I wish you would actually read my posts before commenting on them. I said that it is tough making schedules. But look at the teams t.u. will play that I've listed: Rice, Houston, New Mexico State, and Utah. None of these teams have been very good for any period of time, and they all play in a mid-major conference or worse. Now, say t.u. scheduled Penn State this year and next. PSU isn't a good team this year, but t.u. couldn't be blamed for that. I also don't think North Carolina State is a bad move, either. But outside of Arkansas and Ohio State, there is nothing on t.u.'s future noncon schedules that are any more than cream puffs.
And I need to correct you on one point: A&M hasn't lost "a few" of the games against the Louisiana schools; they have lost ONCE -- in 1996 at USL (now Layfeyette). 1996, if you will recall, was A&M's worst season since 1983. Refresh my memory: has t.u. ever played AT New Mexico State?
Please read my post carefully, then get your facts straight before responding. It is a liberal tactic to take something I didn't say and try to smash that into the ground.
As for New Mexico State, Texas isn't interested in playing that on the road. For that matter, neither is NMSU. The reason this game is on the schedule at all is because Texas then gets an easy game to open the season while players adjust to live action. NMSU benefits by getting a large gate for the privilege of having the snot beat out of them. University of North Texas will be the designated patsy in 2003. No, there won't be a return date in Denton. Do you think Nebraska will be playing *at* Troy State anytime soon?
Texas seems to have either Houston or Rice on their schedule for several years. Why? It's the recruiting advantage of getting Houston area high schoolers a chance to see them live and to schmooze the top prospects. They'd do the same with TCU/SMU but they don't have to since they play Oklahoma in Dallas every year.
So, in three non-conference games you have the three types of opponents that typically make up a non-conference schedule: 1) the patsy opener (New Mexico State, North Texas) against an inferior team who gets paid well for travelling into a slaughter, 2) the out-of-area home-and-home game (UCLA, Stanford, North Carolina, Arkansas, Ohio State) to provide interest outside the region and serve as a recruiting tool and 3) the team who plays in an area of importance for recruiting (Houston, Rice). The rest of the season is tied up with conference games then finished with the bowl. Occasionally, a twelfth game will show up in Hawaii or one of the August "classic" games. That's your schedule-making right there.
A&M primarily does the same thing, which explains why they usually have a Louisiana school on their schedule (which can serve as both reasons 1 & 3). In the old SWC days, Texas always had Oklahoma on the non-conference schedule which gave A&M more flexibility in their non-conference slate than Texas. Now that Oklahoma is a conference game, both schools are in the same boat as far as building a schedule.
And don't give me that cheap "don't argue like a liberal" BS. It only reveals the shallowness of your logic when you attack this way. We're discussing sports, not politics. And notice I'm not using perjoratives about your school although I easily could.