Why would TAMU do well now in a tougher league than they've done for the past 20 years? Make no mistake, the Texas shadow still looms large.
Living and working amongst aggies has made you hate them, I get it. I never had a real problem with GA fans until I lived in Atlanta and then I came to hate them. So I get that you hate them and refuse to admit they may succeed. But take away your personal bias for a minute and look at it objectively.
They have more money than God and will spend whatever is needed to upgrade facilities and pay coaches. So that's not a problem. Their fans are rabid and the love, admiration and support for players is there and well known. They aren't a new name, everyone knows who TAM is so they aren't out trying to sell a program like Boise State to recruits. They have a cult like atmosphere surrounding the university and their alumni. Meaning that if you want to be in business in the state of Texas if you position yourself as an aggie there are lots of people who will work with you because of it. We that live here hear the commercials all the time for businesses that include the fact that the owner is aggie class of ___ all the time. So finally add the fact that they can offer kids a chance to play on the premiere football conference in America and still go to a Texas school and you have a winning recipe for recruiting. Their recruiting has already seen a huge up swing in quality of player and this is all new to their staff. They will face better competition sure, but they are going to have a much higher class of athletes to do it with.
As much as they've always wanted to believe they were, they weren't ever really in the race for the top high school athletes in Texas. Now they are and will continue to be. I'm not saying they will come in and win the west, but they will do much better than before. Like I told one yesterday, if they can crack the top 4 in the SEC at some point they could win a mnc from there. If you can build a program that's in the top 4 of the SEC then year in and year out all it takes is a favorable schedule, some injury luck, a couple good bounces of the ball and you can be in the national championship game. Not saying that's coming tomorrow, but its more likely than not.
It sucks, I wanted FL to embarrass them yesterday because I wanted to give all the ags I know a big "welcome to the SEC" after a beat down. But that didn't happen. BAMA will destroy them, but the idea that they are at the feet of the rest of us is just not true.