My point is the opposite, Texas need not play JUST in fertile recruiting grounds to get noticed. They easily could play Wisconsin, and the attention of the game might snare a player from New Jersey.
I seriously doubt Texas scheduled Georgia thinking they could enhance their shot at in state Georgia HS players. The good HS players know Texas. They might let say Virginia slip their minds as an option, but not Texas or Ohio State or the rest.
The point of these games, I think, is the chatter they generate on line and on ESPN etc.
Last year UGA had an awful OOC slate, the year before of course they played ND and the game chatter was significant. UGA isn't trying to recruit in Indiana to play ND, they are trying to get chatter and discussion and publicity for playing such a major opponent. Imagine if UGA ONLY played Tech and three LSotP teams, no chatter.
