Well, there is a non-zero chance that Texas Tech could win the CFP. In some ways the A&M-Tech rivalry is every bit as heated as the A&M-Texas rivalry. Recall the 2001 classless clown game, pirate beats a soldier quote, and countless others. We were 6-10 vs Tech in Big 12 days. Now I don’t think anyone is naive to think that from 2012-2025 Tech was as good as 1990’s to 2010 Tech, or whenever Leach left. But safe to say, there is no love lost between our programs.
All that said, even if it would sting if Tech wins it all, at least it would signal that real change is happening for all the “not a blue blood” programs.
I think there's a difference. I'm not exactly up on how Texas schools compare, but from what I know, A&M is FAR closer to the level of Texas than it is to the level of Texas Tech.
I think of it in terms of Purdue rivalries. Purdue's two hated teams are Notre Dame and Indiana. The issue is... Notre Dame barely sees us as a rival. We have a long history playing them, but it's rarely competitive. In Texas, you have two good teams (UT and A&M) and one "patsy" (Tech) for lack of a better word. Which means that in the grand scheme of things, A&M and UT are battling for the same level of recruits, and Tech is picking up the scraps. Whereas in Indiana, Notre Dame is getting the prized recruits while Purdue and IU are fighting over the scraps.
Your "hatred" of Tech is muted because you ultimately know they're not really on your level. My "hatred" of Notre Dame is muted because I ultimately know we're not on their level.
But Purdue and IU are peers.
Which means that I can stomach the idea of them stringing together a couple of good seasons. 8-4 to 10-2, maybe backdooring into the 12-team CFP at 10-2 only to be the sacrificial lamb. Ultimately that's transient success, that doesn't change the ultimate balance of power in the state. Just as if Notre Dame wins it all one of these years, as much as I'll hate it, doesn't change the balance of power in the state, because neither Purdue nor IU were on their level to begin with.
But an IU team that knocked off Oregon and Ohio State, to be 13-0 Big Ten Champs and ranked #1? An IU team that had its first ever Heisman winner? An IU team that maybe even has a real chance to win it all, or at least to make it to the CFP final?
No... Those are the sort of program-changing levels of success that upset the balance of power in the state of Indiana. Their success, then, comes DIRECTLY at Purdue's expense. It may not be just a transient couple of good years that goes away as soon as their coach is poached. It's the sort of thing that gets alumni excited and opens their wallets. It's the sort of thing that gets Indiana HS kids dreaming of going to IU. It's the sort of thing that can be momentum-building and become a self-fulfilling prophecy about Indiana being closer to Notre Dame's level than Purdue's.
It's the opposite in basketball. IU has the banners and the "blue blood" reputation. But for most of the past two decades, Purdue has been the premier basketball school in the state, and IU has been rotating through coaches and having little to show for it. Over the past few years, Purdue has elevated further, getting the Final Four curse off our backs, and making it to the NCAAT final. I can tell you that every IU basketball fan in the country is praying that Purdue doesn't capitalize and win it all, because it seems that Purdue has
already flipped the balance of power in basketball, and Purdue hanging a banner, with a solid culture in place, with a seasoned HC who is only 55 and has no aspirations of ever leaving West Lafayette... That's the sort of thing that elevates Purdue and it happens
at the direct expense of IU.
