Just did a brief look at the OU signees at the Dallas Morning News Website. I saw four players from Pennsylvania (3 from SCRANTON!?) and only three from Texas. I understand Nebraska signed no Texas players. Now if we could just figure out a way to keep Bama, LSU, Ole Miss and Arkansas from nabbing Top Texas recruits.
Hopefully it means our players, a heavy majority of which are from Texas, will carry that chip on their shoulder going into that game, knowing the history and hatred of that rivalry. And hopefully the OU recruits will overlook it and not understand
As they say about the other team running up the score and dab dancing; don't let them run up the score... don't get mad at the coach and the players having a good time. Same with recruits. I think if Texas gets back to Mack's glory days (credit where credit is due) and you have a team firmly in the mix then the recruits will look at Texas the way they look at the SEC. But it appears that's already happening to a certain extent though I understand the state colleges in Texas as a whole lost some top players to out of state colleges (I haven't seen the list).
I've always had this theory based on observations from my 44 years on earth and paying close attention to where our texas athletes end up since the 80's that a strong TCU, Baylor, Texas A & M, Texas Tech, Houston and Texas weakens out of state schools that would pull a few guys every year because I believe these schools our able to at least keep many of them from leaving....not all of them but a lot of them. I STRONGLY believe that's why Nebraska and Notre Dame went through the slump they went through. Nebraska was still able to pull some recruits from here but not like before the big XII. Notre Dame won a heisman with a Texas recruit. In the 80's and early 90's it used to be every school would snag them cause the SWC was dead. Notre Dame, Nebraska, Iowa, Miami, FSU & of course OU, Arkansas and OSU were heavy on Texas recruits. I'm sure i'm missing some but those were the ones that were steadily getting two three (plus) top recruits a year and then a whole host of schools would get one or two a year. Michigan, Ohio St., USC, UCLA, Stanford, Colorado....... and on and on. Think about it. Houston just pulled a 5 star DT.....where would he have gone had UH not got him? who knows but all the Texas schools i listed above also have pretty strong coaches and are pretty strong programs in my opinion and they are all collectively keeping more with in the borders. I like it. UT can't get them all and for those that they dont get, I wish every one of them would stay in state......it would be cool as hell to see all of them in the top 20.....even A&M. I like to see our kids do well, at the end of the day, they are all Texas kids and I am proud of Texas High School football.
Your assumption is a good one. People in OK, like those in Texas, have a lot of state pride. But OU, unlike UT, has few Okies playing football. There is an edge to Texas each year for state pride. Don't know how much of a factor, but rest assured, it is, to some extent.
And maybe hurting the Ags. Their newest acclaimed selfworth is based on their membership with their new "big brothers", the SEC. They run around bragging about themselves being an SEC member and are the best salesmen for SEC. So maybe some of their recruits might say, "O.K., I buy your BS, but I like an Alabama or an Ole Miss, who actually win games, better than you "little brother" clowns. Most people see through those with inferority complexes who measure themselves through the successes of others. Aggies, so sad.
I can't remember where I saw it, but I read that BlowU has for the most part conceded recruiting n Texas and is indeed taking a much broader national view. That would seem to borne out by this class. That's not to say they won't recruiting Texas at all, but certainly not as heavily as we have become used to.
