Joey McGuire on offseason jabs with Texas, Steve Sarkisian: 'We'll play tomorrow'

It’s safe to say that Texas Tech has had a wild offseason, ranging from the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga to the back-and-forth jabs between Tech head coach Joey McGuire and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.

The jabs between the two head coaches began back in May, when Sarkisian seemingly took a shot at Texas Tech‘s schedule for the 2026 season.

“There’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year,” Sarkisian said. Sarkisian did not reveal the team, but most suspect he was talking about the Red Raiders.

McGuire quickly fired back, claiming that he had spoken to Texas State and Abilene Christian in hopes of scheduling the Longhorns in Week 1 this season.

“We would love to play Texas,” McGuire said. If the game couldn’t be played in Lubbock, Texas, McGuire claimed that the Red Raiders and Longhorns could have played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Joey McGuire discusses potential future matchup against Texas, other Texas schools

While ultimately that did not come to fruition, it certainly added to fuel to the fire for a potential meeting between Texas and Texas Tech. The two programs last met in 2023, just before the Longhorns departed for the SEC. At Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday, McGuire was asked about the jabs and their desire to play Texas.

“First, spot the ball man,” McGuire said. “We’re ready to go right now. We’ll play tomorrow. We don’t need any film study or anything like that. I know they don’t either, because they’ve got a great football team. One of the best in the country. They’re going to be really good this year. I have a lot of respect for [Steve Sarkisian].

“I want to play him. I’m a Texan. I grew up in the Southwest Conference. Texas and Texas Tech are supposed to play. Texas and Texas A&M are supposed to play, and they are playing. SMU is supposed to play. I’d love to play Rhett Lashlee. If you’re a Texan and you’re a fan of the football in this state, why would we go outside of the state to play non-conference games? We have such good football in this state.”

Texas Tech and Texas A&M have not clashed since the Aggies departed 2011, while Tech and SMU have not played since 2013. If it were up to McGuire, however, those games would once again be back on the schedule.

“I would love to play Texas, Texas A&M, SMU,” McGuire continued. “I’d love to play those guys, because it’s great for the state of Texas. It’s great for the high school coaches and players in the state of Texas. That might be one reason we have so many kids leaving the state, because we’re not playing each other anymore.”