Although It Did Not Play In A Bowl Game, This Texas University Is Still First, Just Like It Is Every Year

College football season in Texas is all consuming, especially this year, with a handful of Texas teams playing in bowl games, including the University of Texas playing in the Rose Bowl for the National Title. But the university which is always first in Texas won’t be the University of Texas, even if it wins in Pasadena. Nor, will it be Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, or Texas Tech. The oldest university in Texas, is, therefore, also the first university in Texas, and that university is Southwestern. Because it has been around the longest, it has remained "first" every single year since it was founded.

Southwestern University, located in scenic and historic Georgetown, Texas, was established when four separate colleges and universities combined in 1872. One of those root colleges was Rutersville College, which was the first college to receive a charter of higher learning from the then young Republic of Texas in 1840.

Southwestern University, affiliated with the Methodist Church, has weathered both good and difficult times over the many years it has been educating its students. A small private school, with an enrollment of around 1,300, the university offers an excellent liberal arts education in the pleasant hill country town of Georgetown. And while it fields several different NCAA Division III athletic teams, football is not one of them.

Despite the lack of a football team, Southwestern, with its status of being the first school in Texas chartered to provide higher learning, remains first again this year, just like it is every year. And, with all of the recent controversy surrounding Mike Leach, Adam James, and Texas Tech this season, I might also point out, with all due respect to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, that the Southwestern University Pirates are the real pirates in the State of Texas.