Texas - The Four Star State

This weekend my brother-in-law was in town for business so I had a chance to connect. When we get together, we primarily talk about college football as his ability to retain statistical information astounds me. Here's the catch - he's a Texas fan. For any of you who have married into a Texas Longhorns family, you know what that means. My wife's brother, uncle and cousins are diehards, while my father-in-law roots for them by osmosis, but is a Stanford fan, thankfully.

As we inevitably talked about Lake The Posts, we started talking about recruiting and how admirable a job I felt Northwestern does at finding diamonds in the rough. When I told him we've had one four star recruit this decade (OK, since 2002), he stopped in his tracks. He quickly pulled up the Rivals.com website for Texas and you have to go to page 2 of the 2009 recruits to find the first non 4-star commit (Texas has 18 or 19 commits already). He simply didn't believe it was possible to have one 4-star commit. He called my bluff (I said "save your time - Loren Howard, 2002") and went year-by-year in the Rivals database starting with 2002 (as far back as it allows you to go) and was aghast. "How the hell did you win 6 games last year with this level of recruiting?" I told him we actually think it is good. I tried to play the "I'll take our 3-star CJ Bachers, Tyrell Suttons any day", to which I got the "really????" look.

The bottom-line is my B-I-L, who may be the most knowledgeable football fan I know, had an even deeper appreciation for what Northwestern does. He grew up here and is a fan, albeit somewhere down on the pecking list, but he roots for them, probably, in part because of my Wildcatitis. He also has a rooting interest in Hunter Bates, who attended high school at Niece in Ponte Vedra, FL near where he lives (he'll point out the Tim Tebow HS connection every time!) and how impressed he was by the fact Fitz made several in person visits. He also was mightily impressed to learn that Kevin Newsome actually called NU about wanting to check out the school (the fact Fitz & Co. told him he was welcome to come look but we said one QB and Watkins had committed also took him back) as Newsome was the caliber of talent that actually hits a Texas' fan radar screen.

The diehard Northwestern fans are unrealistic about recruiting, and, at this point, I can't blame any 17-year-old who attends Ohio State, Texas and Northwestern on a random Saturday in September and chooses to not go to Northwestern. Until we create a gameday atmosphere of near sellout crowds in September, we have the "if you come here, you can be part of the team that takes us to the next level" and "you'll play right away" (and mean it) strategy at our side.

Come to think of it, we have quite a recruiting connection to Texas, and I'm happy to have them. Sure, the four incoming freshmen we have are more Lone Star than Four Star (outside of IL, we have more recruits (4) from Texas than any other state), but for me it adds to the aura of how fun it is when we do win. The right way. Most of our Texas recruits were not even on the radar of the state's in-state powers - Texas, A&M, even Texas Tech. However, the Martin Bayless' of the world - a Texas native who spurned Florida and Ohio State for Northwestern (a 2-star recruit) - can hopefully continue the goodwill in the "football states" by making a mark. So Texas, give us your "won't look ats", we're happy to have him. We welcome outstanding players from the Lone Star state with open arms - even if you don't judge them to be Longhorn worthy.

It is silly when you look at the Texas recruits' profiles. It makes you realize why a 9-win season is a major disappointment. My B-I-L is realistically hoping for an 8-4 with a despondent tone in his voice, while my 8-4 proclamation for NU has an unending optimistic tone. Perhaps, I can convince more of the "rich get richer" fans to adopt NU as their second team, because being overjoyed by 8-4 makes life so much more enjoyable. Of course, Texas fans will be a tough nut to crack as their allegiance points towards Minnesota, as a true Texas fan will immediately link Tim Brewster and Vince Young, in case you were wondering.