the move he attempted in 2010, snagging Texas, A&M, OU, OSU, Tech and Colorado for the Pac-10, the landscape would have looked a lot different; so, when A&M was ready to make the move solo in 2011, the SEC would have been hard pressed to say no, and drive A&M into the arms of the Pac 10 (ultimately).

OU got rejected by the Pac 12 for one simple reason--going from 12 to 14 would have resulted in some of the northern Pac 12 schools getting shut out of Southern California, more or less. It would be one thing to pay that price if the result were a super conference that included OU and Texas, and gave the Pac 12 a signficant presence in the Central time zone (which is important for television reasons); it was quite another to take just OU and OSU, and to set loose the dogs of war on scheduling issues--think the permanent rival issue in the SEC is a pain in the butt? Try telling UW that they don't get to play in Southern Califorinia on a regular basis.

As far as comparing A&M/Texas to UF/FSU, it's really not an apples to apples deal. A&M and UF are the land grant schools--UT is not. Neither Gainesville nor Tallahassee have much in common with Austin, which is a huge metropolitain area (when you consider San Antonio is only 73 miles away, it's amazing that this region has only one major league pro franchise--the Spurs). A&M's athletic history is more like UF's history prior to Spurrier--a school that had all the resources to be successful, but never quite put it together. To be sure, there are aspects where UF and UT align more than UF and A&M, but UF and UT are hardly mirror images.

RayGator · 03-21-2013, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chompsuey

75-37-5. Texas owns the series. Definitely chicken.

But that's all in the past.

Looking ahead, again TexasA&M made the right decision in joining the SEC, and again they are a perfect fit in the SEC West. College Station being located in east central Texas they are not that far from other SEC West schools. Plus they already have a history of playing LSU and Arkansas.

The future is up for the Aggies. Meanwhile the Longhorns are stuck with Mack Brown.

Chompsuey · 03-21-2013, 04:49 PM

Twk. How do you propose UT keep aggy on the schedule if their non conference schedule is full? Why is that concept so hard to grasp. They were on the schedule because they were conference foes. You do realize most schools ooc schedules are full several years in advance right?

**HungaryGator** · 03-21-2013, 04:51 PM

Do people remember the 80's and 90's? I do. aTm was much better than Texas. aTm was a tough team year after year. Their game with LSU was must-see TV...and it was on TV every year. Meanwhile Texas went through several lackluster coaches who didn't do much. It was a really big deal when Texas upset Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game in 1996 to give us a rematch with fsu in the Sugar Bowl. Nobody expected it. Texas had frankly sucked for quite a while......

Nowhere is it written in stone that Texas will not suck again or that aTm will not return to their strength of the 80's and 90's.....

twk · 03-21-2013, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chompsuey

Twk. How do you propose UT keep aggy on the schedule if their non conference schedule is full? Why is that concept so hard to grasp. They were on the schedule because they were conference foes. You do realize most schools ooc schedules are full several years in advance right?

Texas has made multiple changes to their schedule since this went down. It happens all the time in college football. Even if there was an issue in the short term, setting the rivalry to resume when everyone's schedule cleared would have forced A&M to keep that final weekend open for whenever the game resumed. As things stand now, that door is about to be closed, permanently (or as permanently as things ever get closed in college sports these days).

atlantagator86 · 03-21-2013, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorchris

I didnt mention the kid, I mentioned momma, who will pick 9 games she can drive to versus 6 every day of the week.

I think you might need to look at a map and the actual schedules before you make comments like this.

Outside of the neutral site game with OU, Texas played 1 regular season away game in the state of Texas, against Texas Tech which is 6 hours away. Baton Rouge is only 5 and a half hours from College Station.

So last season, Texas played 8 regular season games in the state of Texas, plus the bowl game for a total of 9. Texas A&M played 7 regular season games in the state of Texas, plus their bowl game, which is a total of 8 games played in the state of Texas.

And while Momma makes the decisions for some kids, most moms want to keep the school their child attends in state and closer to home. I don't think I've EVER heard a mother comment on road game location being a factor. It might have happened, but I've never heard of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorchris

Texas is still the bigger draw in this state by a long shot. A&M has generated more buzz with the season they had and everything Johnny Football but Texas is still the team to beat for most kids here. Once Texas addresses Mack Brown spiraling the drain like Bobby Bowden Texas will be running recruiting in this area like they always have. A&M needed the B12 to blow up to really gain a long term recruiting advantage. With the B12 still in place a lot of these schools can pitch the "home" card. Oh and the arrogance card plays pretty well amongst Texas fans when it comes to A&M, think Spurriers digs at Georgia and/or TN back in the day.

A&M has some negatives that they just wont ever overcome. Their location will always be second fiddle to Texas (College Station vs Austin isnt remotely debatable), they wont ever approach the money or academics of Texas. A&M's recruiting will get a bump from the SEC shine but its just as likely that a kid will go to LSU instead of playing at A&M if they want some SEC action but want to still be close to home. Austin is almost dead center of all the populated areas of Texas. A&M is pushing to the east side of the state. I think you understate how important the local factor is.

There is no doubt that Texas will always have some advantages, especially location. But these 2 schools are a LOT closer in every other way that you seem to realize. Both are HUGE with over 50,000 students. Texas has a $7.2 billion endowment while A&M has over $5 billion. Both are HUGE compared to most schools and much higher than UF. Both schools are AAU with excellent academic reputations. Both are talking about expanding their stadiums to 115,000 capacity.

These 2 schools are comparable in almost every way. Other than location and culture, I don't know where you think the real differences are. And lets be honest, real academics matters to very few of these kids.

As far as recruiting, I have to assume you don't follow it very well if you don't see the spike A&M has had in recruiting, and it's not just Johnny Football. The spike happened right around the time Texas A&M was announced to the SEC and several kids who would have been locks for Texas have publicly stated that switched to A&M because of the SEC. This past year, A&M had the #11 recruiting class versus Texas at #24, but in fairness that was largely due to the size of their classes. But A&M has actually gotten comparable talent to Texas in the last couple of classes.

I think the SEC card trumps the location card. Texas A&M is now on equal footing with Texas in recruiting, maybe even about to pull ahead. If you don't see that, I don't know what to tell you. It's not for everybody, but there will be a LOT of kids who will love the opportunity to stay in Texas and be able to play in the SEC. A lot of kids who in the past might have opted for LSU as well. I think you underestimate the value of the SEC as a recruiting tool for Texas A&M.

**flowermoundgator** · 03-21-2013, 06:48 PM

Yep but Texas AM will decide when to or not to.. Right now WHY.. THEY REALYY DOT NEED TEXAS, TO SELL TICKETS, OR GET RANKING OR IMPROVE SOS