CFB Most Influential Programs
#14 Texas Longhorns
School: Texas Longhorns
First Game: 1893
Winning Percentage: .702 (7th)
Appearances in AP/Rank: 773 (7th)
Average AP Ranking: 9.5
National Titles: 4
Claim to Fame: Some of the most iconic games and players have played for the University of Texas. Their branding is second to none when it comes to college football and collegiate athletics on the whole.
Why I have them in my Collection: At first glance you may think, how is Texas so “low” on this list? Everyone talks about them. Everyone knows about them. When they walk into a room, they suck up all the oxygen not necessarily because they want to, but because they’re TEXAS.
While you would be correct in saying all of those things, one could say that considering all the resources and advantages in recruiting afforded to them, Texas has not been as successful as they should be. And, even their fans would begrudgingly admit that. Texas was the last all white football team to win a national title in 1970. Since then, they have won one, in 2005. Granted, that one is one of the greatest college football games of all time.
Why have they been somewhat inept by their own standards? I’ll let you be the judge. But even their lack of national success doesn’t take away from how they have been a driving force in college football. Their membership in the Southwestern Conference helped fuel that league which was football crazy and doing bag man shenanigans that would shock some of us even today.
Their move then to the newly formed Big 12 helped dissolve the SWC and made their Red River Rivalry with Oklahoma a conference game. You can do your own research to compare Texas and Oklahoma success relative to one another during their Big 12 tenures. Texas also got the Longhorn Network with ESPN. This was about as close to the kind of deal Notre Dame has with NBC that a single school has ever had.
And of course, Texas and Oklahoma deciding to depart for the SEC set off a tidal wave of realignment that has led to the state of college football that we see today. It wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that if Texas did not make that move, JMU may still be in the FCS or maybe in CUSA instead, Marshall might still be in CUSA, and even further down…Richmond might still be in the CAA. The PAC-12 might still be 12 teams. The moves that came from the initial splash all started with Texas (and Oklahoma).
So, I am trying to be positive here. Texas is absolutely one of the most influential programs of all time. If for no other reason, when they speak, people listen. When they move, schools tend to move as well. In the SEC and with an expanded playoff their path to more national titles is of course more difficult than it has ever been. But Texas is still Texas, and good luck trying to tell the story of College Football without them.
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