Aggies please don’t take offense to this. I enjoying watching my team play yours and I love watching you play Texas, but none of us should schedule you ever again.
Every year there is a battle for the best recruits in Texas and y’all are in the thick of it for every five star recruit. Part of it is your facilities and tradition, but another part is how many games you play in Texas which allows a players family and friends to go see them. Next season this will not be the case. It will be much harder for their families to get to Oxford, MS or Tuscaloosa, AL or Columbia, SC or Gainsville, FL. By moving east, you are giving up games against three of the strongest teams in Texas in return to plying more games farther away from where your players come from. You may be trading in games against Baylor and Kansas and Iowa State for bigger named opponents, but players like playing against their friends who play at Big 12 schools. It’s who they have grown up watching. Some of these players have been competing against each other sense Pop Warner.
That is why Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor or any other Big 12 member should not schedule the Aggies. There is no upside, especially in recruiting. A&M may see a quick boom in recruiting, but at some point high school players, high school coaches and their families aren’t going to like not being able to go see their sons or friends play. Here is how the recruiting classes stack up so far on ESPN.com:
1. Texas, 9. Texas A&M, 10. Oklahoma, 15. Texas Tech, 19. Missouri, 20. TCU, 30. Oklahoma State.
Hard to believe that if A&M stops playing all those teams that they won’t see a dip in recruiting. Each of those schools is dripping in kids from Texas. Their rosters are littered four and five star recruits from the Lone Star State. Yes, the SEC may have a better chance now with some athletes, but I don’t think it will be as large as other people do. I have talked to a number of athletes and they like playing against teams they grew up watching. They admit it would be fun to play SEC schools, but not at the expense of their parents and friends not being able to see them in person. Not playing A&M gives those schools another weapon on the recruiting trail. “Well, you may be playing in the SEC, but do you know how far it is from Temple, Texas to Tuscaloosa, AL? Be a lot easier for your family to get to Austin or Waco or even Lubbock.”
Furthermore, the Big 12 schedule is tough enough, so why add another difficult non-conference game? I’m for playing one tough non-con game, but it should be against a team outside your geographic footprint in an effort to grow your brand. A&M wouldn’t accomplish this for anyone. Not a good use of those early games at all.
Finally, why not just stick it to them? They are going to the SEC and abandoning 100 years of history; are we going to let them have their cake and eat it, too? No way. They are leaving and that is their right. You can’t fault them for doing what they believe is best for their school, but it is in the best interest of all other Big 12 and Texas schools to say thanks but no thanks to the Aggies. They made their bed now let them lay in it. Don’t play them in anything. Make them travel. Let them get the “exposure” they wanted. It may be roses for them in the immediate short term, but if they aren’t playing UT, Tech, TCU, Baylor or any other Texas or Oklahoma school, Texas athletes and their families won’t be too keen on going to College Station.
Aggies, not one is scared or you. We’re doing what’s best for our universities. It’s simply business.
