That's absolutely true. From 1999 till the end of both t.u. and OU tenure in the Big 12, OU had only t.u. to compete against for 4 and 5 star recruits; A&M was almost an non-entity during that time and our record pretty much reflects that. We were barely over 0.500 during the 00's, and we went from 2000 till 2009 not being ranked at the end of the season.JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:SteveA said:
"Not sec ready" you guys crack me up. OU, prior to the coaching fiasco, was the only school from the big 12, including us, that would be favored to compete here. They are down right now, sure. But get off of your high horse. You act like they didn't beat us like step children damn near every year.
The difference is that when A&M got to the SEC we had JFF and a roster that actually was somewhat ready to compete. It led to success, which led to $$$$ pouring in, which led to facility upgrades all of which brought our program to places it hadn't been (talking everything OFF the field).
I've said this before, but anyone that compares pre-2012 A&M to post-2012 A&M is being dishonest at worst, uninformed at best.
Prior to that year, we would lose most of the recruits we wanted to tu and OU. We would fight with schools like BU, TT, Okie lite, ISU, etc. for recruits. So every year, we'd have 2-3 kids tu might want, 3-5 OU might want, and about 17-20 that neither pushed for a ton.
When was the last time we were battling those types of schools (tt, bu, osu) for kids that wasn't a random one off like Micah Hudson? Those schools are just not in the same recruiting pools that we are playing in now.
If this was 2010, then you'd probably see half of our roster spread out across tu & ou. tu has managed to build okay for the last few years, but OU hasn't - they're just not that good, talent wise. With Rileys offense, they managed to typically get really good offensive talent there, but even that has fallen off now that he's gone.
All that to say, whether or not OU teams that consistently had top 5 talent in the 2000s consistently beat A&M teams with top 25-ish talent really has no impact on what is happening today. Neither of those schools like like that from a talent perspective any longer.
And that is a huge problem for OU.
OU and t.u were rarely outside the top 10 nationally during the that time, but now both schools will experience that you might be in the top 10 and there could be 5 or 6 SEC schools ahead of you. Recalibrate you expectations a little, right? Now, our expectations were a little distorted after Johnny Football (Please see Kenny Trill), but I think we've been around the block in this league to manage our expectations.
At least I think we have. You can recruit in the top 10 year in and out and still only manage an 8-4/9-3 record (See please see Texas A&M, Auburn, LSU, Florida). OU hasn't had experienced that; t.u. has had more of that in the last 13 seasons.
But now that they are in the SEC and with the advent of NIL, OU really hasn't prepared themselves for the financial costs that it will take to attract the top talent in the sport. Their collectives better start opening their check books soon, or they will be going the way of Nebraska faster than they think. Personally, after the infamous 2003 0-77 game, I have absolutely not pity for their program, alumni, or t-shirt fans.