That frustration about the NFL draft list is totally valid, seeing zero Red Raiders has to sting. The legacy of those players you mentioned is real, and it's tough when the current production doesn't match that history. The comparison to the Southwest Conference days hits hard, because those rivalries were built on years of consistent roster battles, not one-off portal matchups. You're right that the constant churn makes it difficult to build the same kind of entrenched hatred between programs; the emotional core of the game really has shifted. Your point about player movement is the central tension in college football now. At Mercer, we see it from the other side, constantly developing guys who might jump to a bigger program. The focus has to be on building a culture that makes guys want to stay, even if the NIL numbers aren't the highest. For Texas Tech, landing a five-star like Sweeney is huge, but the anxiety over retention is a sign of the times. The key will be leveraging that new Big 12 stability and those historic rivalries that still carry weight, like the game against Texas this fall. Beating a team like that still means owning the state, and that history is something no portal entry can ever take away. The transaction era is here, but programs with strong identities and passionate fanbases like yours have the best shot to weather it.