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With the Big 12 and national college football landscapes hanging in the balance, Texas Tech can't afford to take a chance on playing Sorsby
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Texas Tech's decision on Brendan Sorsby threatens to throw a live grenade into college football powder keg
With the Big 12 and national college football landscapes hanging in the balance, Texas Tech can't afford to take a chance on playing Sorsby
The Big 12 has gone radio silent. A meeting among athletic directors on Tuesday settled one thing -- only Texas Tech believes Brendan Sorsby should play this season.
As commissioner Brett Yormark calculates his next move and orders school leaders to remain silent, the pressure on Texas Tech is immense. The fallout could trigger a cascade of radical moves across college athletics.
The Big 12's athletic directors have drawn a line in the west Texas sand: the Red Raiders must pull their support of Sorsby, even after a Lubbock judge granted him a temporary injunction against the NCAA to play this season, despite his admission that he bet on the sport dozens of times.
Theoretically, the Big 12 can force Tech's hand with threats (though no one is seriously considering invoking a bylaw to kick Tech out of the league), and Yormark will consider his options after speaking to the league's presidents Thursday, but the onus is on Tech. Nothing is stopping the Red Raiders from ending this debacle by showing Sorsby the door.
The outrage among coaches, athletic directors and presidents is practically universal. Integrity is paramount to college athletics, and if Texas Tech and the Big 12 turn a blind eye to moral obligation, you can bet seismic changes within and outside the NCAA model are coming.
And the Big 12 is not equipped to handle those changes.
Georgia and Nebraska stood tall Monday and said they will no longer schedule Texas Tech, but it's only a warning shot, if not an empty threat. But what those proclamations reveal is a growing willingness among college leaders to make radical decisions as the House of NCAA burns to the ground. If the Big 12 and Tech are not careful, they might get burned, too.
Leaders are preparing for war if Tech plays Sorsby this season. The ideas pitched to me over the last two days have left my jaw on the floor. Blue-sky thinking? These feel more like nuclear winter.
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