The Program: Texas Tech Paramount Plus Show Review and Grade

The introduction before they rolled the opening credits was fast-paced and showed the players' training, news clips of the Brendan Sorsby saga, team meetings, and more. Then it jumps to Texas Tech's head coach the night of the national championship game, smoking a cigar and talking about the tradition of lighting one up after every victory.

Then it jumped to Texas Tech's quarterfinal game against Oregon, then back to Joey McGuire's reaction to Indiana winning the national championship. The show is narrated by actor Dennis Quaid, and he briefly explains to the audience about how McGuire went to work in the off-season preparing his team to make a run to the national championship game in 2027.

The show really gets into the process of the transfer portal and how coaches evaluate players in the transfer portal, and then it showcases Cody Campbell and his story, showing how he greatly helps the football program flourish financially. It then discusses the players they received commitments from in the transfer portal. It quickly shows clips of media personalities defending Texas Tech and their ability to fundraise and bring in talented, sought-after players.

The show jumps around quickly from topic to topic, but episode one does focus on Brendan Sorsby. It wasn't the primary focus of the episode, but it did go in-depth with interviews and footage of Sorsby on campus, going to basketball games, and more. It even shows the house that he bought, and he provides much insight about his first months in Lubbock.

The episode then pivots to discussing a list of former Texas Tech quarterbacks, along with news and media clips featuring individuals discussing how Texas Tech might possibly win a national championship in 2027. Even though the episode focuses a lot on Sorsby, it also focuses on McGuire and provides quality insight into his coaching philosophy and some of his past and family life with insight from his wife.

Most Texas Tech fans know a lot about what is featured in episode one, but the show appears to be appealing to a broader national audience by going over the history of the McGuire era at Texas Tech. Red Raider fans may want more insight into this past off-season for Texas Tech and the football program, but it still does a good job of explaining and showing what transpired over the past six months or so.

The episode does show the process of "reloading the roster" and the players getting to know each other better this past off-season. A small disclaimer is that this episode contains some unsavory language, so be aware if you are watching the show with others. The off-season workouts have some brutally honest commentary from some of the assistant Red Raider coaches.

A third main character of the episode is senior linebacker Ben Roberts. Both his mom and dad were interviewed, and Ben discusses his path to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders coaches also talk about how important his experience and talent are for the defense this season. The segment ends with Roberts and his teammates at a gun range talking about the importance of bonding and getting to know each other better.

The fourth person featured in this episode is Terrance Carter Jr., and it discusses the impact his mother has had on him, his competitiveness, and his activity in recruiting players via the transfer portal, like Sorsby.

As this episode continues to do, it quickly jumps to something else, which was the start of spring practice. It focuses on the first live scrimmage and how well the transfers and veteran players gel together. It also shows why the coaches, athletic department, and even the university later fought so hard to keep Sorsby eligible because he ran the Red Raiders offense so well and how the offense was taking it to the defense with him as quarterback.

It then focuses on the struggles of the defense, and it ends with giving an analogy of West Texas weather being unpredictable and changing quickly. What people tend to forget is that the Sorsby saga began when his former school, Cincinnati, sued him for breach of contract and him for fulfilling his two-year NIL deal with his former team.

The overall grade for episode one is a solid B, with viewers wanting to continue to tune in and watch further episodes. The pace of the episode is more geared towards the younger YouTube audience, and older, traditional viewers of TV shows who want more context and depth may not like the pace of the show as much. However, the recommendation is that if you have a Paramount Plus subscription, it is definitely worth watching.

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