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The Big 12 is pushing to punish Texas Tech for its position on star football transfer Brendan Sorsby. The team plans to play the quarterback following his eligibility ruling. The conference wants to have a say in in decision making.
The league filed a legal complaint in federal court against the Red Raiders and the Texas Attorney General. Will it prevent a potential national championship run?
History suggests a positive ruling will keep the team out of the College Football Playoff.
Big 12 files complaint against Texas Tech football.
Here’s the crux of the Big 12’s filing. “A declaratory judgment that the First Amendment protects the Conference’s right to invoke its authority under its Bylaws to sanction TTU related to its handling of
the sports betting activity discussed in this Complaint, including if TTU… pic.twitter.com/wkCuGUygxw— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 15, 2026
Sorsby received an injunction in a sports gambling case that allows him to compete in the 2026 football season. The NCAA cannot keep him off the field.
Big 12 leaders requested that the school reconsider playing its transfer passer despite being eligible. Texas Tech refused.
The Red Raiders spent a lot of money to get Sorsby out of the transfer portal. They intend to cash in on that investment. The program believes it can win a national championship with Sorsby at the helm.
It has no plans of benching its star player beyond a two-game suspension.
As expected. Texas Tech is going through all this trouble — of course it planned to actually play Sorsby if it got him eligible https://t.co/HBLTJ6zkg9
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) June 15, 2026
The Big 12 is hoping to regain some control of the situation. It asks for the ability to enforce its bylaws and potentially sanction the school.
Listed in those possible sanctions is a Big 12 Championship Game ban. If successful, the league could keep the Red Raiders from competing in the contest, which removes the opportunity to land an automatic College Football Playoff bid.
Why it’s bad news for the Red Raiders.
The 12-team setup returns for the 2026-27 college football season. The Big 12 has never gotten two teams into the same field. Only its conference champions have been invited.
There are a few changes in the coming year. Automatic bids will go to the four power conference champs (ACC, B10, B12, SEC). One will go to the highest-ranked Group of Six team. Another will go to Notre Dame if ranked in the Top 12.
That would leave six at-large spots for a second Big 12 team.
Last year, the SEC swiped four of the at-large bids. The Big 10 snagged two others. The Big 12 was shut out even with Notre Dame unable to make the field.
There have already been discussions about the College Football Playoff’s ability to ban Texas Tech from the tournament this postseason. The organization does not operate under the NCAA umbrella. It, in theory, does not have to abide by the terms of the Brendan Sorsby injunction.
The Big 12 complaint might remove the CFP from the weight of having to make that decision. In the very least, it would make the committee’s job easier to simply not select Texas Tech as an at-large rather than being forced to honor the conference champion requirement.
There is “considerable concern” within the Big 12 that the league will incur “reputational harm and irreparable damage to public and member trust in the integrity of league compensations” if Sorsby were to play and is concerned that the Red Raiders would “take a spot” from another school in the league championship game “with a player that has acted contrary” to conference values.
Brendan Sorsby broke the golden rule. The Big 12 does not approve of the eligibility ruling, or Texas Tech’s stance on starting its transfer quarterback. If granted authority, it will act accordingly.