Big 12 commish to Texas Tech: 'You better take care of business' against Texas on Nov. 24
The game could be the Longhorns' last in the Big 12
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark isn’t going to be unhappy if Texas loses its last Big 12 game.
Yormark was the featured guest at Texas Tech’s Red Raider Club luncheon Wednesday and told the crowd that he was going to be in attendance for Tech’s regular-season finale at Texas. He then told coach Joey McGuire what he wanted to see.
“Coach, I’m not going to put any pressure on you, but I’m going to be in Austin for Thanksgiving, OK? And you better take care of business like you did right here in Lubbock last year,” Yormark said.
Look, speeches like that are designed to make the home fans happy and you can be sure Yormark was playing to the crowd. But there’s also probably some truth behind the remarks as well. You’d be hard-pressed to find any conference commissioner happy about a team leaving his conference.
Unless Texas makes the Big 12 title game, the Nov. 24 game against Texas Tech will be the Longhorns’ last game in the conference before moving with Oklahoma to the SEC in 2024. And while Texas is the preseason favorite to win the league, the Longhorns haven’t lived up to expectations in recent years. Texas has made just one of six title games since the league resumed its championship game in 2017.
Texas Tech also took down Texas a year ago. The Red Raiders beat Texas, 37-34, in overtime in September to drop the Longhorns to 2-2 as QB Quinn Ewers missed the game because of a shoulder injury. This season, Ewers is a preseason Heisman favorite while Texas Tech is a dark horse to win the league. If those expectations become reality, the winner of that Black Friday game could be playing for the conference title the following week.
