.jpg)
1 hour ago
3
How will this run by Texas Tech football be remembered in five years?
We already know the answer. The Red Raiders emerged as huge NIL spenders in college football – which contributed to a 12-2 season and the program's first Big 12 championship and CFP appearance last season. Texas Tech might get back in 2026 – but the cost might be far more expensive.
Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was granted an injunction against the NCAA by a district court judge in Lubbock County, Texas. Red Raiders booster Cody Campbell offered this justification in a statement to USA Today.
"This whole situation is the outcome of a broken system, and I'm doing everything I can to fix it while Texas Tech still does the best it can to navigate the chaos."
Fix a broken system by breaking it more? It's a horrible decision – of course a localized decision – that will benefit Texas Tech in the short-term while opening up an array of problems for the NCAA later. This might be good for the Red Raiders, but it is very, very bad for the college football enterprise as a whole. Unless, of course, you want the Wild, Wild West and the consequence-free environment that comes with it.
QB RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE: ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC
Should Brendan Sorsby be allowed to play in 2026?
No. ESPN.com reported on April 27 that Sorsby bet on Indiana football as a redshirt freshman in 2022. He played in one game that season, and all of the bets were on Indiana to win. That should have been enough to warrant a one-year suspension.
Pete Rose – the MLB's all-time hits leaders – faced a lifetime ban from baseball for almost the same offense in 1989. Paul Hornung – the NFL MVP in 1961 – was suspended for the 1963 season – and that was before the Super Bowl era. Professional sports cannot allow gambling to threaten the integrity of the game.
Sure, there is an empathetic piece knowing Sorsby did enter a gambling addiction program and student-athletes are more exposed to more gambling than any era in college sports history. But NCAA president Charlie Baker laid out the reasons why this injunction is another reason Congressional intervention is necessary in college sports in a statement.
"When you have schools and deep-pocketed supporters willing to look the other way on the glaring integrity threat of betting on your own team - and judges whose rulings effectively strip away our ability to stop them - only Congress can equip the NCAA to apply this common sense rule to everyone fairly and consistently. The Protect College Sports Act would empower the NCAA to enforce rules including the gambling restrictions."
The college football system has cracks, for sure. NIL and the transfer portal are not being used as they are intended, and it's essentially created year-by-year free agency. Texas Tech – which has picked up 47 players in the transfer portal the two seasons – has benefitted from a system Campbell claims is broken.
Injunctions from local courts are nothing new. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss received a sixth year of eligibility after being granted an injunction from a Mississippi state court judge. The consensus reaction on social media was the same as Monday – "That judge must be a fan of the team."
The ruling said Sorsby would suffer a "probable, imminent and irrepable injury." Like this is an ACL? The cure would have been the NFL Supplemental Draft had the judge ruled properly in this case.
DECOURCY: Super League will never be the best path forward
How Brendan Sorsby decision will impact college football
Sorsby's attorney Jeffrey Kessler issued a statement to Yahoo Sports:
"This is a just result," Kessler said. "He will continue in treatment, devote himself to his team and educate others about the dangers of gambling addiction, and there is no damage to the competitive integrity of NCAA games."
There is no damage right now – but there will be. The Sorsby decision opens the door for every game result to be scrutinized more than ever before.
Remember when Indiana Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza sprinted backward 40 yards for a game-ending safety at the end of the Hoosiers' 20-15 victory against Iowa last season. Mendoza joked: "I know I really cooked people's spreads. My apologies out to them."
That joke no longer can be passed off. Remember, the quarterback influences the game more than anybody else. What happens when a quarterback intentionally makes a play like that and is later found to have made bets on college sports games? What variation of the "Sorsby Defense" will they use? Will a local judge grant that injunction? Yes, questions about boosters influencing the game will be real. It's like "The Longest Yard" in real life, but the game with the guards never happens because Paul Crewe is still playing.
It already has an impact on the 2026 football season. Texas Tech will be among the Big 12 favorites with Sorsby – who had 2,800 yards, 28 TDs and five interceptions at Cincinnati. The Red Raiders should be able to make another CFP run, and the NCAA is out of moves other than threatening to forfeit Texas Tech victories for every game Sorsby plays in. Do you think that is going to stop Texas Tech?
Long term, Texas Tech's fate is sealed once Sorsby steps on the field. They are the villain of college football – and they will attract followers who still have a disdain for the NCAA and a love for programs that manipulate the rules to their advantage. Remember what happened to SMU in the 1980s? Everybody likes to say "Pony Express" out loud without bringing up the real cost to the football program.
Some rules aren't meant to be broken, and that's what Sorsby did. How much will that cost Texas Tech? College football?
We already know the answer to both questions.
English (US)