Something tells me all the hype behind Texas NIL isn't all true. Surely we're ahead of the game and have a high budget, but the fact that we can't really consistently crack top3 and struggle to crack the top5 recruiting classes despite this "monster budget" and relatively solid recent on-field success is a tell. Oregon has been more consistent on the field, yes, but they don't really have any signature wins/playoffs/etc. like we do. UGA is the new behemoth (justified given their winning) and tOSU is always at the top but... they're [UGA/tOSU] a league above in terms of acquiring talent and roughly equal in terms of getting portal talent. Bama was in that class, too, with the Saban discount and, of course, the absurd past 15 year run. But they're not exactly losing tons of steam and will likely finish, again, right around where we do in terms of rankings. Of course star power isn't everything, but it kind of is in terms of actually winning championships (conference or national). I know Sark is just getting going (and he's really grown on me; I was full-on Team Urban) and last year was phenomenal but we haven't really been able to capitalize on any of that, at all, in terms of recruiting success. That might change, but nobody is predicting us to vault into the top 2. If we finish top 4 again in the playoffs, maybe top 3 (recruiting). But something really smells about our NIL hype.
We're being lied to by the $9.99ers.
Besides Arch, we don't ever lock up top10 players in the country a year out with regularity. We've been having to steal them at the last minute. Meanwhile, tOSU and Georgia are already locking down 5* guys in 2026.
Traditionally, going back to Mack, we offer national top guys late, rarely get them locked up early, and are always f*ing scrambling. Sometimes that works (last year, it worked really well), but we're not living up to the hype of "unlimited power" from the recruiting Death Star that we're being fed, sorry to say.
That being said, I feel like our on-field product IS definitely getting way better and I'm absolutely m*f*ing hyped for this season and next given our absurd offensive talent.