Texas St and UL have two things working against them:
1) The cities they reside in are too small with little corporate presence
2) most importantly, they are 50 miles from college football national powers.
Both LSU and Texas siphon off donors, fan attendance and media coverage. If we were even 150 miles away it would be a huge bonus. It makes the job not impossible, but more difficult. That said, I think we have the administration in place to combat these issues. Looks like Texas St does not.