Yes, Houston is 4th, but you're looking strictly at the city of Houston. Like many other urban areas, greater Houston includes many suburbs and incorporated cities that the city of Houston wraps around, like mine, Spring, TX. In terms of real estate, the Greater Houston Metro area is the largest. It is even larger than El Salvadore - the country. The population of Greater Houston is 4.7 million; the population of Harris County is 3.5 million. A LOT of high school football talent comes out of here each year - like Joe Addai. LSU should definitely have Univ of Houston and/or Rice in the rotation. IMO, it would be much better than playing Louisiana directional schools. Tiger football is popular in these parts - in part because there are so many LSU alumni here. I believe there are more LSU alums here than anywhere else in the world (excluding Louisiana, perhaps). :geaux:
The opener against A&M used to be a great one. However, after the way we ducked out of our last arrangement with A&M, I would be surprised if they are interested in resuming a series.
If we play U of H or Rice - athletes that come see us play won't see what Tiger football is all about. They won't see "Death Valley", they'll see plenty of our fans, but not in an LSU atmosphere. However, it would be a nice way to make sure our name is spread over there. I don't think thats a problem though. Half the people I know at LSU are from Texas. I went just south of Houston (Friendswood) this last summer, and wore my LSU gear. 4 people told me that they were coming to LSU for this year. My Dad lives there, and he's told me he's met dozens of LSU alum & fans wearing his LSU gear.
That's why I stated that Saban needs to venture out for a few players here and there, but for the most part, our team is predominantly Louisiana recruits.
I hated them playing, because one of my teams (I did grad school at A&M) would start off with a loss each year! BTW, I disliked A&M (from a rivalry standpoint) just as most of you do before they recruited me to their grad school! Spending two years there, I got to know what a great institution it is. Awesome school spirit, incredible pride, fantastic character, tremendous traditions... and > 95% of the student population is conservative / Republican! Gotta love it!
Not really 41 of the 100 (including practice squad) are from out of state, many start or play regularly and a ton were freshman who we hope will start contributing next year.
I've heard so many arguments as to who did what to whom that ended the series that the true reason is probably forgotten by now. It was always fun for the Aggies to come to BR every year for the annual matchup. They probably enjoyed it even more that last few years when it was home and home and they started winning. IMHO it would be a great interstate rivalry to renew, but maybe not for the opening game of the season. They probably have the 2nd best band in the country to boot. ldskule:
Yes, I realize how much area the greater Houston metro area covers in terms of square miles but I was refering to population. I even know people who live in Galveston County who will tell people they live in Houston when people ask.
