research institutions but they are not all academic pillars. In fact I’d argue that outside of Stanford and Cal there’s not one university that would stack up to Baylor or BYU(maybe UW). Living in Texas for almost 20 years I understand the academic pride Baylor has and it’s warranted. UW has a great academic side but it’a not as good as Baylor.
I guess if you add Houston, TX Tech, UCF you could say the bottom is lower in the BIGXII but you’d be ignoring AZ St, WASU, & OR St.