{"id":88026,"date":"2026-05-31T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88026"},"modified":"2026-05-30T20:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T00:30:46","slug":"texas-should-wreck-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/05\/31\/texas-should-wreck-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Playing Hooky: Why Texas Should Wreck Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We need some spice in college football. Our conferences are bloated. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/05\/24\/say-it-aint-so-georgia-vs-clemson-neutral-site-madness\/\" target=\"_self\">non-conference<\/a> games are weakening and heading to an NFL or foreign <a  href=\"https:\/\/collegefootballbrasil.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">f\u00fatbol stadium<\/a> near you. This is why we should all be thankful for the slander between the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders this week. The thesis of this story is what could make college football great again. So, let&#8217;s make the case. Stop playing Hooky already, CDC (Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte). It&#8217;s time for Texas to Wreck Tech. Let&#8217;s lay out why the Week 1 Matchup needs to happen.<\/p>\n<h2>Stop Playing Hooky: Why Texas Should Wreck Tech<\/h2>\n<h3>&#8220;Tech Don&#8217;t Play Anybody&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>Steve Sarkisian has said a lot of things in the offseason. A couple of weeks ago, he claimed in an interview that &#8220;all you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.&#8221; <span style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">We love the spice, but wonder how that played and sounded for the basket-weaving alum, grandfather, and father of your <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/31\/the-longhorns-are-the-cheesiest-in-the-cheez-it-citrus-bowl\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">quarterback<\/a>.<\/span> Sark backtracked on the comments this week in Destin, saying they were a poor choice of words.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Committed to the University of Texas. <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/HookEm?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#HookEm<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jHYbjBaF5K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/jHYbjBaF5K<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Arch Manning (@ArchManning) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ArchManning\/status\/1540005818619334656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div><span>The basket-weaving comments are fun, but Sark pulled no punches when he was asked by a group of supporters about the difficulty of comparing schedules from teams of different conferences by the CFB Playoff Committee. What came next has started all the spiciness we need and crave when we are <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/05\/27\/94-days-away-from-college-football\/\" target=\"_self\">90+ days<\/a><\/span><span> away from toe meeting leather and college football returning.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>&#8220;There&#8217;s a team in our state in another conference with a schedule that I would argue, if I played with our 2s and 3s, we could go undefeated, and they&#8217;ll probably make the CFP this year.&#8221; Sark still sounds bitter about going 9-3 last year and missing the CFB Playoff. Nobody mentioned to Sark that maybe losing to Florida, NOT <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/08\/30\/the-ohio-state-defense-dominates-texas\/\" target=\"_self\">OHIO STATE<\/a><\/span><span>, was the reason. Instead of looking inward, the volley was sent to Lubbock.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>You see, dear reader, Sark and the rest of the blue bloods of college football are salty about Texas Tech. Texas Tech is a beneficiary of the changes in college football. For most of their existence, Tech has been an eight or nine-win team. Sure, under Mike Leach and <\/span><span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/video\/clip\/_\/id\/16558540\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Crabtree<\/a><\/span><span>, there were some great moments (especially against Texas). But now head coach Joey McGuire and booster Cody Campbell have changed the calculus, using NIL and the Transfer Portal to make the Red Raiders into a powerhouse.<\/span><\/div>\n<h3><span>Little Brother (Villain) Origin Story<\/span><\/h3>\n<div><span>McGuire and Campbell did their part in 2025, putting together one of the top portal classes and assembling a $28 million roster. The Red Raiders did their part, going 12-2, winning the Big 12, and making the CFB Playoff. Sure, they couldn&#8217;t move the ball against Oregon and <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/01\/01\/texas-tech-historic-season-ends-juiceless-in-orange-bowl\/\" target=\"_self\">lost<\/a><\/span><span> in the Quarterfinals. The 2025 season was a proof-of-concept for Campbell and McGuire. They made a big <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/04\/30\/87357-will-the-ncaa-hypocrisy-get-to-brendan-sorsby\/\" target=\"_self\">bet<\/a><\/span><span> again in 2026, bringing in the top quarterback in the portal, Brendan Sorsby, and restocking their roster to level up. While Sorsby likely won&#8217;t play in 2026, that didn&#8217;t stop Texas Tech from firing back at Sark and the Horns.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>At this week\u2019s Big 12 Spring meetings, McGuire openly challenged Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns to put their money where their mouth is. McGuire shared how he approached the head coaches at Abilene Christian and Texas State\u2014the current Week 1 opponents for the Red Raiders and Longhorns\u2014about buying out their scheduled games. Under his proposed swap, Texas State and Abilene Christian would play each other, clearing the way for a Week 1 showdown between Texas Tech and Texas, either in Lubbock or at AT&amp;T Stadium in Arlington. McGuire wants to see if Texas&#8217;s vaunted roster depth can actually handle the grind. &#8220;We can figure out if their twos and threes can win this conference.&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<h3><span>Just Play Already<\/span><\/h3>\n<div><span>Neither Del Conte nor Sark has issued a formal response to McGuire. Sad. Why not have a doubleheader at AT&amp;T Stadium? Texas State and Abilene Christian can play Saturday at 11 am CT (God&#8217;s time zone), and then the Longhorns and Red Raiders can play at night at 6:30 pm. \u00a0This is the juice of college football. It&#8217;s spite, it&#8217;s anger, it&#8217;s a rivalry, and everything we love about college football.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>The problem comes down to pride. Texas Tech has everything to gain, and Texas is an almost no-win situation. If they lose, the trolling would be epic for Tech and a disaster for Texas and the SEC. If Texas wins, there are no flowers or accolades. That&#8217;s what they are supposed to do. But come on, we need this. It&#8217;s good for the game. It was good for the game when BYU made a pivot in less than 72 hours to head east to Myrtle Beach to take on Coastal Carolina in 2020.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>Check your pride at the door, CDC. Stop playing Hooky and let the Horns play.<\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Texas vs. Texas Tech Historical Matchup<\/h3>\n<p>The numbers from <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.winsipedia.com\/texas\/vs\/texas-tech\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Winsipedia<\/a> don&#8217;t lie. Texas has owned this series; what&#8217;s one more game?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Series lead: Texas leads the all-time series 55-18<\/li>\n<li>Current win streak: Texas is on a one-game winning streak.<\/li>\n<li>Last game: Texas destroyed Texas Tech in 2023, 57-7. Surely, Arch could do something similar, right?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Main Photo: Brendan Maloney-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We need some spice in college football. Our conferences are bloated. Our non-conference games are weakening and heading to an NFL or foreign f\u00fatbol stadium near you. This is why we should all be thankful for the slander between the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders this week. The thesis of this story is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":88037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,3,35576,35658],"tags":[36139,35936,34602,8318,1286,5095],"class_list":["post-88026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-big12","category-sec","category-texas-longhorns","category-texas-tech-red-raiders","tag-brendan-sorsby","tag-chris-del-conte","tag-cody-campbell","tag-joey-mcguire","tag-mike-leach","tag-steve-sarkisian"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88026"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88038,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88026\/revisions\/88038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}