One of the two most powerful conferences in college sports will meet to discuss boycotting Texas Tech – in all sports – after Monday’s controversial ruling in which a Lubbock judge granted Red Raider quarterback Brendan Sorsby an injunction against the NCAA, allowing him to play the 2026 college football season.
Sorsby signed a lucrative NIL deal with Texas Tech before a USA Today article revealed his extensive gambling activity, including wagers on his own team when he was a backup at Indiana.
According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, “Big Ten officials are expected to discuss in the upcoming days a league-wide mandate to not play Texas Tech in any sports, per three Big Ten sources. This is in the wake of Nebraska AD Troy Dannen informing his staff today that they aren’t allowed to schedule Texas Tech.”
Two athletic departments, Georgia and Nebraska, have already directed coaches and staff not to schedule any athletic events with Texas Tech.
The decision about how to move forward is not solely in the hands of other conferences. The Big 12, Texas Tech’s home conference, also has the power to discipline a member of their own conference.
As Pete Thamel reports, “Sources: Don’t expect any immediate action from the Big 12 on the Brendan Sorsby ruling. The Big 12 has defined a process to address it, which begins with an AD call today. The Big 12 executive board will meet Thursday to discuss options.”
While the NCAA has pledged to appeal the decision of the Lubbock court, that appeals process, even if expedited, would not even begin until at least midway through the college football season.
Leaving any meaningful disciplinary or corrective action in the hands of the conferences themselves. The actions of the court and the NCAA’s inability to do anything about it have raised the issues present in college sports anew and prompted many to call for passage of the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act, which would limit transfers, do away with third-party NIL, and grant the NCAA limited monopoly powers.