Texas Tech fans rally behind Cody Campbell’s challenge for Steve Sarkisian and Texas

While it would have been easy for Joey McGuire, Cody Campbell, and the rest of the Texas Tech football program to just sit back and let Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns control the narrative about college football scheduling, the Red Raiders and their leadership took a slightly different (and much bolder approach to the situation).

After Sarkisian, the head coach of the Longhorns, decided to take a shot at another college football team in Texas that plays in a conference other than the SEC (he didn’t name the Red Raiders, but pretty much everyone suspects that he was bashing Texas Tech’s schedule for 2026), Campbell, McGuire and the Red Raiders have decided to fire back.

And that has Texas Tech football fans thrilled.

Because instead of just complaining, Campbell and McGuire have decided to challenge the Longhorns. Let the game and the anger play out on the field. 

The Red Raiders have offered to pay the buyout for Texas Tech’s season opener AND the Longhorns’ season opener. Texas Tech is calling UT’s bluff here (and offering to make the Texas State Bobcats and Abilene Christian Wildcats much, much richer in the process).

Again, Texas Tech fans are over the moon about this one. 

Texas Tech football fans weigh in after Cody Campbell, Joey McGuire, and the Red Raiders challenge the Texas Longhorns

Here’s what Texas Tech football fans had to say after Campbell and the Red Raiders offered to foot the bill so that Texas Tech and the Longhorns could meet on the field to start the 2026 football season.

I mean, this is getting the endorsement of two of Texas Tech’s most productive quarterbacks in program history. That’s a good thing to see. For those who don’t know, Symons played for Texas Tech from 2000 to 2003. During the early part of the Mike Leach era, Symons was a star for the Red Raiders and managed to throw for 5833 yards and 52 touchdowns in 2003.

Mahomes, of course, is currently one of the greatest quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen and happened to throw for 11,252 yards and 93 touchdowns for Kliff Kingsbury (another former Texas Tech quarterback) from 2014 to 2016.

Getting their endorsement isn’t a bad thing.

It’s also fun to see Texas Tech’s current defensive coordinator weighing in on this situation. 

There’s a lot of excitement around Campbell and the Red Raiders challenging Texas here. This is absolutely something worth paying attention to. It's something that Texas Tech fans want. Now, the Longhorns may not want it because their schedule is already loaded, but that's a them problem.

Who knows if the game will actually be played? Who knows who would be the starting quarterback for the Red Raiders for the first few games of the season? Regardless, Texas Tech is doing what it can to challenge the Longhorns here. And as we saw back in 2020, schedules can be adjusted if folks really want to adjust them.

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