Is Nebraska's Ban on Playing Texas Tech Real or Posturing?

Here are the numbers on how often Nebraska has faced each of its former Big 12 rivals since leaving for the Big Ten.

Nebraska faced Brendan Sorsby last August when he was quarterbacking the Cincinnati Bearcats. He transferred during the offseason to Texas Tech. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

On Monday morning, a judge granted Brendan Sorsby a temporary injunction against the NCAA in his battle to play quarterback for Texas Tech this fall. Sorsby had been suspended after admitting to gambling on his team's football games.

By late afternoon, a deputy within the Nebraska athletic department sent a message to their teams saying "we will not schedule any contests vs Texas Tech in any sport." Teams with a future contest already on the books were advised to contact athletic director Troy Dannen immediately.

Players gambling on their team's games violates a core trust and threatens the integrity of intercollegiate athletics. Cancelling future games with an institution that appears ready to play somebody who placed multiple wagers on his team's games is the right move. I applaud Dannen for taking that step… even though it is largely symbolic.

Because here's the thing: Nebraska and Texas Tech have not been regular opponents since the Huskers officially left the Big 12 Conference nearly 15 years ago. Far from it, in fact.

Across the six major sports (football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball) Nebraska and Texas Tech have faced off eight times in the last 15 years. Five times in softball (including the most recent meeting between the two schools in February 2026*), twice in baseball, and once in men's basketball.

*In the interest of time, I limited my research to the top six sports. The Lincoln Journal-Star reported that the Huskers and Red Raiders competed in men's tennis in January 2026. Beyond that, I'm not sure how often Nebraska and Texas Tech (or any former Big 12 foe) competed in Olympic sports.

Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh sacks Texas Tech quarterback Steven Sheffield when the Huskers and Red Raiders last met on the gridiron in 2009. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

Notably, all eight of Nebraska's games with Texas Tech were in multi-team events. MTEs are typically neutral site invitationals played near the start of a team's season. Nebraska's baseball and softball teams spend every February traveling to MTEs looking for games until it is warm enough to host teams in Lincoln. With MTEs, the field and schedules are usually coordinated by a third party - not the participating schools.

In other words: in the last 15 years, the Huskers and Red Raiders do not appear to have voluntarily scheduled a game with each other in the six biggest varsity sports.

It is worth asking: In the wake of the Sorsby news, is Nebraska blackballing Texas Tech? Or are they making a grand gesture of saying they won't pursue games with a school that has potentially been ghosting NU since July 1, 2011?

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For the record, I cannot prove that Texas Tech - nor any of Nebraska's former Big 12 colleagues - have had the Huskers on any type of "do not call" list for athletic schedules. I didn't file any Freedom of Information Act requests seeking smoking gun documents. I do not believe there is/was any type of conference-wide conspiracy to avoid the Huskers in the nonconference season.

But I wanted to run the numbers and see what they said.

Using the schedules on Huskers.com, I compiled a list of every game in baseball, basketball (men's and women's), football, softball, and volleyball against the 11 other members of the Big 12 Conference when Nebraska announced their intention to move to the Big Ten. I made distinctions for four different types of athletic contests:

• Exhibition games. Preseason scrimmages that do not countinthe season's record.
• Multi-team events (MTEs). Early season neutral site invitationals.
• Regularseasongames. A standard nonconference game, typically held on the campus of one of the teams. One-off neutral site games (such as Nebraska playing Oklahoma in Sioux Falls) were placed here.
• Postseason games. NCAA tournaments and other postseason games (such as the WNIT).

Not surprisingly, the results were mixed. We're talking about 11 different institutions in seven different states - each having different sports, different nonconference scheduling needs, and a different pool of available partners in their region.

Overall, Nebraska has played 191 contests against their former Big 12 peers since the 2011-12 season started. 106 of those were regular season games, played mostly on campus. NU was matched up with a former Big 12 team 47 times in an MTE, mostly in softball and baseball. And there have been 35 instances where a Husker team has met one of their old Big 12 rivals in the postseason.

Canceled games were included, as they were scheduled between the two schools. My primary focus was on which teams might be avoiding NU, so I made no effort to compile win/loss records.

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Baylor
Total contests vs Nebraska: 9. (9th of the 11 teams)

If you want to believe in a Big 12 Conference conspiracy to avoid Nebraska, the Bears would help make your case. Baylor avoided Nebraska from 2011 to 2019 when the baseball teams met for a three-game series. The Huskers and Bears played three more games in 2020 before the pandemic shut things down. Other than that, a baseball MTE in 2024, a softball MTE in 2025, and an NCAA volleyball match in the 2020-21 season.

Nebraska's Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda returns a punt during the Huskers' 2024 game against Colorado in Lincoln. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Colorado
Total contests vs Nebraska: 8. (tied for last)

Two big asterisks with the Buffs. 1) They technically left the Big 12 before Nebraska did before rejoining the league in 2024. 2) Colorado does not offer baseball or softball as varsity sports. CU is an outlier in that half of their games vs. Nebraska were in football along with two preseason scrimmages in men's basketball. Postseason games in volleyball (2017) and women's basketball (2021).

Iowa State
Total contests vs Nebraska: 13. (7th most)

Seven of the matchups have occurred on the volleyball court - including a scrimmage in Sioux Falls earlier this spring. This makes a ton of sense as the Cyclones are led by Nebraska alumna Christy Johnson-Lynch. Every other meeting was on the softball field.

Nebraska outside hitter Harper Murray attacks against a pair of Kansas Jayhawks during the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Kansas
Total contests vs Nebraska: 31. (2nd most)

The Huskers and Jayhawks have competed in the postseason seven times in the last 15 years, three in volleyball, two each in softball and women's basketball. Things have been quieter for the men: two games in basketball and five baseball games. NU and KU once had one of the longest continuous football series in the sport. Now, they haven't played since 2010.

Kansas State
Total contests vs Nebraska: 39. (1st)

In an era where Nebraska has multiple conference foes on both coasts, I'm glad there is enough sanity to schedule games against one of the closest power conference teams (135 miles from Lincoln). The only year Nebraska has not had a baseball game scheduled with K-State was 2021, when the Big Ten played a conference-only slate. The number of games would likely be even higher if the Wildcats had a varsity softball team.

Missouri
Total contests vs Nebraska: 17. (5th most)

This is one of the more misleading totals in the entire exercise. Yes, Nebraska and Missouri have faced off 17 times since 2011, which is the fifth most of the 11 teams. And yet, the two teams have played only three regular-season games (one in men's basketball and two in softball), which is the third fewest. There have been a combined seven NCAA meetings between softball and volleyball.

Any potential hard feelings the Tigers may have had over Nebraska getting the Big Ten invitation Missouri reportedly coveted should have been soothed when Mizzou joined the SEC. I don't know why these teams don't play more often.

Nebraska played Oklahoma in baseball in during the 2024 Shriners Children's College Showdown in Arlington, Texas. | Brett Patzke-Imagn Images

Oklahoma
Total contests vs Nebraska: 16. (6th most)

The two Big Reds of the old Big Eight don't face each other very often, but they have met in five of the six sports in this exercise. The Sooners are one of two former Big 12 foes to face the Huskers on the football field since NU left. The fabled football rivalry will be renewed in 2029 and 2030 (assuming nobody from NU tries to cancel it).

Oklahoma State
Total contests vs Nebraska: 19. (4th most)

If you had asked me to guess the top four teams, I would have gotten Kansas State and Kansas. I might have gotten the third team (coming next). But I never would have guessed Okie State would have the fourth-most games against NU. The four softball games in the 2026 season is what helped the Cowboys jump up the standings. The football teams are currently scheduled for a home and home starting in 2034.

A loss to Texas in the Women's College World Series ended the Huskers' 2026 softball season. | NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas
Total contests vs Nebraska: 20. (3rd most)

Of course, Nebraska would face Texas the most of any team outside the state of Kansas. Ten of the 10 meetings have been on the volleyball court, with two of those deciding the national championship. The Longhorn softball team ended NU's season on its way to the title. The Husker men haven't faced their old Big 12 nemesis since a three-game baseball series in 2015.

Texas A&M
Total contests vs Nebraska: 11. (8th most)

The Huskers and Aggies have not played a regular -season contest against each other in the six biggest sports since Nebraska left for the Big Ten. Considering that A&M's athletic director, Trev Alberts, is not exactly beloved in Lincoln since he left, I don't expect the Aggies to appear on NU's schedule anytime soon.

Of course, postseason play is a different story. The NCAA has loved to match the two teams up in the postseason since Alberts left, much to the pain of Husker fans.

Texas Tech
Total contests vs Nebraska: 8. (tied for last)

As noted above, all eight of the meetings with the Red Raiders have come in MTEs. Tech and A&M are the only two Big 12 schools who have not played Nebraska in the regular season since the Huskers left for the Big Ten.

With Troy Dannen's departmental ban on games with Texas Tech, that seems unlikely to change any time soon.

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