I am going to have to write about Texas Tech and the transfer portal again. Forgive the topic overlap this week, but we have to address what is happening to the Red Raiders nationally.

Texas Tech has become the villain of college football. 

College football has been on a wild ride since the portal officially opened a week ago. Quarterbacks are making upwards of $5 million. Lane Kiffin pulled coaches away from Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff prep to recruit full-time for LSU. Entire starting lineups are transferring to different schools. Our pets' heads are falling off!

Washington QB Demond Williams even signed a $4 million deal to stay with the Huskies, then tried to enter the portal anyway. Washington threatened legal action, and he wound up back in Seattle in the end.

The point is, college football in many ways seems broken. Viewership and interest have never been higher, but I understand why people are disgusted with the current state of the sport.  

What’s annoying is that Texas Tech has unfairly become the scapegoat for all of the problems in college athletics. 

I continue to see takes like this all over Al Gore’s internet. 

Is Cody Campbell attempting to buy a national championship any more than Phil Knight is for Oregon? The Ducks' roster spend in 2025 was in line with Tech’s, so why do the Red Raiders get singled out?

LSU was the other finalist for Brendan Sorsby and has hosted Sam Leavitt, who was rumored to be offered at least $6 million for his services. So why is Tech the school that gets called out by this SEC-friendly college football account?

With so many people bemoaning the wild west atmosphere we’re in, they’re naturally looking for a scapegoat. Texas Tech is a school they’re not used to seeing at the top of the recruiting rankings, so the assumption is that it can only be money propelling this rise. 

And, right or wrong, many (most?) college football fans find that idea very off-putting. 

Look, Texas Tech does have a lot of money. But the money they’re throwing around is merely table stakes for competing at the top of the sport. They’re not grossly outspending Ole Miss, LSU, or Indiana. 

And it’s not disingenuous for Sorsby, via Pete Thamel in the above tweet, to list the facilities and culture in Lubbock as major selling points. 

If those two things were not in place, Sorsby could easily get the same payday somewhere else. The infrastructure Tech has in place is very real. GM James Blanchard is a coveted asset. Head coach Joey McGuire knows how to build a culture. The facilities are second to none.

The old guard in college football feels threatened by the Red Raiders. The SEC is 2-6 in the 12-team playoff era and hasn’t even played for a national championship since 2023. Its only playoff win against a team from another league this year was over Tulane. It’s a league that is gradually losing its mystique as the wild west era of college football evolves. 

The SEC is desperately flailing to regain the vice grip it had on this sport for the better part of two decades. Of course the league is looking for a scapegoat to blame for the system changing. Before NIL and the transfer portal, the SEC had it all figured out. Then the rug got pulled out from under them.

Schools like Texas Tech beating them for the top talent in the sport is breaking their brains. 

Meanwhile, Indiana reigns supreme as the #1 team in the country, boosted by an infusion of money from billionaire Mark Cuban, yet the Hoosiers are a fun story. For whatever reason, they don’t get the same scorn that the Red Raiders do. 

Heck, Indiana is the only team in the country with a higher-ranked portal class than Texas Tech right now. 

But do not turn the Red Raiders or Hoosiers into a villainous caricature of everything that is wrong with the sport. Direct your blame to decades of arrogant and misguided NCAA leadership.

Common sense tweaks along the way could have prevented the no-rules environment we’re in right now. Let athletes make money from signing a few autographs. Give them freedom to transfer when their coach leaves. 

Instead, the NCAA would not give an inch. That led to the organization being sued into oblivion and left virtually powerless. And here we are.

Tech is merely doing what every traditional power has done for decades: leveraging its advantages. Instead of elite tradition like Alabama or LSU, the Red Raiders have money, and lots of it. The rules now allow them to spend that money on players, so they are doing it.

College football programs have always pushed the limits as far as they can in an effort to win. Tech is seizing on its opportunity to do that now. 

As a wise man once said, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

What You Need to Know

• Bear Bachmeier, LJ Martin, and Isaiah Glasker all announced they’re coming back to BYU. Is it enough to get the Cougars to another Big 12 title game? Here’s my take. 

• The Cougars also have a new defensive coordinator to replace Jay Hill. Here’s who Kalani Sitake hired. 

• BYU forward AJ Dybantsa had the dunk of the year in the Big 12 so far. You have to see this highlight. 

• Baylor landed a high-profile SEC quarterback in the transfer portal. Here’s more on the Bears' new QB. 

• One of the hottest names in the transfer portal visited Texas Tech this week. Can the Red Raiders steal him away from Texas?

• K-State landed an SEC receiver who was once committed to the Wildcats as a high school prospect.

• Kansas came from 16 points down in the second half to beat TCU this week at Allen Fieldhouse, and #7 Houston won a crucial conference game against #14 Texas Tech.

Enjoying Open For Business? It would mean the world to me if you could share the newsletter with three of your friends who want Big 12 news without SEC or Big Ten bias. Tell them to sign up at OFBNews.com and get started today!