chris98251":4ukvaton said:
Football is Texas's Graduate Program like most schools in Texas, 6 year students playing football mostly. It's been that way for time out of mind in the south and Texas, most of us understand it. UW isn't a Football first school.
High school football is gigantic in Texas and that has lead to the Longhorn's prominence in the past. Now, schools that never would have gotten interest from Texas athletes are recruiting there. And, the fact that Oklahoma is still every prominent in the rankings every year siphoning off their best players.
You're both correct that historically Texas has been a bigger program and they put more emphasis on it than UW does. But I don't think anybody really regards Texas in the same category as the Alabama's, OSU's and LSU's anymore. They might return but right now even a billionaire supported non-trad school like Oregon has more prominence.
And while football is still a big thing at UT, the area itself (Austin) has become much more urbane and liberal. The fan base in the local area isn't nearly the same as it was 25 years ago.