Paul Finebaum dismissed Texas Tech after the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga, but the Red Raiders’ 12-win Big 12 title season gives them a louder answer right now.
Texas Tech football finally forced its way into the national conversation in 2025.
Then Paul Finebaum reminded everyone how quickly some voices are ready to shove the Red Raiders right back out of it.
After Texas Tech went 12-2, won the Big 12 for the first time in program history and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time, the Red Raiders looked like one of college football’s boldest new-money threats.
NIL muscle, transfer portal aggression and on-field results turned Lubbock into more than a cute underdog story.
But the Brendan Sorsby saga gave the sport a mess it didn’t need.
Sorsby was expected to be one of the major pieces in Texas Tech’s push to prove 2025 wasn’t a one-year heater.
The former transfer quarterback had been viewed as one of the offseason’s most important additions before the NCAA banned him from playing FBS football this season over a gambling issue.
Sorsby later received an injunction that opened the door for a return, but instead of a reunion, he and Texas Tech agreed to split.
He then elected to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft.
On “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning,” Finebaum didn’t sound heartbroken to see the story fade.
“I think most, if not all of us, should take a big deep breath and say, ‘Thankfully it’s over,’” Finebaum said.
“Not because it’s Texas Tech, a school I really don’t care about, but for college football. It was a bad look for the game, and I think that most people reacted correctly.”
That line will land exactly how it was delivered. Finebaum doesn’t care about Texas Tech. He said it out loud. And honestly, nobody should be shocked.
Finebaum has built his career in the SEC orbit. The Big Ten gets oxygen because it wins national titles and moves television numbers.
The Big 12? Programs there usually have to crash the party, steal the remote and force everyone to watch.
Texas Tech did that last season.
The Red Raiders won 12 games, captured a conference championship and reached the playoff in the new era of college football. That’s not nothing. That’s not a side note. That’s a program planting a flag.
Now comes the harder part. Texas Tech has to do it again without Sorsby and without the benefit of surprise. The roster still has talent, the NIL machine is still real and the Big 12 is there to be controlled if the Red Raiders can handle the weight of expectations.
Finebaum may not care yet. Texas Tech’s answer has to be making him talk about them anyway.
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