Texas Tech Football Coach Challenges Longhorns to Season-Opening Game

LUBBOCK, TX — After Texas Longhorns football coach Steve Sarkisian took a shot at Texas Tech’s strength of schedule recently, Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire has fired back with an open invitation to play.

On Thursday, McGuire told reporters that his team will buy out games against Texas State and Abilene Christian to clear the way for a Week 1 clash with its in-state rival.

“We would love to play Texas,” McGuire said.

The potential matchup wouldn’t necessarily take place in Lubbock or Austin. McGuire said that Texas Tech board of regents member Cody Campbell has talked with Dallas Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones about holding the game at AT&T Stadium.

McGuire’s challenge was a response to Sarkisian telling a crowd at the Houston Touchdown Club earlier this month that the Longhorns’ schedule was much more difficult than Tech’s, and that gave the Red Raiders an easier path to the playoffs.

"There's a team in our state in another conference with a schedule that I would argue, if I played with our twos and threes (on the depth chart), we could go undefeated," Sarkisian said. "And they'll probably make the CFP this year."

McGuire seemed to take exception to the comment, and he has invited Sarkisian to prove it on the field.

"We'll find out if their twos and threes can win in this conference," McGuire said.

Sarkisian’s comment wasn’t wildly out of line as the Longhorns’ conference (the SEC) is widely considered much more difficult than the Big 12, which Tech dominated last year on the way to the College Football Playoff.

Tech and Texas are longtime rivals who haven’t played since 2023 when the Longhorns left the Big 12 to join the SEC. Texas won that matchup 57-7, but the Red Raiders have made a massive jump since then. They were 12-2 last year and ended the season ranked No. 4 in the nation, while Texas was 10-3 and finished at No. 13.