Chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents Cody Campbell is clashing with Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark about ideaological differences that may eventually prove irreconcilable. If that happens, the SEC could be a logical landing spot for the Red Raiders.
Campbell recently, and logically, complained that scheduling Texas Tech to play on Friday nights, like they will during their Big 12 opener against the Houston Cougars on Friday, September 19, in Lubbock, takes away from the "Friday Night Lights" tradition of Texas High School Football on Fridays. Yormark responded that "Campbell doesn't run the Big 12." The Houston Chronicle's Michael Shapiro backed Yormark in the back-and-forth.
"...this week's remarks paint Campbell as a little too big for his britches, a man who thinks his personal whims should dictate the scheduling of the Big 12. Friday Night Lights are sacrosanct in Texas. Is one Friday-night college game in Lubbock going to ruin that time-honored tradition? Not in the slightest," Shapiro wrote.
"Consider this more scheduling sour grapes from Campbell than a legitimate concern for Texas high school football. Friday Night Lights will survive one college game. The real question is whether boosters like Campbell can accept that they don’t run the conference."
If it's the Red Raiders versus the world in the Big 12, and the conference schedule doesn't even serve them come CFP selection time, what benefit does Texas Tech gain by staying in Yormark's conference?
That's an easy one. None.
Texas Tech makes sense for the SEC
Let's be real. The Big Ten is running away with titles and top recruits in the NIL/rev-share era. The SEC needs more big-spenders. And wouldn't you know it: two of the top spenders from the conference, the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies, are also in the Lone Star State.
Bringing the Red Raiders over restores four regional rivalries, including the Oklahoma Sooners and Arkansas Razorbacks as well, even if Texas Tech is further west than any school in the Southeastern Conference. That shouldn't keep the SEC back from adding TTU. The uneven number of schools after their arrival would have one SEC program playing only eight conference games. For that school, booking a marquee non-conference game could be a big money-maker.
Campbell's desire to save college sports through his on-the-nose-named "Saving College Sports" initiative is the stance of someone who doesn't like where his program is postured in the grand scheme. It's an admission that his program is worth more than it gets in media revenue. It's a cry for help.
Texas Tech feels too big for the Big 12 and feels like a school where "It Just Means More." Certainly, the respect for Friday Night Lights is an SEC trait, and if the spending continues, the revenue the Red Raiders bring in will be more aligned with the SEC.
Don't be surprised to see the SEC looking to expand further into the state of Texas, and for the Red Raiders to come up in rumors before long. What Texas Tech has going with the Big 12 right now is unsustainable.