{"id":326017,"date":"2026-06-06T23:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/326017\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T23:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:15:16","slug":"texas-tech-wants-a-2026-football-showdown-with-texas-will-it-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/326017\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech wants a 2026 football showdown with Texas. Will it happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cody Campbell<\/a> never called out Texas softball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan (17) hugs Carly Northup after winning game two of the NCAA Women\u2019s College World Series against Texas Tech at Devon Park on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Texas Tech\u2019s billionaire benefactor understands it\u2019s smarter to go after the football team even if the Longhorns aren\u2019t interested in renewing their old Big 12 and Southwest Conference rivalry.<\/p>\n

Tech softball coach\u00a0Gerry Glasco<\/a> showed the Longhorns and coach Mike White<\/a> great respect for taking down his team<\/a> in the Women’s College World Series for a second straight year, especially with a roster with four new starters from the transfer portal who were brought in to join staff ace\u00a0NiJaree Canady<\/a>, who pocketed more than $2 million over her final two years in Lubbock.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A general view of kickoff between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns at Darrell\u00a0K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 19, 2009 in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Campbell, a modern day J.R. Ewing, is the face of the Matador Club, a Texas Tech collective that has paid more than $60 million to Red Raiders athletes over the last four years, softball included. It\u2019s the type of financial support that has moved the needle forward in the sport, but Glasco wanted to make one thing clear.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think that anyone that understands our sport knows that you can’t buy a championship,\u201d he said. \u201cI think our investors are beyond surreal with where we’re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Campbell is hell-bent on buying a marquee matchup for September. He wants the Red Raiders to open the season against the hated Texas Longhorns, who aren’t even remotely interested.<\/p>\n

\"Kansas<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Brittany Mahomes watch game two of the NCAA Women\u2019s College World Series between Texas Texas Tech at Devon Park on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Speaking of football, Red Raiders royalty was spotted in the interview room in the Devon Park basement in the minutes after the game. \u00a0Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who supports an NIL collective at Tech, strode past with his wife Brittany, friends and four burly security guards in tow.<\/p>\n

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The three-time Super Bowl champion had hoped to witness his school\u2019s first national championship in a traditional team sport since\u00a0Sheryl Swoopes<\/a> scored 47 points in the 1993 basketball title game win over Ohio State, but left OKC on the business end of a WCWS sweep.<\/p>\n

I had to ask members of Texas’ two-time champs about the chirping that’s been coming from both football camps and the Mahomes appearance. The responses varied:<\/p>\n

Catcher Reese Atwood<\/a>, taking the high road: \u201cBoth programs are incredible sports programs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ced’s Corner\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sign up for\u00a0Cedric Golden\u2019s newsletter<\/a> for hot takes and expert analysis each Tuesday on Texas Longhorns football and beyond. \u00a0It’s called Ced\u2019s Corner, from the mind of the American-Statesman\u2019s resident sports columnist who was named the NSMA’s 2025 Texas Sportswriter of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Center fielder Kayden Henry<\/a>, a Texas football fan, got hyped at the prospect: \u201cThanks for coming, Patrick Mahomes. Give the people what they want. Texas versus Texas Tech. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-time WCWS most outstanding player\u00a0Teagan Kavan<\/a> had an interesting take: \u201cI would like to have Taylor Swift at a game. If (Mahomes) is our route to her, let\u2019s bring her next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure Teagan was talking about a game at McCombs Field though she would take Tay-Tay at Royal-Memorial Stadium if she could get it, proud Swiftie that she is.<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian yells instructions during practice on fan day at Darrell K Royal\u2013Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aril 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Red Raiders stalking a Texas showdown\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Tech\u2019s hackles hurtled skyward after Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian <\/a>took a not-so-veiled shot at the Red Raiders last month in a conversation at the Touchdown Club of Houston when he said his backups could go undefeated with a certain Big 12 team\u2019s schedule. That team was determined to be Texas Tech, which will play only two games against opponents that finished ranked last season (No. 22 Houston and No. 25 TCU).<\/p>\n

The Red Raiders, who went 12-1 and won the school’s first Big 12 championship before losing 23-0 to Oregon in the first round of the College Football Playoff, will do it without newly signed quarterback transfer Brendan Sorsby. The\u00a0NCAA denied an appeal<\/a> to have his\u00a0 eligibility restored after he admitted to betting on sports while at Indiana and Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

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Texas, by comparison, will play eight ranked teams, including four that played in last season\u2019s CFP and Ohio State, which is a preseason No. 1 in several post-spring rankings.<\/p>\n

Tech\u2019s 2025 Big 12 football title ranks second to Graham Harrell\u2019s epic last-second touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree<\/a> to knock off No. 1 Texas in 2008, which cost the Horns a chance to play for a conference title and, essentially, a national title thanks to a horrible conference tiebreaker system.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire takes questions during the breakout press conferences on the second day of Big 12 Media Days in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, July 13, 2023.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Red Raiders coach\u00a0Joey McGuire <\/a>has revitalized the program through four seasons, but the Red Raiders are without a tasty rival since the Horns left for the SEC. Sarkisian\u2019s comments poured some $5.25-per-gallon super-unleaded fuel on the fire and McGuire couldn\u2019t wait to clap back.<\/p>\n

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“When you have a really great team. sometimes you say some stuff, and then your players have to go back it up on the field,\u201d he said on Josh Pate\u2019s College Football Show last Wednesday. \u201cWe’re working our tail off to get back to the playoffs again. I hope that Round 1 is against the University Of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell, a 44-year-old Lubbock-born Tech grad,\u00a0 hasn’t minced words when it comes to Sarkisian and Co.<\/p>\n

“It’s become very clear that there are quite a few steers down in Austin. There aren’t very many bulls,\u201d Campbell recently told ESPN’s Pat McAfee. \u201cWhen Sark opened his mouth and he picked a fight with a bunch of West Texas boys, he should have known that he better get ready to pack a lunch.”<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns running back Quintrevion Wisner (26) runs down the field as he evades Texas Tech defensive back Jordan Sanford (28) during the game against Texas Tech at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Texas Tech stalks a traditional team title<\/p>\n

Tech needs some new memories. Red Raiders fans are starving for a natty in a traditional team sport on the South Plains.The school began intercollegiate sports in 1925 \u2014 Campbell’s great-grandfather was in school that year \u00a0\u2014 and while we should credit men\u2019s track and field for its\u00a0 national indoor and outdoor titles in 2019 and 2024, respectively, Campbell and McGuire know real notoriety can only come with a football championship or at least a slaying of the state\u2019s reigning flagship program.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s why Campbell says he wants to pay Texas State and Abilene Christian step-aside money to allow the Red Raiders and Longhorns to knock heads in the Sept. 5 season opener. McGuire reportedly said Texas State and ACU coaches were both agreeable, a statement that has since been debunked in some circles.<\/p>\n

Sarkisian, meanwhile, is taking the smart approach, veiled shots aside. The Horns will have their hands full this fall. A Texas death match against the Red Raiders doesn\u2019t make sense, especially with Ohio State coming in Week 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the juice isn’t worth the squeeze at the end, that’s a big risk that we all are deciding to take to play (Ohio State), and so we are,” Sarkisian told ESPN\u2019s Greg McElroy. “I can look across the country and look at some other team schedules and say they’re not playing one (ranked team), not one. And so the path for them to make the playoffs is just a little bit easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To his credit, McGuire has built a winner and no one can blame him for coming to his program\u2019s defense by calling out the Horns.<\/p>\n

The Big 12 title may finally run through Lubbock, but the Horns are seeking bigger game these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cody Campbell never called out Texas softball. Article continues below this ad Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan (17)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11511,261,96710,116591,1888,81142,3231,27,29,537,536,28703,28,415,63517],"class_list":["post-326017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-cedric-golden","tag-college-football","tag-columnist-opinions","tag-dkr","tag-joey-mcguire","tag-royal-memorial-stadium","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-longhorns-softball","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","tag-wcws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}