Alas, after 2013 we won’t have a BBVA Compass Bowl to kick around anymore.  Like the Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl before it, the BBVA Compass Bowl is on deck for a name change.

This year’s game will mark the fourth and final time BBVA Compass has sponsored the Birmingham-based bowl.  The company wants to move its sponsorship dollars towards efforts that are more “flexible” than an ESPN-owned postseason football game.

We mention all of this because, for now, the bowl is an SEC partner.  The league will re-work all of its bowl agreements moving forward and with a desire to get into Texas, there’s a chance the league will begin sending one of its lower-ranking teams to a bowl in the Lone Star State rather than to Birmingham.

Ole Miss represented the SEC and defeated Pittsburgh in last season’s BBVA Compass Bowl.  But according to an NCAA survey given to Mississippi representatives — parts of which were published by The Jackson Clarion-Ledger — the school wasn’t thrilled with its experience.  Ole Miss fans helped drive a record-breaking crowd of 54,000-plus to the game, but according to UM officials the bowl and the city of Birmingham were “not prepared for the large crowd.”

The Texas/Texas A&M rivalry has long been one of the most heated in college sports.  But if the two schools aren’t on the same field competing against one another anymore, technically is it still a rivalry?

Not according to Heisman-winning Aggie quarterback Johnny Manziel:

“I understand the rivalry between the two… (but) for me it’s not a rivalry.  We got out of their conference, and we’re not playing them anymore, so it’s not a big deal.”

So do teams have to compete on a field or court to be rivals?  Actually, no.

Texas A&M and Texas are still competing for fan allegiance, donations, and recruits on a daily basis.  As the two lead-dog universities in the Lone Star State, their rivalry remains alive… even if it’s away from the playing field.

Johnny Football was coming at the UT/A&M rivalry from another angle and we understand that.  But if the rivalry were no longer a big deal, every post we put up about the Aggies wouldn’t be linked to on Longhorn messageboards.

Oh, it’s still a big deal.  A very big deal.

Texas A&M added 31 players from 7 different states on Wednesday and Thursday.  A breakdown of the Aggies’ “target zone” is below:

Texas = 22 recruits

Louisiana = 3

California = 2

Arizona = 1

Hawaii = 1

Kansas = 1

Virginia = 1

In-State Signees = 70.9%

Out-Of-State Signees = 29.0%

Observation:

No SEC school stayed as close to home this recruiting season as A&M.  The Aggies mined the Lone Star State for talent en route to a top 10 nationally-ranked class.  Success plus better television exposure plus the SEC’s reputation equals easier recruiting.  Texas fans — whether they’ll admit it or not — have to be concerned.

Wednesday.  Humpday.  Halfway stop on the way to another college football weekend.

The usual stuff’s on the way — maybe a tad less due to some outside meetings and such — but we’ll still getchya day started with the usual musical/lyrical inspiration.  Consider the first thing off the iPod today to be a salute to the SEC’s new friends in Lone Star State.

“I ain’t got a dime, but what I got is mine.  I ain’t rich, but, Lord, I’m free.”

Stand by for news!

If you’re driving through one of Texas’ metro areas this fall, you might just spot a familiar message… in an unfamiliar place.

Texas A&M has told The Houston Chronicle that Aggie billboards will be put up all across the Lone Star State.  Four will go up in Houston.  Four will pop up in San Antonio.  Four more will appear in Dallas-Ft. Worth.

In those cities, two boards will read “This is SEC Country,” while the others will say, “This Is New Turf,” and “We Stand Ready.”

A&M already caused a stir a couple of weeks ago by raising a “This is SEC Country” billboard right outside of Austin, home of their hated Texas Longhorn rivals.

In addition to the billboards in the big cities, A&M is also going to place SEC-themed billboards on I-35 entering Texas from Oklahoma, on I-10 and I-20 entering Texas from Louisiana, and on I-30 entering Texas from Arkansas and Louisiana.

Told ya the Aggies would fit in perfectly.

Earlier this year, R. Bowen Loftin and Harris Pastides — the top brass at Texas A&M and South Carolina — openly spoke of their soon-to-be permanent cross-divisional rivalry.  Now Missouri’s Gary Pinkel has confirmed that talk.

According to Matt Hayes of The Sporting News, Pinkel said today that Missouri will indeed land Arkansas as its permanent cross-divisional rival.  Mizzou’s coach can’t be happy about the fact that he’s losing Texas A&M and an every-other-year trip to recruiting-rich Texas.  At the same time, the fact that Pinkel has been comparing the talent in Atlanta to the talent in Dallas — as well as the fact that his school has put up billboards across Atlanta and the Peach State — makes this is a rather small surprise.

It’s been clear for a couple of months that MU officials believed they’d need to shift their recruiting focus from Texas to Georgia and Florida.

Pinkel says he #Hogs will be #Mizzou cross rival.that means South Carolina- #TAMU cross rival

— Matt Hayes(@Matt_HayesSN) May 29, 2012

With Arkansas and Missouri pairing up, it will now be Steve Spurrier and Carolina who’ll get the benefit of playing in the Lone Star State every other season.  Ironically, when A&M was added to the league, Spurrier was the first coach to publicly come out and say that his school didn’t do much Texas scouting and recruiting.

That’s likely going to change.

When the SEC added Missouri and Texas A&M to the fold, league football coaches had to like the idea of reaching prospects in the Lone Star State and in talent-rich East St. Louis.  But the recruiting highway happens to be a two-way street.

Missouri and Texas A&M are already beginning to target Florida and Georgia players who slip through the cracks.  Especially on the defensive side of the ball.

And players hoping to play SEC football have two more options now when it comes to fulfilling their dreams.  Take, for example, three-star Florida-based tight end Sean Culkin:


“Me playing in the SEC, I didn’t really know.  I thought I could do it.  When Missouri came into play, I loved everything about it.”


Culkin committed to the Tigers in December.

Mizzou and A&M will also be aided by the SEC’s new soft 25-man signing cap.  Instead of Alabama or LSU each inking 28 players and putting three on the shelf, those six players will now be available to play elsewhere.  And the Tigers and Aggies can provide new avenues into America’s top pro-producing conference.

Count Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino among those happy with the SEC’s addition of Texas A&M:


“It’s good for us.  It’s good for our recruiting.  There’s been a number of guys in the last three or four years that we didn’t get to come here and they grew up watching Big 12 football and maybe chose a different school because they were used to it so much.  All of the publicity, exposure, everything we get now with A&M coming in in the state of Texas, I think helps us a lot.”


The Razorbacks have 20 players from the Lone Star State on this year’s roster.  Four of their 18 commitments for the class of 2012 also hail from Texas.

In the coming days — if things come off as everyone expects — you’ll have a hard time finding someone in the SEC who won’t be talking up Texas A&M.  No wonder then that a man who stands to benefit from an Aggie annexation is already sharing happy thoughts.

Of the SEC schools who’ll begin recruiting the Lone Star State a little harder, LSU and Arkansas have the most to gain as they’re the closest schools to the state.  Les Miles talked about what A&M might mean for SEC recruiting earlier today:


“It’s certainly an interesting view of our conference.  It gives us a Texas draw.  We would think the Texas student-athletes would have an opportunity to see themselves attending SEC schools and this would give us an opportunity to be a little bit more serious about those guys participating in football in Texas.  It’s a very quality football team that probably give some advantages to our conference.”


Sounds like someone’s told Miles that A&M’s move to the SEC is a done deal.

Oh, boy.  It looks like it’s gonna be one of those days.

Yesterday, trusting the Texas-based site Orangebloods.com, we linked to a report from that Rivals site stating that Texas A&M sources had said yesterday that the school would withdraw from the Big 12 today.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that A&M had already given a phoned departure notice to Brady Deaton, the chairman of the Big 12 board.  The NYT report claimed that “two college officials with direct knowledge of the decision” had tipped the paper.

A&M has denied that report this morning.

We still await official word from College Station.  Since both Texas A&M and the Big 12 offices are based in the Lone Star State, we’ll continue to give extra credence to Texas-based reports… as we did late last night/early this morning. 

Which is why we’re one of the few sites not having to backtrack this morning.