In 1833, General Santa Anna came to power in Mexico on a platform focused on consolidating power and uniting his constituency, which included the settlement of Texas. A few years later, Texans asserted and eventually gained their independence.
Over the past few weeks, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe saved his position on a platform of consolidated power and conference unity. And in the next few years, Texas football should declare its own independence from conference affiliation.
At the risk of causing mass casket-rollovers in South Bend, Indiana, Texas is what Notre Dame once was, a brand far bigger than any conference. The Longhorn athletic department dwarfs every other school in terms of revenue. UT juggles the largest university crown with a few others, but its growth is unparalleled. Rust belt dinosaurs like Ohio State and Michigan are seeing their geographic fan bases dwindle proportionally to the rest of the country. The SEC powers are too clustered and lack reach into major metropolises. But Texas' large fandom enclaves are growing.
With the seeds of an all-Texas cable network sprouting, the revenue streams are only just beginning to trickle down the mountain. Why couldn't the 'Horns mix their cable station with FOX or ABC/ESPN in the same way the Big Ten network mixes with cable and network coverage? For the diehard UT fans who just have to see their team obliterate Rice or Sam Houston State, the cable package with TV-UT will be the only way to go. And when Texas ends up in the BCS most years, there won't be hands in Manhattan, Kansas, or Ames, Iowa, reaching for a cut.
But what about rivalries, you ask? Take a look at Notre Dame's schedule. The Irish may as well belong to the Big Ten with perennial games against Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue, and the Irish maintain the most geographically improbable rivalry in sports USC. If Texas really wanted to, it could keep Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Texas A&M on the schedule in the same way. Throw in a few service academy teams, one or two 1-AA cupcakes, a Texas-based Mountain West or C-USA team, and that's the better part of a schedule.
But what about Texas' influence outside its state borders, you ask? Take a look at the 'Horns roster. There's a reason they never have to start a player from outside the state unless Mack Brown wants to. Texas is so fertile for recruiting and the UT brand is so dominant in the state that the Longhorns get no benefit from making appearances in Kansas, Oklahoma, or Nebraska. In fact, I would argue that an independent Texas should take the opposite approach to Notre Dame's scheduling philosophy. While the Irish have begun to embrace a road-show mentality to increase awareness, a conference-less Texas would be best served by scheduling as many in-state games as possible. Annual trips to Dallas and Houston would serve the purpose of rallying the local base.
Of course, this is a completely impossible scenario for more reasons than can be counted. First, Texas' commitments to the Big 12 over the past few weeks probably place contractual barriers in the way of this even popping into any burnt orange minds. Additionally, the Longhorns would want to keep their non-football teams in a conference close to home. Notre Dame was able to swing this with the Big East by going from independent to affiliated; for Texas to achieve this standing in the reverse order would be unimaginable, because the conference would probably insist on keeping all of UT's teams or none of them.
Texas really is alone in college football outer space, the only gridiron gas giant unaffected by the gravity of a local foil. Ohio State and Michigan are binary stars that pull and are pulled by the gravity of Notre Dame. The SEC is a constellation of dwarf stars that keep themselves separated from other galaxies. The Pac-10's brightest star just went sanction-supernova, and all of its neighbors are feeding off that expelled energy and matter. And the ACC and Big East are college football black holes from which matter and national relevance no longer escape.
But Texas sits essentially alone, orbited by small planets handcuffed to its immense gravity. Nothing in that conference happens without a burnt orange signature.
Is it even remotely probable? Nope. But if Texans are stereotyped for their independent streak, why should their college football team be any different?
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