College Football Betting Scandal Ends
Brendan Sorsby Exits College Football, Ending Contentious NCAA Betting Suspension Dispute for Texas Tech.
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Brendan Sorsby will not play college football this fall. The Texas Tech quarterback announced he is withdrawing from the NFL supplemental draft and stepping away from the sport entirely, ending one of the most chaotic weeks in recent college football history. His exit came just eight days after a Lubbock judge blocked the NCAA from enforcing a lifetime gambling ban against him, USA Today reported.
The fallout from that court ruling was swift and severe. Big Ten and SEC programs — including Georgia and Nebraska — refused to schedule future games against Texas Tech. The Big 12 Conference sued its own member school. And attorney generals from three states threatened legal action in both directions. Sorsby's decision to walk away appears to have ended the immediate crisis, according to CBS Sports.
From Breakout Season to Lifetime Ban in Four Months
Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech from Cincinnati in January 2026 after throwing for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns. By April, the NCAA was investigating him for gambling violations. He admitted to placing more than 9,000 individual bets totaling roughly $90,000 over four years, according to USA Today. He also checked into an inpatient treatment program for gambling addiction.
The NCAA issued a permanent lifetime ban in May, pointing to 40 bets Sorsby placed on Indiana football games while he was on the roster there. Betting on your own team is widely considered the worst violation in sports — the same rule that kept Pete Rose out of baseball's Hall of Fame. Sorsby's lawyer, high-profile antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler, fought back by framing the gambling as a medical issue, not a cheating scheme. A Lubbock judge agreed on June 8, granting a temporary injunction and reducing the effective suspension to just two games.
The Boycott That Threatened to Isolate Texas Tech
The two-game figure set off a firestorm. NCAA President Charlie Baker called the court's move a "new low" that corrupts competitive integrity. Big Ten and SEC programs announced they would refuse to play Texas Tech going forward — a move analysts called a "death penalty by proxy." The school stood to lose millions in television revenue and non-conference game payouts.
On June 15, the Big 12 Conference took the extraordinary step of suing its own member school in federal court, seeking the right to enforce its own bylaws and sanction Texas Tech. Commissioner Brett Yormark cited the need to preserve "public and member trust in the integrity of league competitions," according to CBS Sports. Texas Tech fired back, insisting it "broke no rules, no laws, and crossed no ethical lines," USA Today reported.
Ken Paxton Turned a Football Dispute Into a States' Rights Fight
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stepped in aggressively, threatening legal action against any conference that tried to penalize Texas Tech or Sorsby. He framed the fight as Texas protecting its citizens from an "arbitrary" out-of-state sports bureaucracy. But attorney generals from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Utah pushed back, threatening counter-suits if Texas's legal moves undermined the Big 12's ability to govern itself.
The standoff put college football's entire governance structure at risk. Legal experts warned that the Lubbock court's ruling — the "Curry Injunction" — created a roadmap for future athletes to challenge NCAA bans in sympathetic local courts. If that precedent held, it could effectively end the NCAA's ability to centrally enforce eligibility rules across the country.
Sorsby Steps Away, but the Legal Questions Remain
Sorsby's exit neutralizes the immediate boycott threat. Texas Tech confirmed it will not seek repayment of NIL money already paid to him, Clutch Points reported — a sign the school wants a clean break without further conflict. The school had stood firmly behind Sorsby, arguing that pulling support from a player in addiction recovery would be "a significant blow to his mental health."
The federal lawsuit between the Big 12 and Texas Tech is still active. Congress is already discussing what some are calling the "Sorsby Amendment" — new rules that would draw a line between recreational gambling and insider betting on one's own team. The case has forced college football to confront a question it has no clean answer for: what happens when a gambling addiction and a gambling scandal are the same thing?
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