Utah political leaders urge Big 12 to take action against Texas Tech

Two top Utah political leaders urged the Big 12 to take action against Texas Tech for allowing its star quarterback to play this season despite the NCAA ruling him ineligible for gambling on college football.

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Gov. Spencer Cox and Attorney General Derek Brown wrote in a letter Monday that putting Brendan Sorsby on the field not only bends a rule but places the integrity of every game he plays in question and, by extension, puts the integrity of the conference itself at risk.

“When an athlete wagers on games in which he competes, every play becomes suspect. Fans, players, broadcasters and schools alike operate on the foundational premise that competition is honest. Every student-athlete in the Big 12 — at BYU, the University of Utah, and every other member school — trains, competes, and sacrifices on that premise,” they wrote.

The letter is addressed to Big 12 commissioner Brent Yormak and Dr. Doug Girod, the conference board of directors chairman and chancellor at Kansas.

Sorsby, who played at Indiana before transferring to Texas Tech, bet $90,000 on sports over four years, including approximately 40 wagers on games involving his own team. The NCAA even asserts that, in a few instances, he bet that opposing players would “overachieve” in games against his school.

Cox and Brown noted that if those bets were made in Utah, the conduct would fall under criminal law. The state bans all forms of gambling. The two wrote that gambling corrupts fair competition and erodes public trust.

Sorsby mounted a court challenge to the NCAA decision to make him permanently ineligible and a Texas judge granted the senior quarterback a preliminary injunction last week allowing him to play in 2026.

“Sorsby’s court challenge demonstrates an unwillingness to take accountability for his actions, and Texas Tech’s support for that challenge suggests that Texas Tech does not fully understand the seriousness of Sorsby’s misconduct,” Cox and Brown wrote.

Cox and Brown noted the injunction Sorsby obtained runs against only the NCAA, not the Big 12, so it is not bound by the order and can enforce its bylaws to impose sanctions on Texas Tech.

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Big 12 files lawsuit against Texas Tech

Also Monday, the Big 12 filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas seeking both a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief to allow the league the authority to use its bylaws to potentially punish Sorsby.

“The Big 12 and its member institutions (apparently save TTU) have no interest in being required to endorse or even appearing to endorse unethical and indeed unlawful conduct that strikes at the heart of athletic integrity,” according to the 47-page complaint.

Cox and Brown expressed support for the litigation.

The Utah politicians wrote that they disagree with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent assertion that the Big 12 would violate federal and state antitrust laws by penalizing Texas Tech if the school fails to take appropriate action in response to Sorsby’s “egregious and admitted misconduct.”

Betting on sports

They say the stakes of the dispute extend well beyond Texas Tech and Sorsby, noting how NIL has changed the college sports landscape. That commercialization, including sponsorship deals, marketing agreements and financial relationships, would have been “unthinkable” a decade ago and brings both benefits and risks.

“Among them is the growing intersection of sports wagering and the athletes on whom those wagers are placed. Sports wagering has never been more accessible as sports-wagering companies pursue every avenue to entice young Americans to place bets on the outcomes of sporting events. As the commercial stakes of college athletics have risen, so has the temptation— and the opportunity — for athletes to exploit their insider knowledge through gambling. That is precisely why rules and integrity matter more now, not less,” according to Cox and Brown.

Texas Tech’s purported plan to help Sorsby overcome gambling addiction with opportunities and incentives and the protection measures Texas Tech has reportedly instituted do not adequately address the significant risks, they wrote.

“And even if the measures were adequate, allowing Sorsby to remain the face of the Texas Tech football team as its starting quarterback would inevitably tarnish the Big 12’s reputation and erode the public’s trust in the conference,” Cox and Brown wrote.