The Texas Tech Red Raiders can’t stop thinking about the Texas Longhorns. Then again, they’ve never been able to.
Earlier this week, Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire and athletic director Kirby Hocutt made some incendiary statements directed at Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns in an attempt to compel their old Big 12 foe to schedule a Week 1 game.
Sarkisian’s alleged jab at the Red Raiders’ light schedule, claiming he could navigate it to win the Big 12 with his reserves, prompted all of this.
“There’s a club in our state that plays in a different conference with a schedule that I’d say if I played with our twos and threes, we’d go undefeated, and they’ll likely make the CFP this year,” Sarkisian remarked at the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin.
Incidentally, Sarkisian never mentions Texas Tech by name, nor does he say that Texas could win with its reserves, as many have alleged.
Regardless, the Red Raiders’ largest supporter, billionaire Cody Campbell, elevated the PR stunt in a cringeworthy ESPN interview.
Campbell calls Texas… again.
During the WWE wrestling-style interview, Campbell attempts to criticize the Longhorns for not entertaining the ridiculous performance by referring to them as “castrated. “
Bevo, the Longhorns’ mascot, is a steer. Campbell stated on The Pat McAfee Show that there are “a lot of steers down in Austin. ” “There aren’t many bulls. When Sark spoke out and got into a brawl with some West Texas boys, he should have known that he’d need to pack a lunch. Because we’re ready to strap it on, spot the ball, and go. September 3rd or September 5th. You name the place and we’ll be there. We’ll take care of it.
Truthfully, it’s a brilliant move by Texas Tech in certain aspects. They realize Texas isn’t going to bite. They are aware that the game will never take place. They also understand that by projecting their conceptual chests out, they can try to portray themselves as the good guys in the fight against the ‘evil blue blood Longhorns. ‘
At this moment, Texas can say or do nothing to alter the public perception in its favor.
One of the numerous issues, however, is that most of the people who advocate for the Longhorns to buy out Texas State and schedule the Red Raiders simply do not understand the fundamental economics of college football.
For something like that to work in Texas, Texas State would not only have to be bought out, but they would also have to compensate over 100,000 fans who bought tickets to the game or have season tickets to all seven Longhorns home games.
They would also have to suffer an average loss of $10-12 million in revenue generated by Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on game day. Not to mention the countless dollars lost throughout Austin as a result of the game being postponed.
All of this, by the way, is done to satisfy the ego of a past rival team that, by design, has one of the weakest schedules in the Power 4 conferences. Not to mention their painful fascination with a club that has a 55-18 all-time record versus them.
Campbell, McGuire, and Hocutt are well aware of this. They are simply attempting to appease the masses, who do not consider such considerations, in order to increase their fan base’s approval rating.
Campbell, on the other hand, may not understand everything.
Why aren’t we going to play?
Why would we not play? Campbell continued the interview. We’ve discussed playing for five years. They won’t play us because, again, I believe they’re more steers than bulls in Austin. “
Let’s begin by responding the first question. Why not?
We’ve already discussed the economic factors that make the pairing impossible. There’s also the logistical nightmare of rearranging a game less than 100 days before the regular season begins.
What benefit would Texas have to gain from a matchup like this, according to a larger viewpoint? The solution is nothing.
Texas already has the most difficult schedule in college football. It will play a top-10 Ohio State squad in Week 2, a probable top-10 Ole Miss team in Austin, and must travel to Dallas to face Oklahoma, all while traveling to Tennessee in Knoxville, LSU in Baton Rouge, and Texas A&M in College Station.
Now, Texas Tech, which has one of the simplest schedules in the country, wants the Longhorns to drop a home game and come to Lubbock the week before they’re expected to face the Buckeyes.
That would be absurd and illogical.
Campbell’s second point is as follows: Texas is not declining to play with anybody.
The Longhorns and Red Raiders discussed continuing their rivalry for 20-25 years following the Longhorns’ departure from the SEC in 2021.
It has not yet taken place. Not because Texas was scared, but because it had previously committed itself.
The Longhorns have had Ohio State games on their schedule since 2020, and Michigan games on their schedule since 2014. Notre Dame has been on the schedule since 2024.
It’s also worth noting that Texas and Texas Tech competed in 2023, with the Longhorns winning by 50 points in Austin. The Horns are 55-18 all-time against their ‘rival’, including 19-5 since the turn of the century.
They are fearless of anything.
Rather, Texas has not scheduled Texas Tech because they do not have to.
The Red Raiders want Texas a lot more than Texas needs them.
In its non-conference games in recent years, Texas has practically always scheduled defending national champions or national runners-up.
In 2019, the Longhorns faced arguably the finest team in the history of the sport in the Joe Burrow-led LSU Tigers. They were set to meet them again in 2020, however the game was called due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
In 2022 and 2023, they faced the Alabama Crimson Tide, who had won a national championship in 2020 and lost the 2021 national championship to Georgia.
As previously noted, Texas faced defending national champion Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2024, and is scheduled to visit Austin in 2027. In 2025, Texas faced off against the reigning national winner, Ohio State, who will travel to Austin in 2026.
As previously stated, the Horns will face Notre Dame, who contended for the national title in 2024, in the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
In fact, the sole exception during that run was in 2021, when they played Arkansas, an SEC team, in a non-conference game.
Meanwhile, the Red Raiders have not played a ranked opponent in non-conference action since losing to the Oregon Ducks in 2023. In 2022, they played NC State and Houston. In those games, they went 1-2.
Before that, you’d have to go back to 2009 to discover Texas Tech’s previous non-conference, non-bowl game, when they played the Houston Cougars in Houston.
They also lost that game.
To put it another way, Texas does not need Texas Tech. They’re fine playing Power 4 bluebloods in the non-conference, and as a result, they’re ready to contend for a national championship.
The Red Raiders, who could have easily added a real Power 4 opponent at any time, urgently require Texas.
To satiate their egos and keep their program relevant after an embarrassing College Football Playoff performance in which they were the first team in tournament history to be shut out.
All because Steve Sarkisian, supposedly, upset their feelings.
