Texas Tech Publicly Calls Out Texas After Steve Sarkisian's Criticism

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian decided to diss his team's former longtime rival Texas Tech by declaring that his own team would go unbeaten on their schedule with his backups. As you might expect, the Red Raiders were quick to answer the challenge.

"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," Sarkisian said dismissively in a recent interview.

Those remarks were seen by Texas Tech Board of Regents chairman and mega-booster Cody Campbell, who laid down the gauntlet to Sarkisian a short while ago.

"Schedule us then! We've been talking about it for years and we are more than willing!!" Campbell wrote on X, tagging both Sarkisian and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte.

Fight or Flight?

Texas Tech fans were quick to join forces with Campbell, declaring that the Longhorns are too afraid of the Red Raiders to face them. But other fans mocked them, pointing out that Texas Tech got destroyed in the College Football Playoff this past year.

"They won't. They live in hypotheticals," one Texas Tech fan wrote.

"Ya'll got clowned by Oregon. I'd sit this one out until you are competitive versus someone besides BYU," another said dismissively.

"Only thing softer than the schedule in Lubbock is Cody Campbell. Oh wait, I meant Dallas, no alum actually LIVES there," a third mocked.

"Why the hell would Texas want to do that? There's no upside for the Longhorns to play sand aggy. Besides, the last time Texas played y'all, they beat you by more than 7 touchdowns."

The Red Raiders had their best season in 2025 and seemed primed to be a top team in the Big 12 for a long time thanks in no small part to NIL and big money boosters.

But after getting shut out by Oregon in their first-ever College Football Playoff game, it's going to take more than some chest thumping for people to take them seriously as a national title contender.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 5:08 PM.