They say that everything is bigger in Texas and that has normally translated onto the football field.
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Football is basically a way of life in Texas, and that's something that's true under the lights on Friday nights all the way to the NFL, where the state has two teams — the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.
Not surprisingly, the level in between high school and the NFL, college football, is also huge in Texas. Some of the best recruits in the country come from the state and many of those recruits end up staying in-state. The Texas Longhorns have long been the cream of the crop in college football, but as of late Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and even Houston have been making some noise.
Still, that noise is not enough heading into 2017, at least according to Horned Frogs' head coach Gary Patterson. Recently speaking at Big 12 media days, he basically criticized the state of Texas because none of its schools were in the Top 25 to finish last season. It was a disappointing year in the state of Texas, and perhaps nothing was more indicative of that than the Top 25.
Here's what Patterson had to say, according to Kevin McGuire of NBC Sports:
"I think A&M going to the SEC hurt us a little bit because you have that common factor," Patterson explained after suggesting the internet has had an impact on how recruiting process unfolds now as well. "I think the Big 12's learning it's helping us because we're now leaving the state to be able to get kids to come into the state. But we should be embarrassed we don't have a team in the top 25. There's a lot of good football players, even that come to our schools, that can play and play at a high level, and we need to play better. It's simple as that."
Considering the amount of talent the Longhorn State possess, Patterson has a good point. Some of the very best football players in the world come out of Texas on a yearly basis, so the fact that not a single one of the state's schools were in the Top 25 is somewhat alarming.
With that said, that should change soon.
Tom Herman has moved on from Houston and is now with the Texas Longhorns. He's an up-and-coming star in college football and should help get that program back on the map. Texas A&M is always competitive and the Aggies have a ton of talent under the skillful recruiting of Kevin Sumlin, TCU is always extremely exciting under Patterson's watch and even Baylor has a chance to be competitive despite all the scandals that have been rocking the school and football program as of late.
The state of Texas should make a comeback in 2017, but if it doesn't, Patterson is 100-percent right:
That's embarrassing.
