[FarmBoy]

But Stanford rarely picks up Texas recruits, particularly the elite ones.

I may be missing some nuance of this discussion, but I'm pretty sure I disagree entirely with this point.

TX players of note on Stanford's 2011 roster:
Jordan Williamson
Barry Browning
Stepfan Taylor
Jarek Lancaster
Sam Shwartzstein
Cameron Fleming
Ty Montgomery
Michael Thomas
Andrew Luck

In fact, Stepfan put together a video on the topic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu6A3rK-jDE

Whether any of them are considered elite recruits, I'll leave to people with more knowledge of that process than myself. But the point is that Stanford has had a very successful pipeline of athletes from that state, so I would think that furthering that connection via non-conference games would be ideal. On the other hand, I can certainly see why UT and other TX based schools wouldn't want to encourage the Stanford-TX presence, so they may not be as interested, but I would leave that in the hands of the AD to figure out.

I think the AD should be able to sell the value of playing a series in Stanford pretty readily. Many top schools have a connection to the Silicon Valley, with many alumni transplants. It also makes for a great road trip for the fans to visit SF for a weekend. Whether elite schools "need" CA recruits, it can't hurt to have that incentive. The Pac12 is a prestigious league and Stanford's recent success means it could be a high profile game (though clearly ADs will see this as a highly unknown factor 5-6 years out.) Of course, on the negative side is Stanford's small-ish stadium and the chance that in 5-6 years, there's more downside to losing to Stanford than upside to beating them.

[FarmBoy]

But Stanford rarely picks up Texas recruits, particularly the elite ones.

I may be missing some nuance of this discussion, but I'm pretty sure I disagree entirely with this point.

TX players of note on Stanford's 2011 roster:
Jordan Williamson
Barry Browning
Stepfan Taylor
Jarek Lancaster
Sam Shwartzstein
Cameron Fleming
Ty Montgomery
Michael Thomas
Andrew Luck

In fact, Stepfan put together a video on the topic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu6A3rK-jDE

Whether any of them are considered elite recruits, I'll leave to people with more knowledge of that process than myself. But the point is that Stanford has had a very successful pipeline of athletes from that state, so I would think that furthering that connection via non-conference games would be ideal. On the other hand, I can certainly see why UT and other TX based schools wouldn't want to encourage the Stanford-TX presence, so they may not be as interested, but I would leave that in the hands of the AD to figure out.

I think the AD should be able to sell the value of playing a series in Stanford pretty readily. Many top schools have a connection to the Silicon Valley, with many alumni transplants. It also makes for a great road trip for the fans to visit SF for a weekend. Whether elite schools "need" CA recruits, it can't hurt to have that incentive. The Pac12 is a prestigious league and Stanford's recent success means it could be a high profile game (though clearly ADs will see this as a highly unknown factor 5-6 years out.) Of course, on the negative side is Stanford's small-ish stadium and the chance that in 5-6 years, there's more downside to losing to Stanford than upside to beating them.