(01-28-2021 10:51 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I think this is way too simplistic a view. Granted we could do a lot more, but in every one of those conferences we were the red-headed stepchild.
Who needs a conference opponent who:
Doesn't bring many TV sets to the broadcast schedule negotiations,
Doesn't bring many fans to away games,
Yet can beat you and mess up your year (ask Marshall about that one).
Having Rice in one's conference is like having a expensive but bad tempered pet that can bite you at any moment. No wonder we don't get invited to leave when people abandon the ship.

We were the red-headed stepchild because we didn't make the effort to compete, and therefore didn't bring value. Yeah, we had the occasional upset, which some seem to want to consider "signature" wins. We beat then #2 Texas in Austin in 1965, but that win didn't mean much because we went 2-8 for the season, but if you go 11-1 or 12-0, or even 13-0 and #13 is in the Rose Bowl (like TCU) then it becomes a "signature" win.

Our all-too-infrequent wins probably didn't help our chances because we were consistently so bad that those games were huge black marks on the reputations of the coaches on the other side of the field. But Baylor beat a lot of good teams and it didn't hurt their chances because they became perceived as a quality opponent who put butts in the seats.

Right now, we need to find ways to dominate CUSA in football, basketball, baseball, and women's sports. We probably aren't that far away for the latter, but we are totally out of the picture for the first three. The group of however many football alumni that were accused of trying to retain David Bailiff several years ago were actually pushing the idea that we needed to spend about $1 million one-time and another $1 million annually to make football competitive. There is only one place to get that money--moneybag games with the TexasU's, LSU's, and aTm's of the world.So yes we whore ourselves out for a while to get the resources we need to compete. At the same time, build UH into a cross-town rivalry game as we have never done. Then we move up until we dominate CUSA, compete at least evenly with UH, and find ways to make those moneybag games at least somewhat competitive. At that point we also have some sorts of relationships with some of the big boys, which we can leverage to try to improve our lot. I like this year's schedule because it moves us in that direction--2 moneybag games, UH, and a local FCS school. If we get $2 million in moneybag money, I say $1 million goes to football and the other $1 million goes to basketball and baseball until they are where they need to be. My ears are open to other ways to do it, but I don't see any.