Jeff Howe

It’ll be Tarleton State against Texas tomorrow night. The Texans beat UCSB, 11-5.

🤘

Hopefully, we can get back to football.

Blind squirrels, nuts and whatnot.

I wasn't going to publish anything on the situation, namely because Texas Tech took things to such an obnoxious level that it's hard to fathom. But my theory is that all of this stems from the "everything runs through Lubbock" video that got out after the game in Lubbock. I've known Joey McGuire for a long time and he's been good to me, but looking at that the way Sark might've, that's a first-time college head coach calling your team soft and irrelevant after a game that could've gone either way. From that standpoint, 57 points in the 2023 game might not have been enough. Whether Tech likes it or not, Sark got the last word and said it with his chest, given the way the Longhorns played that night. Keilan Robinson's kickoff return to open the second half was the ultimate break-your-will kind of moment that happens in blowouts.

I love football. I love talking about football. I love writing about football. I love talking and writing about Texas Longhorn football. Forgive me then for not champing at the bit to dissect a war of words between Texas and Texas Tech that’s devolved into an obnoxious publicity stunt. Hopefully, we’re nearing the end of this tiresome situation and can get back to actual football matters in the near future. Consider this my part in helping put it to bed. Joey McGuire, Cody Campbell, Kirby Hocutt and anyone else on the Red Raiders’ side of the fence who believes they have a dog in the fight have taken umbrage with Steve Sarkisian singling out Texas Tech’s less-than-stellar 2026 schedule. The offended parties appear to be hellbent on milking every possible ounce out of their time atop college football’s offseason news cycle. The public challenge McGuire and Campbell have issued to Texas — to ditch the season opener at home against Texas State and play the Red Raiders, either in Lubbock or at AT&T Stadium in Arlington — achieved its intended purpose by riling up the Texas Tech faithful and giving casual college football fans perceived ammunition to question the Longhorns’ fortitude. The same is true of Hocutt’s comments to The Athletic, even though Texas somehow managed to match the Red Raiders' scoring output in last season’s College Football Playoff without participating. The idle threats have also buried a few key points (including Brenden Sorsby’s ongoing pursuit of eligibility getting moved to the national media’s back burner, for the moment) in the back-and-forth since Sarkisian’s comments in Houston last Thursday. — Sarkisian didn’t insult Texas Tech, its head coach or its football program. He called out the Red Raiders’ schedule, which nobody has stepped up to defend. Of the seven Power Four schools in Texas, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football believes Texas Tech has the easiest schedule this coming season. Parker Fleming’s analysis has the Red Raiders with the easiest path to the CFP of any Power Four team in the country. College Football News ranked Texas Tech’s schedule 65th out of 138 FBS programs. Only three Power Four schedules were considered easier than the Red Raiders' 12-game slate. According to Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings, the two FBS opponents on Texas Tech’s schedule (Abilene Christian is an FCS program) rank No. 91 (Oregon State) and No. 136 (Sam Houston), respectively. I’ve yet to hear anyone say Sarkisian was wrong about the Red Raiders’ schedule, which has proved his point. If the CFP selection committee doesn’t use strength of schedule as a primary separator when push comes to shove, then what’s the point of risking a non-conference loss? — Whether viewed through the prism of subjective opinions or objective metrics, Texas Tech is taking the path of least resistance with its non-conference schedule in hopes of reaching the CFP. Instead of owning it (if the system prioritizes winning a conference championship, no matter how it’s acquired, then admit that's what you're doing and roll with it), the folks in Lubbock threw a fit, went on the attack and tried to gain sympathy in the court of public opinion. Texas isn’t going to play Texas Tech in the regular season. Social media trolls can cry for the Longhorns to “SPOT THE BALL!” all they want. It won’t matter. McGuire knows it, Campbell knows it, Hocutt knows it and in their heart of hearts, Red Raider fans who possess a modicum of common sense know it’s nothing more than a glorified pro wrestling promo. The goal was for Texas Tech to paint Texas as the villain, an SEC behemoth too scared to play the upstart in-state program that’s beating the Longhorns on the recruiting trail and making a move toward the top of the state’s FBS pecking order. This was never about getting Texas to agree to a game. It was to make the Longhorns look petty, keep the hype train going after a watershed season in their program’s history, draw attention away from the Sorsby situation and hope to get a few college football talking heads and personalities with large social media followings on their side. Those things won’t impact anything the Longhorns do on the field in 2026 and beyond. Regardless, the Red Raiders accomplished their goal — Sometimes, situations like this aren’t that deep. I think this one is for Sarkisian. A 37-34 overtime loss to Texas Tech in 2022 was enough of a burden to bear for Sarkisian and the Longhorns. McGuire’s speech to his team in the victorious locker room poured salt in the wound. Specifically, one portion of McGuire’s sermon was so sharp that it might've gotten embedded under Sarkisian’s skin. “I told you they were going to break and they did,” McGuire told his squad. “The reporter asked me at the end, she said: ‘What does it mean to win this game and beat Texas?' I said, ‘It doesn’t mean anything to beat Texas. We’re 1-and-0 in the Big 12.' That’s what it means.” Just like Sarkisian’s campaign rally-style pep talk to a hotel ballroom full of alumni, donors and fans in Houston, McGuire’s words were crafted with a specific audience in mind. In both instances, once the comments went public, the offended party processed what was said and prepared to respond as they saw fit. Leading up to the 2023 season, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark didn’t mince words about backing the Red Raiders when they made their way to DKR for Texas’ last regular-season game as a member of the conference. In the face of the remaining Big 12 members and the league office making things as publicly uncomfortable as possible for the Longhorns and Oklahoma before their respective departures for the SEC, Sarkisian saved his retort to Yormark, McGuire and anyone else who might find themselves caught in the blast radius for Nov. 24, 2023. Sarkisian didn’t have to say anything. The 57-7 bludgeoning of Texas Tech that sent Texas to the Big 12 title game spoke volumes. Essentially, McGuire called Sarkisian’s team soft while downplaying the relevance of the Red Raiders’ 18th win in 73 meetings with the Longhorns (Texas leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 55-18). If Texas Tech is top of mind for Sarkisian, it would be hard to blame him for the genesis of his ire stemming from what got back to him after a close loss. Sarkisian and the Longhorns got the last word when it mattered. No matter how bad the Red Raiders want to settle the score, barring a postseason meeting, the status quo won’t change for the foreseeable future. View full news story

Drew Stubbs

AUSTIN, Texas — No moment has been too big for Anthony Pack Jr. throughout his exceptional freshman season on the Forty Acres. The opening game of the NCAA Tournament’s Austin Regional on Friday was no different for Pack, who hit three home runs in a 19-1 rout of Holy Cross at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. “I just went out there like every other game,” said Pack, who roughed up the Crusaders’ pitching staff to the tune of a 3-for-3 day, with four runs scored and five RBI. “I don't think anything changed. A lot of preparation, a lot of hitting with Tulo (assistant coach Troy Tulowitzki), but I think it just came from the preparation.” No Longhorn had ever recorded a three-home run game in the NCAA Tournament until Pack hit his eighth, ninth and 10th dingers of the season. Pack, who now has 70 hits and 50 RBI in 53 games, helped Texas (41-13) score in every inning of its dismantling of Holy Cross (25-29). Aiden Robbins, who slugged his 20th and 21st home runs of the season en route to the Longhorns matching their largest margin of victory ever in a postseason game, knows that what Pack is doing far exceeds what’s expected from a freshman. “He's confident and he knows his ability to just go out there and play free,” Robbins said of Pack, the SEC Freshman of the Year, who led the league in hitting (.400) and on-base percentage (.511) during conference play. “He displays that every time he steps on the field.” Pack’s three bombs tied a single-game school record (the last time it happened was in 2024, when Max Belyeu went deep three times against Baylor) and accounted for half of the Longhorns’ six home runs. Jayden Duplantier’s sixth-inning grand slam capped the slugfest, tying the program record for most home runs in a game. The 19 runs the Longhorns scored were the most a Texas team has tallied in an NCAA Tournament game since 2005. Pack got the scoring started in the first inning, with a 417-foot, two-out solo blast. After Robbins (2-for-5, three runs scored and three RBI) and Carson Tinney (3-for-4, four runs scored) were retired by Jaden Wywoda, Pack pulled a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall, executing a critical at-bat that set the tone for the team’s historic day at the plate. “We have a lot of respect for their starting pitcher,” Jim Schlossnagle said of Wywoda, who threw 105 pitches in 4.2 innings after throwing 196 pitches over three days in last week’s Patriot League Tournament. “If he gets out of that inning clean, a senior pitcher like that can really get some confidence and get going. Anthony, obviously, had a good swing in that inning and a really good day. “After that, a lot of good things went our way.” Texas now gets to reap the benefits of hosting a regional as a top-8 national seed. While Tarleton State and UC Santa Barbara are duking it out in the nightcap at Disch-Falk Field, the Longhorns will be off their feet, trying to maximize the full 24 hours they've been allotted between Friday’s romp and Saturday’s winner’s bracket game at 6 p.m. “It's not an advantage unless the players take advantage of it,” Schlossnagle said. “That's what we just had a quick conversation about, so these guys need to get out of here and get off their feet and hydrate — like, really hydrate.” Schlossnagle’s postgame comment to “really hydrate” was said directly to Pack, who was lifted for Duplantier in the sixth inning. Pack said his muscles get tight when he gets excited, which can lead to cramps. Although Pack said he must do a better job of “controlling my energy a little bit,” the first SEC freshman to hit .400 since Jake Mangum hit .408 for Mississippi State in 2016 wants to do what he can to make sure nothing interrupts his historic campaign. “I can't cramp,” Pack said. “I've got to do better with my hydration and do better.” Adequately hydrated or not, Pack set the tone for what Texas hopes is a deep, prosperous postseason. View full news story

FINAL: Texas 19, Holy Cross 1

Three singles and a walk allowed by Jason Flores and the shutout is history.

End of 8: Texas 19, Holy Cross 0

Base hit for Casey Borba. He's 1-for-6. All of the starters will end the game with a hot. That's 21 knocks for the Longhorns today.

After a sloppy top of the eighth defensively, the shutout is still intact. M8: Texas 18, Holy Cross 0

End of 7: Texas 18, Holy Cross 0

Presley Courville is behind the plate for the seventh. Carson Tinney's day is done.