Brendan Sorsby’s Texas Tech eligibility makes Big Ten drop hammer on scheduling agreement originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby rocked the college football world after he was granted a preliminary injunction to play for the Red Raiders after undergoing rehab for problem gambling that initially made him ineligible.
The NCAA released a statement on the matter, and now the Big Ten is reportedly speaking out, too.
“The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in Sorsby’s case and is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports,” the statement read. “The NCAA is committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one’s own sport.”
Amongst the fallout thus far, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have apparently made it clear that, regardless of sport, any contest with the Red Raiders would not happen moving forward.
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“Big Ten officials are expected to discuss in the upcoming days a league-wide mandate to not play Texas Tech in any sports, per three Big Ten sources,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel wrote on ‘X’ Monday night. “This is in the wake of Nebraska AD Troy Dannen informing his staff today that they aren’t allowed to schedule Texas Tech.”
Regarding football, there are no nonconference matchups featuring a Big Ten team vs. Texas Tech. However, transitioning to the hardwood, Illinois is reportedly set to rematch the Red Raiders in Lubbock in a highly anticipated game. Should the Illini move away from that game, they’d still have the Duke and UConn matchups to look forward to, among others, before conference play begins.
It will be interesting to see if the entire conference comes together on one unified position regarding whether to play Texas Tech. But certainly, the chords ruling has cast a potential black eye on a situation that was easily avoidable, and now everybody else, even though they were not involved, is paying the price.
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The Big 12 shared its own statement Tuesday.
“We had a thoughtful & productive conversation with our athletics directors today as we continue to work through the broader implications of this situation,” commissioner Brett Yormark said. “Many of our athletics directors voiced their opinions. We will continue to have open and honest dialogue amongst the group and until there is something to report, these conversations will remain within the conference.”
In the coming days, much more should be known about what the immediate future looks like for the scheduling relationships.
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