UIL rewards the excellence, and I think that is awesome!
Yes! GE is important, however I think we will all agree that as your achievement of music and visual go up.....so does your GE score. So it could be argued that bands that have to focus on UIL rubrics (based on execution/achievement) are actually setting themselves up for success when they are being judged by any different rubric.
Also, I think the Texas bands who do extremely well at UIL contests will do extremely well at ANY contest. Good is good....no matter how you want to judge it.