Texas Tech thought it had a clear path to Brendan Sorsby competing this season. The Big 12 made it clear that was not the case, and now the Red Raiders will not have him at all.
The conference filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Red Raiders and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, representing the latest development in this saga. Specifically, the Big 12 asked the courts to allow the conference to exercise its own bylaws.
That filing spooked the Red Raiders, and the school and Sorsby have since parted ways. Rather than risk their entire season, Texas Tech chose to move on, with Sorsby entering the NFL's supplemental draft.
Here is what it meant and why the Red Raiders were so nervous about the outcome.
The Big 12 Was Ready to Levy Sanctions
The Big 12 held its cards close. While non-conference schools like Georgia and Nebraska opted to ban playing Texas Tech in any sport, the Big 12 held meetings and weighed its options carefully.
Programs do not take matters to federal court without a plan for what comes next. Filing a lawsuit signaled the conference had a disciplinary framework ready to deploy and wanted to ensure it could use it if needed.
The venue of the suit also mattered. The Big 12 had already seen Paxton threatening legal action if Sorsby was not allowed to play. Had the case remained in Texas state courts, Paxton could have taken it all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, a process that would have taken months and potentially allowed Sorsby to run out the clock. Federal court limited both Paxton's and Texas Tech's options, and the fact that the Big 12 chose that venue suggested commissioner Brett Yormark and the other member schools believed they could win. Texas Tech's reaction confirmed they thought so too.
What Penalties Could the Big 12 Have Considered?
The most probable path was for the Big 12 to declare any conference game in which Sorsby played a forfeit. That would have made Texas Tech ineligible for the postseason, as the program needs six wins to qualify. The conference could also have barred Texas Tech from the title game and stripped them of eligibility for league honors.
A financial penalty was probably not under consideration. With Cody Campbell's resources behind the program, Texas Tech does not depend on television money the way most schools do and likely would not have felt the impact.
The Red Raiders Burned a Lot of Goodwill
The lawsuit was only a few hours old when the attorneys general of Kansas, Oklahoma and Utah filed on behalf of the Big 12. That response illustrates how deeply the conference and its member states felt about what Texas Tech had done. The Red Raiders signaled a willingness to do whatever it took to win, including ignoring the rules and attempting to work around them.
That has consequences, even in the current era of college sports. Texas Tech has damaged its standing significantly, and reputations of that kind take years to rebuild. Finding willing opponents will be harder now. Michigan volleyball has already withdrawn from a scheduled matchup, and further cancellations may follow. Schools that do agree to play in Lubbock will be in a position to demand higher fees, and Texas Tech could find itself accepting weaker scheduling terms or missing out on games it needs for ratings and postseason positioning.
There is a useful parallel from the recent past. When North Dakota refused to retire its Fighting Sioux nickname, neighbors Minnesota and Wisconsin announced they would not compete against the program in any sport except hockey, where conference obligations required it, until the name changed. The pressure worked. North Dakota dropped the nickname in 2015.
Texas Tech's situation is not identical, but the dynamic is similar. Enough schools refusing to engage forces a program to either lower its scheduling standards or accept others' terms. The Red Raiders were already feeling that pressure, and once their conference partners became directly involved, the position became untenable.
Bottom Line
Texas Tech is in a difficult position, and it is largely one of its own creation. The program could have pursued a path to contention with a quarterback carrying far less baggage, and the roster is capable enough to compete. Instead, the Red Raiders find themselves back where they started, needing a quarterback, having gained nothing, and having done considerable damage to their standing in the process.
Sorsby entering the supplemental draft is among the better outcomes available at this point. It does not, however, leave Texas Tech in good shape.
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