Texas Tech HC Not Ducking Steve Sarkisian Smoke: ‘We Would Love To Play Texas’

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is talking trash about Texas Tech, but Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire is ready to take out the trash. Earlier this month, Sarkisian blasted Texas Tech’s competition in the Big 12. “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. The Red Raiders are coming off a 2025 campaign that saw them go 11-1 in the regular season, beat the BYU Cougars in the Big 12 Championship and earn a No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff. Texas Tech was then shut out by the Oregon Ducks in the quarterfinal round, 23-0. With that said, the Longhorns, who entered the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, missed the playoff, ultimately finishing 10-3 overall. “We would love to play Texas … We’ll find out if their twos and threes can win in this conference,” McGuire said at the Big 12 spring meetings on Thursday, according to ESPN. Moreover, Texas Tech Chairman of the Board of Regents Cody Campbell posted to X on Thursday that the Red Raiders “will pay the buyout” for both teams’ opening games of the 2026 college football season (Texas Tech begins with a home game against the Abilene Christian Wildcats on Sept. 5 and Texas begins with a home game against the Texas State Bobcats on Sept. 5), so they can square off. Of course, Texas left the Big 12 Conference for the SEC after the 2023 season, which is the last time the two programs faced off, with the Longhorns winning 57-7 in Austin and taking five of the last six matchups; Texas is 54-18 in the all-time series. McGuire is entering his fifth season as Texas Tech’s head coach, with the Red Raiders sporting a 35-18 record under him from 2022-25. Sarkisian is entering his sixth season as Texas’ head coach, with the Longhorns a combined 48-20 under him from 2021-25, highlighted by two appearances in the College Football Playoff (2023 and 2024) and three consecutive double-digit winning seasons (2023-25).