Steve Sarkisian has been challenged to back his words up on the football field this upcoming season by head coach Joey McGuire, in what is the latest war of words between the two Lone Star State universities.
During an era in which plenty of schools are looking to get out of games against nonconference opponents that could put a blemish on their record, the Red Raiders have essentially called to the table over comments made by their head coach. And, Texas Tech is not looking to wait around to get this game on the schedule.
Last week, during an event at the Houston Touchdown Club, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian might not have specifically named the Red Raiders while answering a question about within college football, but he really didnt have to.
“There’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year,” Steve Sarkisian mentioned.
Obviously, the Texas head coach is loving the potential of his football team this upcoming season, with leading the offense at quarterback, along with a talented group on defense.
But, he had to know his comments were going to make their way outside of the room in Houston and down to Lubbock, Texas.
In reality, the only team he would actually be calling out in that way is Texas Tech, who hasn’t shied away from spending money to put together a roster that is capable of competing for a Big 12 title, along with making the playoff.
And yes, those odds took a hit when ineligible by the NCAA for gambling and placing bets on his own team while at Indiana.
But if there’s one thing we know about Joey McGuire, he’s not going to just roll over and allow someone to talk about his team without pushback.
“You know, Sark, weve played him. We got out butts kicked the last time we played, were 1-1 against Texas since Ive been here. I said, ‘Theres no way they’re talking about us,’ because Sark is a pretty tough guy,” McGuire mentioned. “His teams are really tough, and I would think if he was talking about us, hed call us out and not just say this comment of Well, theres another team in our state. So I guess he was talking about us.
“Ive actually talked to Keith Patterson and Ive talked to DJ Kinney, and they’re willing to take our games, and Abilene Christian would go to Texas State, well buy our contract out of Abilene Christian. Im sure, because Texas has got a lot of money, they can buy their contract out. But, I do know theres a lot of Red Raiders that will help then buy that contract out if they dont want to.”
I get it. I think the college football world gets it. A lot of this chatter centers around the two schools rarely meeting on the field during the regular season in recent years.
Having played over 70 games against each other during their history, more frequently when both were members of the Southwest Conference and Big 12, the Longhorns did get the last laugh in 2022 after defeating Texas Tech 57-7.
Joey McGuire is not running from the past, though. He’s obviously doing everything he can to get this on the upcoming schedule, which would require Texas Tech buying out of its game against Abilene Christian.
“They can come to Lubbock in week one. We can figure out if there 2s and 3s can win this conference,” McGuire said at Big 12 meetings. “I know a lot of people are going to say a lot of stuff about me, or about us. We didnt score in the playoffs. You can take a shot at us about that, we didn’t score in the playoffs. The last time we played Texas we got beat 57-7, and he played some of his 2s and 3s. They kicked the crap out of us.
“But, I know he feels really good about his te
