College Football's rev-share era is revealing one thing: some billionaires really love their alma maters. For the Indiana Hoosiers, who just punched their ticket to the CFP title game, it's Shark Tank star and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban. For the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who laid an egg in the second round of the CFP but still won the Big 12 with a $28 million roster, it's Fort Worth oilman Cody Campbell.
The lesson? Have a powerful booster who lives and does business in the Lone Star State, whose passion for football will drive them to spend big.
The Deseret News' Dick Harmon pointed out the trend, calling out the Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns, Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Penn State Nittany Lions for being home in an apparent threat to the old guard about the new guard of Indiana and Texas Tech.
"Before Texas Tech’s tires blew out against Oregon, we saw the Red Raiders purchase themselves a Big 12 championship and berth in the CFP. We’ve seen Indiana, check that, Indiana, become the nation’s darling and No. 1 team in the country and favorite to win it all. Ohio State is home. Oklahoma is home. Texas is watching from home with Georgia and Alabama and Penn State. The door is open," Harmon wrote.
Harmon's main beef appeared to be more with the SEC, though the Big Ten is guilty of much of what he's saying.
"The fact the SEC gets an unfair advantage in preseason polls, then rides that with questionable scheduling and far too much credit for intra-conference wins, has been exposed," Harmon wrote.
Obviously, the Hoosiers means you can't say the Big Ten. But Harmon didn't say Ohio State and Penn State by accident.
Texas Tech can become the Dallas Cowboys, while Mark Cuban has two alma maters
To offer some SEC optimism in the wake of the Ole Miss Rebels' Fiesta Bowl loss to the Miami Hurricanes and the conference's exclusion from the CFP title game, Texas Tech and Indiana aren't infallible. There's no guarantee they will stay at the top.
For starters, the Red Raiders aren't at the top. They've scored as many points in their CFP history as the Auburn Tigers, Jacksonville State Gamecocks, UAB Blazers, Troy Trojans, and South Alabama Jaguars. Even if they start winning some CFP games, as long as they don't win it all, they will be to Texans what the Dallas Cowboys have been since the 1990s.
As for the Hoosiers, Cuban is also a University of Pittsburgh alum, so the Pitt Panthers could get the Pittsburgh native's help soon, even though he never got a degree from Pitt. He did take classes at Pitt while still in high school, though, and it's an indelible part of his story. With dual loyalties, Cuban may not be willing to go all-in on Indiana every season if he already spent to get them to the mountaintop. He may also want to help out the Hoosiers' basketball team, too. That legacy is one that badly needs to be restored.
Either way, there's hope that the sport's new guard isn't going to hoard titles like the old guard used to. Stay tuned.