A&M was a perennial distant second to UT, and had things stayed the same (conference wise) it would have never changed. Very different situation now, the SEC rules the World and nothing UT can do about it. If UT was to ever move to the SEC then it's back to normal but A&M is the more attractive program for recruits right now… despite in every other aspect UT being a more attractive choice for most sane people. A&M is weird and very annoying for anyone but their own breed. UT is a great school, a cool brand in a great location but the SEC trumps that.

Until very recently I did consider all those air raid, ultra open offensive schemes somewhat gimmicky. To this day very few if any team with that mentality has either won a national championship and/or fielded a true elite defensive team at the same time. UF during Meyer did but not as fast (tempo wise not talent wise) and much less pass dependent as these other teams.

Those HUNH teams look to create confusion… and guess what defense they get to confuse the most? Their own in practice.

Elite defensive teams usually have a counterpart that looks to dominate opponents physically, not by winding them but by physically imposing their wills in a violent way. Practices are tough and in your face… Defensive teams get that personality.

I am beginning to reconsider if this is as absolutely true as I once thought… but that is where the “gimmicky” label comes from if that is your question.

This post was edited on 10/1/14 at 5:32 pm