Texas Tech vs. Texas in Week 1? Joey McGuire pushing for it after Steve Sarkisian jab

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Joey McGuire appears to have heard Steve Sarkisian’s jab at Texas Tech’s non-conference schedule, and now is pushing for a Texas Tech vs. Texas non-conference matchup to kick off the upcoming college football season.

Will McGuire get his wish? That remains uncertain, as it would involve some scheduling restructuring and require buyouts of existing opponents.

But one thing is for certain: McGuire is ready, and even has talked to Abilene Christian and Texas State, the teams the Red Raiders and Longhorns are set to face in Week 1, respectively, about a potential schedule change.

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“I’ve actually talked to Keith Patterson, and I’ve talked to G.J. Kinne,” McGuire said Thursday at the Big 12 spring meetings, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. “And they’re willing to take our games, and Abilene Christian will go to Texas State. We’ll buy our contract out with Abilene Christian. I’m sure, because Texas has got a lot of money, they can buy their contract out (with Texas State).

“I do know there’s a lot of Red Raiders that will help them buy that contract out if they don’t want to, and they can come to Lubbock week one, and we can figure out if their twos and threes can win this conference.”

McGuire also mentioned that prominent Texas Tech booster and Texas Tech University System Board of Regents chairman Cody Campbell has held talks with Stephen Jones of the Dallas Cowboys about hosting the game at AT&T Stadium, should Texas not want to travel to Lubbock.

Campbell pushed for the game in a post on X (formerly Twitter), quoting the official Big 12 account’s post about McGuire’s comments.

“Upping the ante: @TechAthletics will pay the buyout for both the ACU and Texas State games. Let’s go!!,” Campbell wrote on X on Thursday, with tag mentions to Sarkisian and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte’s respective X accounts.

The comments from McGuire and Campbell come after Sarkisian took an indirect jab at the Red Raiders’ strength of schedule for their non-conference slate this year — which includes Abilene Christian, Oregon State and Sam Houston — during a recent appearance at a Texas alumni event in Houston.

“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, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year,” Sarkisian said.

Per the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas Tech’s game against Abilene Christian is the second of a two-game contract signed between both programs in March 2017, and the buyout is $1 million.

Texas Tech is coming off its first College Football Playoff berth in program history. The Red Raiders, ranked No. 15 in USA TODAY Sports’ too-early top 25 rankings after spring practices, face some uncertainty heading into the season at the quarterback position, as Brendan Sorsby fights for reinstatement after the NCAA denied it this week amid his gambling case.

Texas missed out on the College Football Playoff in 2025 after making back-to-back appearances. The Longhorns, the top-ranked team in those too-early top-25 rankings, are expected to have one of the top offenses in the country with Arch Manning returning and Auburn transfer wide receiver Cam Coleman.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joey McGuire pushes for Texas Tech-Texas football game after Steve Sarkisian jab

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