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Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire isn’t backing down. After hearing Steve Sarkisian’s comments about the Red Raiders’ schedule, McGuire fired back with a direct challenge: play us in Week 1.
Both teams currently have soft opening-game matchups lined up. Texas is scheduled to face Texas State, while Tech is set to host Abilene Christian. McGuire says that doesn’t have to stay that way. He’s already talked to ACU’s Keith Patterson and Texas State’s GJ Kinne, and both coaches told him they’d be willing to buy out of their current contracts to play each other instead.
“We’re willing to buy our contract out of ACU. I’m sure because Texas has got a lot of money, they can buy their contract out, but I do know there’s a lot of Red Raiders that could help them buy that contract out if they don’t want to, and they can come to Lubbock in Week 1 and figure out if their twos and threes can win this conference.”
McGuire didn’t stop there.
“I do know that Cody Campbell reached out to Stephen Jones, so if they don’t want to come to Lubbock, then we’re going to work on trying to get to AT&T Stadium. So if they want to play Week 1, we’re ready. We would love to play the University of Texas.”
Campbell is one of Texas Tech’s most prominent boosters, and the mention of AT&T Stadium in Arlington suggests McGuire is serious about making this a neutral-site option if Texas won’t come to Lubbock.
What Sarkisian Actually Said
The whole thing started last week when Sarkisian was speaking at the Touchdown Club in Houston. A fan asked him about strength-of-schedule ratings, a sore subject for several SEC programs after Texas finished 9-3 and missed the College Football Playoff entirely. Sarkisian’s response raised some eyebrows.
“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.”
He never named the team. McGuire saw the comments on social media and had a staff member pull up the full clip to make sure he had all the context before responding.
“There’s no way they’re talking us because Sark’s a pretty tough guy, his teams are really tough, and I would think that if he was talking about us, he would call us out, right? Like he wouldn’t just say this kind of comment of, well, there’s another team in our state. Well, I guess he was talking about us.”
The other Power conference program in Texas that plays in a different league than the Longhorns is Texas Tech, which competes in the Big 12. It’s not a huge leap.
Where Both Programs Stand Heading Into 2026
The history between these two programs runs deep. Texas and Texas Tech have met more than 70 times, including years of annual matchups in both the Big 12 and the old Southwest Conference.
Their most recent stretch tells an interesting story. McGuire pulled off an upset the last time the Longhorns came to Lubbock back in 2022. Texas returned the favor in Austin during its final Big 12 farewell tour, winning 57-7.
Both programs finished last season as legitimate contenders and are expected to compete for CFP spots again in 2026. Texas enters the year with one of the tougher schedules in the country, including a high-profile home game against Ohio State. Tech’s schedule doesn’t carry the same weight on paper. The collapse of the legacy Pac-12 left Oregon State without a home, and the Red Raiders ended up without a Power Four non-conference opponent. They also won’t face BYU or Utah this season.
That’s exactly what Sarkisian was poking at.
Texas Tech had a strong year in 2025, winning the Big 12 for the first time and earning the No. 4 seed in the CFP along with a first-round bye. The run ended with a 23-0 loss to Oregon in the Orange Bowl. Texas, meanwhile, became the first preseason AP No. 1 team to finish outside the top 10 since USC in 2012, and the Longhorns didn’t play in a bowl game at all.
Whether this game actually happens remains to be seen. But McGuire clearly wants it, and he’s making sure Sarkisian knows it.
