Joey McGuire Continues Talking Season Feud with Texas Longhorns: 'We're Ready'

Texas may no longer be in the Big-12, but the feud with Texas Tech is still ongoing. Or at least the Red Raiders are trying to keep that rivalry feel alive.

While in Dallas, Texas, for Big 12 Media Days, head coach Joey McGuire was once again asked about Texas and specifically his summer feud with Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian.

"One, spot the ball. We're ready to roll," McGuire said. "It was fun. I understand what Sark was saying, and some of it was kinda a back-and-forth, but there was a gentleman's agreement with ADs that we would continue to play, and they chose not to."

More 'Fun'

Texas Tech's head football coach Joey McGuire attends football practice, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, at the Sports Performance Center. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The “fun” started back in May, when during a luncheon Sarkisian called out the inequities in college football schedules, indirectly but obviously referencing Texas Tech.

“There’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year,” Sarkisian said.

The Red Raiders quickly caught wind of this comment and turned it into an opportunity to try and add Texas to their 2026 schedule. McGuire in particular proposed the idea of each team’s current season, Texas State and Abilene Christian, to play eachother opening the door for the Longhorns and Red Raiders to face off.

Obviously, that never came to pass, even though a famed Texas Tech booster offered to pay the buyout for both games.

Yet, even though Texas didn’t opt to take the bait, which was unlikely to happen in the first place, McGuire has taken it up a notch in Dallas.

"We're ready to go right now. We'll play [Texas] tomorrow,” McGuire said per Brett McMurphy. “We don't need any film study. They got a great football team, one of the best teams in the country."

But it’s not just Texas that McGuire and Co. are interested in playing.

"If you're a Texan & you're a fan of football in this state, then why would you go outside the state to play non-conference games,” McGuire said. “Because you have such good football in this state. I would love to play Texas, Texas A&M & SMU because I think it's great for the state of Texas.”

Even after the loss of transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby amid his betting scandal, the Red Raiders and Longhorns appear set to be preseason top-25 teams. Yet, not just that, both could be College Football Playoff teams come January.

While there is no date for the renewal of this old Big-12 rivalry on the horizon, the two could square off sooner rather than later in the postseason.

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