When Tom Herman took the job at Texas instead of LSU, most people outside of Baton Rouge understood why he did what he did.

Texas had all the resources to become a college football power, and it could do so without finding a way to maneuver past Nick Saban. Besides, Herman had recruiting roots in Texas stemming from his days as a rising assistant and as Houston’s coach for two seasons. Failed LSU negotiations aside, Texas made more short- and long-term sense for Herman.

That didn’t mean it would be the easier job.

The college football world got a reminder of that Saturday when Texas fell 51-41 at home against Maryland to spoil Herman’s debut. The Longhorns’ No. 23 ranking in the Associated Press poll vanished sooner than Herman could say, “hook ’em.”

One state east of Texas, Ed Orgeron was nothing but smiles after he led LSU to a 27-0 win against BYU in his debut as the Tigers’ full-time coach. It was essentially the exact opposite of the opener Herman experienced. LSU was a defensive juggernaut and it looked every bit like a Top 25 team that belonged.

Nobody is saying that Herman won’t be able to succeed long-term at Texas after one game. At least they shouldn’t be. But it showed the college football world what many should’ve realized back in December.

Life in the Big Easy will be a little different than it will be in Austin in 2017.

Let’s not pretend like LSU or Texas were in drastically different financial situations when Herman made his decision. Both were willing to spend big on a coach if it meant winning football games.

But Orgeron walked into a situation where he already had one of the top three (maybe top one) defensive coordinators in the country in Dave Aranda. LSU raised Aranda’s salary to $1.8 million per season, which made him the highest-paid assistant in college football. After failing to get Lane Kiffin, LSU went out and locked down Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada for $1.5 million per season.

Not even Texas has two coordinators making a combined $3.3 million per season. Herman got Ohio State offensive coordinator castoff Tim Beck and his former Houston defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.

Advantage, LSU.

Besides the coordinators, LSU just had more talent to work with than Texas. Orgeron was blessed with Heisman Trophy candidate Derrius Guice while Herman watched D’Onta Foreman leave early for the NFL. The Longhorns didn’t return a defensive star like Arden Key, nor did they bring back secondary talent like LSU.

Just look at the recruiting rankings from the last five years:

2013 17 6 2014 17 2 2015 10 5 2016 7 2 2017 25 7

Both programs had their fair share of transfers after Herman and Orgeron took over. That’s the case for pretty much any new coach at a big-time program. But it’s a little different for a team that hadn’t won more than six games in the past three seasons.

It’s amazing to think that despite the Longhorns’ 5-7 record last year, they started the season just 10 spots behind LSU at No. 23 in the Associated Press poll. A lot of that was predicated on the expectation that Herman would turn Texas around overnight.

Many people (myself included) were guilty of assuming the Longhorns would see noticeable Year 1 improvement like Michigan did in its first year with Jim Harbaugh. Never mind the fact that Texas and Michigan were in entirely different situations in terms of personnel.

Texas fans, and perhaps the national media, set some awfully high expectations for Herman. He told it like it was after the Maryland loss.

“I would think a heavy dose of reality would probably be the biggest takeaway,” Herman said on the Big 12 Coaches Teleconference on Monday. “We have not arrived yet.”

“Arriving” at LSU is beating Alabama and playing for a national title. “Arriving” at Texas is becoming a yearly top 10 team. Anyone that watched these programs Saturday or in the last year could tell you that the latter is a much more daunting task than the former.

One game won’t change Herman’s mission in Austin, but it shed some light on just how much work is left to do to accomplish it.