Well, you had to know it was coming. NCAA pushes back, denies the Sorsby request, so they head to the local judge and get a temporary injunction until a hearing can be held, which I’m sure will be scheduled for somewhere around March of 2027.
The coach saw the text message from a reporter and couldn’t believe it.
He had to Google it to make sure it wasn’t a joke. It was not.
A Lubbock County court granted Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby an injunction Monday morning that upholds a two-game suspension for betting on college sports, including placing bets on his own team while he was on Indiana’s roster in 2022.
“What are we doing with that ruling? I mean, seriously?” he said.
NCAA rules stipulate the penalty for betting on your team is permanent loss of eligibility, but that rule was superseded by the court Monday, upholding a two-game suspension that was offered by Sorsby’s representation, led by Jeffrey Kessler.
“Gambling is one of the rules in sports that’s one of the few rules that exist where, if you break it, you are now basically getting blackballed from the sport,” said one Group of 6 head coach. “And now one of the harshest rules you can break, he did it, and he can still play. To me, this is one of the worst things I’ve seen in 20 years of coaching.”
Assuming the anonymous coach is currently employed, that would mean they’ve seen Harbaugh and his team of merry miscreants and their falling out at Michigan; Joe Paterno’s fall from grace; Auburn declaring 9 faux national championships with their most recent real one coming on the back on a paid quarterback; NIL and the Transfer Portal…I could go on and on. While not on par with Paterno’s issues, saying something like this shows the gravity of the decision.
What went from seeing famed Georgia players ruled ineligible for selling memorabilia for mere thousands of dollars to a signal caller laying nearly $100k on bets, some for his own team, is a shocking change of scenery that even the most embittered college football fan could’ve imagined. Just think, we’re only three year removed from this:
To this:
It’s just a running joke at this point…the NCAA, that is.
And the aftermath…well, let’s say that people are finding ways to defund Texas Tech, no matter how many oil barons are out there.
And Josh isn’t done…not by a mile. Not that we’d ever entertain the idea of scheduling Texas Tech, but let’s just say if the NCAA won’t regulate college football, college football will, in turn, regulate you by not scheduling a damn game with you. This is further positioning the SEC and B1G to break away from the NCAA, and the age of amateurism has officially written its last chapter, and it wasn’t a good ending, by any means. Think “The Sopranos” and multiply the ending by 1,000 and you’re getting close to the disappointment.
But Brooks has a point…if the Governing Body won’t regulate, we’ll regulate where it hits the hardest…in the wallet. You can’t have a team on TV if no one wants to play them. Especially if every can’t cheat on the same level, amirite?
And, to add fuel to the fire, Texas Tech is aligning themselves with the moral compass of college football:
So, just so you’re not surprised, I’m sure the following things will likewise go unmitigated in the very near future:
- Launching over the goal line, specifically throwing “little people” into the endzone. Someone will get an injunction to allow a middle school cheerleader to be on the team.
- Using a live raccoon to pillage the opposing team’s sideline’s snacks and medical equipment during games. Also, said raccoon will lift the team’s iPads and playbooks, because you can’t trust a raccoon, can you?
- Actively having a member of your game staff dress as an opposing coach and standing on the sideline with a headset on, directly communicating to the home booth the upcoming plays.
- Allowing Notre Dame to play in the CFP, regardless of record, and getting an automatic bid to the championship game.
- Teams taking a knee on first, second, and third downs to attempt to points shave when playing long-time points-spread antagonist, Kirby Smart.
- Tackling players from the sideline, Woody Hayes style.
- Auburn claiming every national championship since the inception of football, both pro and college and high school. And middle schools. 11,789 national championships, baby!
- A player actively portaling at halftime of a game to the opposing team.
The Senator would be losing his shit at this point, as would the rest of us if we were reading his take on it.
College football, as we have known or ever knew it, has officially dropped six feet in the ground and we didn’t even play Taps.
At least we can tell our kids about it, and they’ll wonder in wide-eyed amazement about this mythical thing we called “college football”. We’ll blow the steam off a cup of coffee one cool morning on the porch and talk about a time when linebackers wore neck rolls, free safeties were 235 pounds, and how quarterbacks as good as Eli Manning or Eric Zeier were generational. The game-winning touchdown in the waning seconds of a game that made us spill beer, make children, and name them after our favorite team’s name. Or their quarterback. Or their star player. The time a fall Saturday turned into one of the best days of our lives. How the noon kickoff of SEC Football on Jefferson Pilot Sports was the start of the best day ever. Why? It’s becoming harder and harder to recall.
Somewhere, in a time not so long ago, there was such a thing that illicited such passion from all of us. The game was won or lost, people cheered or people cried. Fans stormed the field. Newspapers on Sundays were valuable for the pictures and memories and we hung them from our walls. The replays were a trip down memory lane, if we needed it, and the names of those who played the game and played for our favorite team were etched in our brains next to grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. It was passion. It was love. It was (sometimes) better than sex.
And our kids, they’ll look back at us, with questions in their eyes, wondering how we were so passionate about a game that’s better played on PlayStation where you can control the outcomes and bet the over. And how anyone but a hired mercenary or AI robot played such a violent, brutal game. Why take all that risk for no financial reward, Dad?
“Sweetheart, it was for something called pride. Glory. Legacy. Sorry if you’ll never understand why.”
“Better to pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age”. – James Joyce
College football is aging poorly. Glad we all knew it when it was in its prime.
JP,
This is the type of coverage I grew to expect on GTP. Informative, thought provoking and entertaining with humor nicely done sir.
Woody Hayes didn’t tackle that Clemson player, he punched him in the face.
JP, you dunked on that douche in the replies. That response gets a “Post of the day!”
People across the CFB world absolutely let Campbell have it in the replies.
This decision is one of the most head-scratching I’ve seen. If this were Georgia with Gunner Stockton, I would be saying the same damn thing (of course, we wouldn’t have allowed Stockton remain on the team as a result). Therefore, this isn’t about TTU or Sorsby. I hate this guy got sucked into the vortex of the ease of online sports (or other) gambling. Josh Pate had it right on his quick response video:
https://youtu.be/DbXAjjzFCFQ?si=ZLhE-gwh63Vo4i-O
This is all about avoiding consequences for his actions and using his mental health and well-being as a shield.
This is about Texas Tech … it’s too bad they didn’t do the right thing as an institution and declare him ineligible immediately under NCAA rules. Joey McGuire has the ability to do the right thing now and say you will not see the field this year … who am I kidding? Cody Campbell doesn’t want his money sitting on the bench as a result of this. I hope they lose every game this year (I would even pull for Florida against them now).
To Jeffrey Kessler, you absolutely suck. Taking on this case shows you to be the expensive suit wearing shyster lawyer I thought you were.
Perfect take on the state of the game l grew up loving. Breaks my heart and tears me up. The best is in the past and there is no future for that game we love. Just” get me outa here Percy”!! 😢😢😢
Georgia will play Texas Tech when and where they’re told to play them in any sport full stop. We’ll roll out the red carpet for Texas Tech and whatever network if it’s in Athens and the whole dayum Universe knows it. Just ask the Home & Home with Florida State. All the Tweets in the world won’t change it. Josh Brooks needs to stick to REM not answering his calls about a reunion concert and quit with the social media courage. Last time I checked UGA Sports was turning some cartwheels (not somersaulting like losers) because the PrizePicks guy gave the basketball team $10 million. Give that bag back if gambling is SO BAD.
I’m guilty. I’ll watch us play TTech. Will I travel to the game? No. If it’s at UGA will I go? Yeah, if I gravytrain a ticket (we’re looking at you dudes that pass out at the tailgates and can’t stagger into the game – my general source of tickets now that I don’t get the Staff ticket deal). Will I watch it on TV? Yeah probably at a seat in the bar at Cutter’s (my friend is such a social connector we seem to always get seats) or Cure (the kids at Creatures seem to like me and I generally get the best service in Athens there) and pat myself on the back that I saved money with a three-digit bar/dinner bill. And, UGA is more than happy to charge somebody more to take my place. Ask all the REAL Season Ticket holders that have been screwed over the last two decades. We let them play soccer and TopGolf in our stadium – making a stand ain’t our thing. WHEN HAS UGA ATHLETICS EVER TAKEN A STAND? Maybe, putting up the war memorial the Faculty Council blocked over by the old practice field. Taking a stand ain’t our thing. We bullied Jan Kemp into mental illness but that’s about it. Our campus police hassle our players more for not having middle names than provide friction against those that hate us. Subject every network employee to field sobriety tests. Provide zero security and arrest any they bring in. Give them the Barstool no access. Send them to the Intermural Fields for their set location. Ticket them for prowling for standing on sidewalks. Film them leaving Toppers. Oh wait, that’s what we do to our students and fans. Enjoy your outrage until the next news cycle cuz we ain’t hit rock bottom be a lot.
Oh, thank you ma’am I’ll have Baconator and Creamsicle Frosty, please; and can you do something about those clouds in the sky over the kids on my lawn?
Brooks has said we will not schedule them. He did not say we wouldn’t play them in an NCAA tournament format.
I hear (read?) you excellent point. I’m so cynical right now I wonder if they were even on the speed dial for scheduling any sport, anyways. Swear you’ll never do something you’d never do for the win.
I’m guessing AD and coaches are always in discussion of whether something would work. Brooks has pretty much said (I’m guessing Morehead approved) they are off every list of potential out of conference scheduling discussion now.
It sounds like the B1G announced jointly that none of their institutions will schedule them.
Make them the pariah of college sports. It’s too bad the rest of the Power 4 won’t do the same thing to ND to force them into a conference.
My man — you know how to kick the lid off the garbage can. Calling “JESS” a hypocrite and courage warrior behind the guise of “X” is spot on.
We’re just johns for the pimps and whores. The only things we’re getting out of this anymore is a lighter wallet, an unpleasant tingling sensation, and feelings of regret.
All of this is unfortunately somewhat foreseeable when the courts broke the NCAA. And it should have been most foreseeable by the NCAA, which refused to adapt or negotiate, resulting in an all or nothing position. Well, they got nothing. A lot of reasonable changes are now getting swamped by unchecked cash grabs (on both sides.) it’s like a giant game of Prisoner’s Dilemma where nobody trusts anyone. Everyone is now grabbing for all the advantages they can, with the predictable eventual result being everyone loses.
This is what they all wanted, I guess. You break a bad system? Fine, but you better have a plan for what comes next. Nobody did, and shrugging your shoulders and saying “this isn’t my fault” isn’t a plan. The pay the players crowd was right, up to a point. The let’s preserve college sports crowd was right, up to a point. Now it’s just everyone fighting for money like it’s the last lifeboat on the Titanic. Good luck with that.
This decision is beyond the O’Bannon, House or Alston cases which were about compensation and antitrust (as you know). The NCAA was stupid to fight those (although the House settlement was supposed to be a remedy there).
This situation is completely different because it calls into question the on the field product. I heard this morning Sorsby was paying people to place bets on his behalf … he knew what he was doing was breaking the eligibility rules.
This outcome flies in the face of every standard sports has had. Sorsby got caught breaking the unbreakable rule … betting on games involving your own team. He should pay the price for that.
“You break a bad system? Fine, but you better have a plan for what comes next.”
That would require responsible leadership from leaders who looked at their positions as more than just a title and opportunity to grift. But those kinds of leaders have been notable by their absence over the last several decades.
Certainly the NCAA has had its share of colossal blunders but remember that it was established by the University Presidents and administrators to oversee safety and integrity in intercollegiate athletics. I was hoping that the judge would bail out the University Presidents who have now completely abdicated the control of their institutions to the athletic department and high net worth boosters who want to be team owners. If this ruling is allowed to stand either by affirmation or neglect, every busted play in every future event will be suspect.
You summed it up perfectly in this post, JP. Another reason GTP Refugees is top notch & one the best blogs out there. The Senator would be proud.