Pat Forde: Bragging made Texas Tech’s loss to Cincinnati even more embarrassing

Tech unapologetically supported its attempts to sue its way to uniform — an attempt that ended when the Big 12 filed its own checkmate lawsuit. Sorsby gave up the fight, and that was that. But arrogant Cody swore revenge for the documentary.

“Looking back, I know that Texas Tech and I handled everything with integrity and did things the right way,” said Campbell, who also chairs the school’s board of trustees. “I think it’s something that could have been handled a lot more privately. We’re not going to forget it, and I don’t think they’re going to forget it either when we’re down by 40 and we’re still throwing the ball in the fourth quarter. That’s where the retribution will come.”

Whoopsie.

Retribution felt more like a kick in Tech’s butt.

Contrary to Campbell’s vision, here’s what actually happened when the two teams met: After leading by at least two scores over the final 31 minutes and 37 seconds, Cincinnati ultimately played Tech easy. The Bearcats kneeled twice to run out the clock in a 37-24 victory, then watched Nippert Stadium empty as fans rushed the field to celebrate the defeat of the nation’s No. 8 team.

Cincinnati’s main Athletic X account had a fairly simple message, but made sure to tag Campbell in it.

Campbell’s rather terse postgame message to X: “There is no excuse or reason to lose a game like this. We have to be better.”

Campbell did not appear to be in attendance at Nippert Stadium. School President Lawrence Schovanec and athletic director Kirby Hocutt, poker-faced and somber, occasionally looked at their phones during coach Joey McGuire’s postgame news conference. (Were they checking to see if Campbell had fired them yet? Who knows.)

The big booster speeches have turned into a massive Texas Tech failure, which could be a disqualifying disaster in terms of the College Football Playoff. If the Red Raiders don’t make the Big 12 championship game, they could be out of the playoffs at 11-1. If they make it to the title game and lose, they could be left out at 11-2. The only sure path at this point is to lead the table by Selection Sunday, finishing 12-1.

They did it last year, rebounding from a similar midseason loss to Arizona State to reel off six straight wins and earn the Big 12’s automatic playoff bid. But that path is by no means identical.

“It seems like it happened to us last year at this time and we didn’t play well, but it was totally different than this loss,” McGuire said. “We talk about it all the time: bad football, it was bad football.”

The Red Raiders would have made the playoffs at 11-2 in 2025, thanks in large part to regular season wins over BYU and Utah. This year, Tech no longer has a ranked opponent on the regular season schedule, having faced no power conference teams outside of the league. He’s playing neither BYU with a loss (which did Tech a favor by losing at Central Florida) nor Utah undefeated. The tiebreakers might not be in the Red Raiders’ favor in terms of playing in Arlington, Texas.

But this scenario assumes a lot of things, including that the technical team that was trucked here can actually win. The Red Raiders look like a paper tiger with big salaries.

“We played as bad as we could,” McGuire said. “I tell you, I’ve been doing this a long time and I can’t think of a game as frustrating as the one I was a part of. … I’m as frustrated as I think I’ve ever been in my 32 years of coaching (because) of what we did today.”

Cincinnati certainly isn’t without talent, and coach Scott Satterfield has a strange penchant for pulling off wins that no one sees coming. This one would certainly qualify, with the Bearcats going on a two-game losing streak and Tech having won 12 straight non-playoff games. While this game warns upcoming ranked opponents Cincy, Utah, Houston and BYU, it also sets off warning sirens about technology.

Its talent-laden defense has been shredded to a degree not seen since before the program’s NIL war chest was fully stocked. Cincinnati’s 37 points were the most allowed by Tech since the 2024 Liberty Bowl, and its 252 rushing yards were the most against Tech since October 19, 2024. Offensively, the Red Raiders turned the ball over three times and recorded a season-high 12 penalties for 80 yards. (This total does not include at least two holding penalties that Cincinnati declined.)

Tech finished 3 of 15 converting third downs and scored just one touchdown in four trips to the red zone, reigniting concerns about quarterback Will Hammond. Of course, he was supposed to be Sorsby’s backup this year, until that big (and expensive) plan fell apart. Texas Tech brought in well-traveled Tommy Castellanos as a backup quarterback, but he was seen more as a change-of-pace guy who could be useful in the red zone. Castellanos never took the field Saturday as the Red Raiders repeatedly got bogged down in goal territory.

All things considered, this was a complete system failure of a team that many college football fans wanted to see fail, especially Big 12 fans, and especially Cincinnati fans, after the crossfire they took in Lubbock.

With victory assured, the stadium speakers blared “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” – that wouldn’t be a reference to Sorsby, would it? The student section’s “F— you, Sorsby” chant at the end of the game was wrong: If he had stayed in Cincy and gotten arrested here in the spring for gambling, it would have been a disaster for the Bearcats. As it stood, the Red Raiders were the team struggling.

But once that chant died down, Cincinnati fans perched on the walls surrounding Nippert and watched time pass. When it reached zero, they arrived. The goal posts remained up, but Texas Tech was eliminated. And Cody Campbell had to shut up and accept it.

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