Texas Tech: The Faces of Desperation

[Jerky]

1 hour ago, Here for the Wins said:

They scheduled Oregon State back in 2018 as a PAC 12 school not as 2-10 school with no home.  They scheduled the ACU series in 2017.  SHSU was added as a replacement, which is why we played them, wasn’t it?  Replacing CSU, a team we recently had on the schedule.

So they are honoring their deals.  

LOL. Ok. Oregon St was 4-8 in 2016, 1-11 in 2017 and 2-10 in 2018. Oregon St was a terrible team when TT scheduled the game. Thank you for helping me put an exclamation on my point.

TT marquee non-conference game since 2008 was arguably vs Oregon in 2023. Big deal. We have played marquee non-conference games vs USC, ND, LSU, OHST, MICHIGAN and BAMA over that time period.

Bottomline, TT has scheduled mostly weak non-conference games for decades, including and most definitely Oregon St!

Correct me if I am wrong, but TT just said they want to get out of their deal in order to schedule Texas. 😆That is not TT trying to honor their deal. 😂 

So let's not act like TT is honorable. TT trying to get gambler Sorsby eligible when he was suspended is not honorable. TT flailing to pass self serving legislation is not honorable. Trying to "legally steal" TV money from more desirable and deserving teams is not honorable. Trying to control other football conferences is not honorable.

This whole social media talk of scheduling Texas last minute is ludicrous. Sark beat them 57-7 last time we played. TT offers nothing. We already bring the Texas viewers to TV.  TT did not score a single point in the CFP. Nationwide interest for Tech does not move the needle for us.

Even most TT fans know trying to schedule Texas last minute is an embarrassing sideshow with zero chance of happening. Texas does not reschedule in May or June for an upcoming August or September game. Preposterous.

 

I see it  completely differently. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Jerky

[Here for the Wins]

2 hours ago, Jerky said:

LOL. Ok. Oregon St was 4-8 in 2016, 1-11 in 2017 and 2-10 in 2018. Oregon St was a terrible team when TT scheduled the game. Thank you for helping me put an exclamation on my point.

TT marquee non-conference game since 2008 was arguably vs Oregon in 2023. Big deal. We have played marquee non-conference games vs USC, ND, LSU, OHST, MICHIGAN and BAMA over that time period.

Bottomline, TT has scheduled mostly weak non-conference games for decades, including and most definitely Oregon St!

Correct me if I am wrong, but TT just said they want to get out of their deal in order to schedule Texas. 😆That is not TT trying to honor their deal. 😂 

So let's not act like TT is honorable. TT trying to get gambler Sorsby eligible when he was suspended is not honorable. TT flailing to pass self serving legislation is not honorable. Trying to "legally steal" TV money from more desirable and deserving teams is not honorable. Trying to control other football conferences is not honorable.

This whole social media talk of scheduling Texas last minute is ludicrous. Sark beat them 57-7 last time we played. TT offers nothing. We already bring the Texas viewers to TV.  TT did not score a single point in the CFP. Nationwide interest for Tech does not move the needle for us.

Even most TT fans know trying to schedule Texas last minute is an embarrassing sideshow with zero chance of happening. Texas does not reschedule in May or June for an upcoming August or September game. Preposterous.

 

I see it  completely differently. 

There’s likely gamesmanship going on here.  They know full well Texas wasn’t going to cancel.  It was a virtual certainty that Tech would respond when Sark commented.

Tech was in a very different place in 2017/2018.  The whole college football world was as well.  I was merely pointing out that Techs non-conference for this upcoming season was set in motion long ago so any critique of it should consider that.

Same for Texas.  CDC said we’d honor previous commitments.  He was less committed to grand schedules for the future.  That makes sense for all teams.

[Bunk Moreland]

@Rod Babers “In Tech’s eyes, this has been a successful offseason.”

I love you, brother, but that is a laughable statement. They just spent $6M+ on a QB who in all likelihood will never play a down for them. A team with national championship aspirations just a few weeks ago is now scrambling to either throw their morals in the garbage to re-gain his eligibility or rummage through the trash heap for a backup QB, and is so desperate for relevance that they try to cheap-talk their way into the national conversation by puffing their chest out against Texas. This offseason has been a disaster for them. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Bunk Moreland

[GoHorns1]

NM

Edited 2 hours ago by GoHorns1

[Jester101]

According to ESPN, Sorsby placed at least 40 bets on Indiana football as Hoosiers QB. He’s a perfect fit for the Tech program.

[HonkEm]

17 minutes ago, GoHorns1 said:

Brendan Sorsby placed at least 40 bets involving Indiana football as a quarterback for the Hoosiers, used sportsbook accounts registered to a family member and friends to wager approximately $90,000 over four years, and continued to gamble after transferring from Cincinnati to Texas Tech in December, according to court documents filed Friday.

The documents, filed by Sorsby's legal team in district court in Lubbock, Texas, reveal new details about how the quarterback transferred large sums of money to friends to fund his betting.

Sorsby has been diagnosed with a gambling and anxiety disorder and recently completed a 35-day stint in an Arizona gambling rehabilitation center, according to his attorneys. He is asking for a temporary injunction against the NCAA to maintain his college eligibility. A hearing is scheduled Monday in Lubbock.

"It became a habit for me to bet," Sorsby wrote in a statement to the NCAA. "My betting became a compulsion which made it virtually impossible to resist the constant notifications I received from betting apps. I lost complete control of my addiction. I now realize the apps controlled me and I did not control them."

ESPN reported Tuesday that the NCAA denied Sorsby's request to be reinstated. Texas Tech appealed the decision on Friday.

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Sorsby's attorneys are asking the NCAA to treat his gambling addiction like any other mental health condition and mitigate his penalty for making the bets. He currently is facing permanent ineligibility. Sorsby agreed to continue receiving treatment and monitoring after returning to Texas Tech; complete gambling education classes; and work in conjunction with the NCAA to educate other student-athletes about the dangers of gambling.

"Brendan asks only for the NCAA to abide by its commitment to evaluate his reinstatement appeal based on his actual conduct and the mental health condition that spurred it," Sorsby's attorney, Scott Tompsett, wrote in a letter to the NCAA. "The online gambling market has evolved at breakneck speed over the last several years. The NCAA at times has struggled to keep pace with developments and chart a course of action that promotes student-athlete welfare, while at the same time monetizing the gambling industry for its own benefit."

The documents included a four-page stipulated facts, which Sorsby and Texas Tech submitted to the NCAA and wasn't contested by the governing body's enforcement staff. It stated that during his college career at Indiana (2022-23) and Cincinnati (2024-25), Sorsby used accounts registered in his name, a family member's name and friends' names to place at least $90,000 in impermissible wagers via Hard Rock Bet, FanDuel, Underdog, and PrizePicks accounts.

Sorsby transferred at least $60,000 to two friends to cover bets made on his behalf, per the documents.

While Sorsby was enrolled at Indiana from June 2022 to December 2023, he acknowledged making at least 2,900 bets that totaled more than $30,000.

Between Sept. 2, 2022 and Oct. 22, 2022, Sorsby made at least 40 wagers on Indiana's football and/or individual members of the team. According to the documents, the bets ranged from $1 to $114 and totaled at least $850.

Sorsby redshirted during the 2022 team and was a scout-team quarterback. He didn't compete in games during the period in which he made bets on the Hoosiers. The wagers stopped two weeks before he made his debut against Penn State on Nov. 5, 2022.

In a statement to NCAA reinstatement staff on May 16, Sorsby wrote that the "bets made me feel like I was supporting the team when I was not playing in games, much like fans betting on their hometown teams to win. It was a way to make me feel more connected to my team when I wasn't playing. I always bet on Indiana to succeed."

The stipulated facts concluded that "Sorsby never bet on the Indiana team and/or individual members of the team in a game in which he participated. He did not engage in any activity designed to influence the outcome or integrity of an intercollegiate contest or in an effort to affect win-loss margins ('point shaving')."

Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby's attorneys are asking the NCAA to treat his gambling addiction like any other mental health condition and mitigate his penalty for making more than $90,000 bets during his four seasons at Indiana and Cincinnati. Ron Jenkins/Getty Images for ONIT

"Once I became part of the active roster with an opportunity to play, I immediately stopped betting on Indiana," Sorsby wrote in his statement. "However, my gambling on other sports did not stop; it escalated and became compulsive. What started small when I was in high school turned into a daily habit of betting on all kinds of sports, including some sports that I didn't follow and had no interest in like tennis and Romanian soccer. Gambling became an addiction."

Sorsby said he was unaware of an October 2022 bet on the under for Indiana's quarterback passing yards, nor a September 2023 bet on the under for the first half of a Hoosiers football game.

Sorsby appeared in 10 games and made seven starts at Indiana in 2023.

"Sorsby became aware of the bets only after the betting data was made available to his attorneys," the stipulated facts said.

In Tompsett's letter, he indicated that Student-Athlete Reinstatement staff "noted the significant integrity concerns associated with [Sorsby] wagering on his own football team" when denying Sorsby's request.

"The NCAA must decide Brendan's reinstatement case based on the facts of his actions, not on concerns about actions that he did not commit," Tompsett wrote. "The punishment must fit the violation actually committed, not hypotheticals."

During his two seasons at Cincinnati, Sorsby provided more than $60,000 to a FanDuel account registered to his brother-in-law that was accessed by Sorsby and a friend, according to the stipulated facts. Sorsby placed at least 165 impermissible bets on college and pro sports, but none related to Cincinnati's football team.

Sorsby also continued gambling after enrolling at Texas Tech, according to the stipulated facts, by using accounts belonging to two of his friends. He sent $5,000 to the friends, who then placed bets on his behalf on the PGA Tour, NBA and MLB. Sorsby, who did not recall the number of bets made for him, did not wager on Texas Tech sports.

"I want to be clear that I never bet to make money," Sorsby wrote. "Given the money I had and earned from NIL, the total amount of money I made from 2022 to 2025 was not a big deal to me. I never kept track of my betting over time, but I'm pretty sure I lost more than I won."

Tompsett urged NCAA staff to treat Sorsby's addiction like any other, including marijuana use. In 2022, the NCAA's Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects recommended that a student-athlete who tested positive three times for cannabis use no longer be withheld from competition, as long as he or she was in compliance with an institutional education and management plan.

Tompsett added that Sorsby is "progressing well and is at low risk for recidivism" and that "denying Brendan eligibility to play football in a structured environment is very likely to threaten his progress and recovery."

Sorsby's June 1 court date looms large over both college football and the NFL. A decision there may provide a harbinger for what he decides to do for the 2026 season. According to his prior court filing, the deadline to declare for the supplemental draft is June 22.

Sorsby entered 2026 as one of the most highly paid and buzzy players in the sport, as he transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech and was expected to be one of the sport's highest paid players at more than $5 million. Sorsby was ESPN's No. 1 player in the NCAA transfer portal rankings.

Sorsby is considered a strong NFL prospect, and his inclusion in the supplemental draft would make him the most anticipated supplemental draft prospect in more than a decade, at least since Josh Gordon entered in 2012. No player has been drafted in the supplemental draft since 2019. Gordon was the last player to go as high as the second round, where he was picked back in 2012.

ESPN's Pete Thamel contributed to this report.

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So let me get this straight - the guy ran a four‑year, $90k offshore‑account‑carousel of bets, used friends and family as cutouts, wagered on his own team, kept gambling through two transfers, and was still firing off bets after arriving at Tech… and we’re supposed to pretend this was just ‘a couple bad decisions’?

[TexTheHorn24]

More on Sorsby betting on IU:

 

 

[TexTheHorn24]

Just utterly unfathomable that a State institution in Texas is going out on a limb to defend someone who so blatantly, knowingly and heavily bet on his own team which throws everything he did on the field at IU when he played into question 

[Alex Butler]

2 minutes ago, TexTheHorn24 said:

More on Sorsby betting on IU:

 

 

The sad truth is that if Tech had removed him from the team for this, supported his recovery efforts, and encouraged him to continue his education they would be a bright spot if college sports and have credibility to move into an even better position nationally as a program. They would also have (and still do but a lot messier now) a great argument to recoup their money from Cincinnati and IU for lack of oversight and potentially liability for failing to report gambling activity and protect a student athlete’s well being. I’m not a lawyer (obviously) but seems like a much better play than what they’re currently doing. 

[tommym]

I just cant believe that Tech did not do due diligence in doing a background check on Sorsby. Bobby, Gerry and Coach Shipley brought up good points, a win at all cost. I mean if Tech would be quiet they would be able to sit a the adult table. But, nope they think they have leverage. I wonder if you uncover more info, how bad is really as far as them winning at all cost. Two things in two years will hurt them Sorsby and signing OJO. All that money to the wind.

[Little Carmine]

It’s honestly absurd they’re having this debate. Does a pyromaniac not go to jail (suffer the consequences) from arson or should that person be absolved because it’s “compulsive addictive” behavior? Do kleptomaniacs stay out of prison or not get in trouble because they’re addicted to stealing? What an absolute joke. Prosecute this jackass under any portion or stretch of the law that you can, ban him for life from everything.