Texas Football: 10 Reasons Texas Would Thrive as an Independent

When the college football conference re-alignment scramble occurred, there was speculation that the Texas Longhorns were considering leaving the dismantled Big 12 and going independent.

In the end, they remained in the new-look, 10-team Big 12 and will embark on a nine-game conference schedule in 2011.

The Longhorns will look to make a comeback in the Big 12 after a porous 2010 season. They have historically been a contender for the conference title seemingly every year.

Nonetheless, they may be more suited as an independent program.

Let's take a look at 10 reasons the Longhorns would thrive as an independent. 

10. They Are Built to Play Against a Number of Styles

As part of the Big 12, the Texas Longhorns have had to deal with a number of styles of play, which would help them as an independent.

The Big 12 is filled with pass-first attacks but includes a number of programs who run unique offensive sets.

Head coach Mack Brown has 13 years of experience in the conference, adapting along the way.

This program is definitely suited to handle an independent schedule with different styles of play to prepare for each week. 

9. They Recruit Well

To be a successful independent program, coaching staff needs to excel in recruiting, and that is something head coach Mack Brown has done very well in his time with the Texas Longhorns.

Brown may have an advantage because he is the head coach for the university of the most prized recruiting state in the country. Thus, he can focus directly in-state for a lot of his talent.

This will not change if the Longhorns go independent, and it will turn into an even bigger advantage as they focus their energy on attracting recruits from states they have never played in. 

Nonetheless, Brown can always go back to the well that is the state of Texas.

So their recruiting abilities would definitely support their attempt to go independent.

8. The Program Has Consistently Proven It Can Handle a Difficult Schedule

The Texas Longhorns have been a powerhouse in college football since the beginning of the program, despite a few rocky eras and have proven their ability to handle a tough schedule.

Since Mack Brown took over the program in 1998, the team has had to fight through a difficult Big 12 schedule every single year.

That has not stopped them, as they have turned into one of the most prominent teams in the country under Brown.

This includes a 2005 National Championship, 2009 National Championship appearance and multiple BCS bowl games along the way.

Texas has repeatedly shown that they have the talent to handle the difficult schedule that an independent program faces.

7. They Have the Talent Year in and Year out

Although the Texas Longhorns have not been under the national spotlight every season, it is usually evident that they have the talent on the roster to compete, whether they capitalize on it or not.

Last season was a prime example. Players like quarterback Garrett Gilbert failed to meet expectations, whether the level of expected play is warranted or not.

Nonetheless, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have proven throughout the years, talent is one of the first requirements in surviving as an independent.

If a program does not consistently bring in talent, they will struggle to take the next step as an independent and start consistently winning games.

Luckily for the head coach Mack Brown and the Longhorns, they can point to their track record and show they usually have the talent needed to thrive as an independent. 

6. They Can Gain Valued Experience Around the Country

The Texas Longhorns are not known for expanding their horizons all that far during the non-conference part of the schedule, but going independent would help them gain that experience.

Part of the reason that Texas schedules mostly cupcake non-conference opponents is because the strength of the Big 12 raises their strength of schedule to the point that they do not need nationally recognized non-conference games.

This has allowed them to schedule the likes of Rice and UCF to start the season.

It has also stopped them from travelling to unique places around the country to give their players experience and build personal recognition for the program nationwide.

Going independent would help Texas thrive as a program and after accumulating this experience, would help the program excel as well.

5. Mack Brown Can Handle the Media Attention

If the Texas Longhorns were to go independent, they would need a solid face of the program to handle all the extra attention, and head coach Mack Brown is certainly the man for the job.

Brown has a wealth of experience coaching at different levels of big-time Division I football programs.

He knows how to handle the media, expectations and criticism that come with being part of a high-profile program.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the prime example of an independent program that faces national media attention on a weekly basis.

Everyone, even casual football fans, knows who the current Notre Dame head coach is at any given time. They have had a number of coaches that have handled the spotlight well and others that have not.

It can be disastrous when a coach does not know how to manage the media, but Brown would be up for the increased attention upon going independent. 

4. They Will Play Fewer Weak Opponents

Currently, the Big 12 still carries a number of weak teams that can hurt the Texas Longhorns' strength of schedule.

As an independent, they can avoid these games while adding run of the mill teams that are easily beatable but fail to kill a team's strength of schedule.

This means that rather than playing the Kansas Jayhawks and Iowa State Cyclones, they can add more teams like the Arizona State Sun Devils and Clemson Tigers, for example.

By avoiding the easy wins that end up finishing the season at 3-9 and adding fairly easy wins that end up 6-6, the Longhorns will do worlds for their strength of schedule as an independent.

3. It Would Help Them Attract Countrywide Talent

As already discussed, head coach Mack Brown has the luxury of dipping into the local talent pool in the state of Texas and adding them to the Texas Longhorns program, but going independent would help spread interest nationwide.

By playing teams around the country in areas that may have some distaste or lack of knowledge when it comes to the Longhorns program, they can start to build interest in untapped parts of the country.

Players that live in the upper east coast may not have any interest in the Longhorns because they never play up there. Then, once Texas plays at Boston College, those players may have a new understanding of the program and develop a new interest.

This is a wrinkle in being an independent team that is useful. The freedom in going all around the country in your schedule can allow you to recruit even better.

Brown and the Texas program have all the credentials to attract recruits in these new areas.

2. They Will Be Able to Schedule Bigger Games More Often

Head coach Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns already play a number of big games each year in the Big 12, but they can schedule even bigger matchups as an independent program.

The last time the Longhorns played a nationally acclaimed non-conference game was in 2006, when they were defeated by the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Aside from this game, Texas has found a number of high-profile games within their conference, usually from the likes of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Texas A&M.

If Texas were an independent program, they could schedule a wide variety of impact games with teams outside of the south and midwest.

1. They Have Devoted Fans

One of the biggest concerns of a Big 12 team like the Texas Longhorns going independent may be overall team support after leaving the safety of a conference, but the devotion of their fanbase should calm these worries.

If Texas were to depart from the Big 12, they lose the fans of the conference that will occasionally support the team when representing the conference in games against other conferences.

Nonetheless, these fans pale in comparison to the diehard Longhorns fans.

These fans that seem to never put their two fingers down during games are some of the best in college football, and this community would only grow if the program turned independent.