(06-18-2023 10:21 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: Tx State is just far enough outside of SA that the local stations never talk about them. I had no idea how bad they are.
You know this better than me because you're a Texan:
Start at the TX/OK border near Gainesville, draw a half-circle around the DFW Metroplex, then down I-35 through Waco, Killeen, Austin and San Antonio, meander E/SE toward the Gulf to Freeport on the outskirts of Greater Houston.
Along that imaginary line and to the east is a "region" that produces 90-plus percent of the state's Division I-A football talent.
The challenge/sticking point for a school like (SW) Texas State is that everybody and they mama at the P-5 level is seriously recruiting that area of Texas. Same goes for better-resourced and/or more established G-5 schools like SMU, Tulane, Boise State, Air Force, Army and Navy on down to AAC call-ups like UTSA and UNT.
The talent pool has been picked over and thinned out by the time Texas State and its ilk are putting together their signing classes. Now throw in the transfer portal where G-5 schools are on the verge of serving as a Triple-A farm system where players are essentially called up and sent down in the off-season and top coaching prospects hired as needed.
In that environment, how is an upstart program 30 minutes down the road from the slumbering giant at Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium going to build any type of significant fan interest?