NCAA Appeals After Judge Lets QB Sorsby Play at Texas Tech

^{Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who also played for Cincinnati last season, has been suspended for two games after a judge granted him a temporary injunction for gambling on college football games. (Photo: David Smith / CSM / Alamy)}

Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is once again eligible to play in the upcoming college football season despite having gambled on his own team, though that victory could be as temporary as the injunction he was granted. The NCAA has already filed an appeal that could reverse the ruling before the season ends.

The Big 12 is meeting this week to discuss its options, and a trial in Sorsby's case is set for February 2027, which will be after the College Football Playoff National Championship is scheduled to be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

A Texas court granted a temporary injunction on Monday in Sorsby’s case against the NCAA, which had ruled Sorsby permanently ineligible based on his extensive gambling history, which included making at least 9,000 bets totaling $90,000 or more during his college football career.

Judge Sees ‘Irreparable Injury’ from Sorsby Ban

In the ruling, Judge Ken Curry said that Sorsby had “demonstrated that he will suffer a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury” if he is prevented from playing in the upcoming season. While the judge said that Sorsby must continue to seek counseling for his gambling issues and file monthly compliance reports with the NCAA, the judge also said that Sorsby would miss out on building necessary skills if he weren’t allowed to play.

Sorsby’s lawyers framed the NCAA’s ruling as a punishment for a mental health condition since the quarterback had been diagnosed with a gambling disorder, and focused on the fact that he never bet on any games in which he played. That framing appears to have been persuasive for Judge Curry, who ultimately sided with Sorsby on the injunction.

“This opportunity comes with the responsibility to remain focused on my personal growth, the ability to learn from this experience, and to be able to use my situation to help others going forward,” Sorsby said in a statement.

The decision will keep Sorsby out of Texas Tech’s first two games – against Abilene Christian and Oregon State – but will have him available for the rest of the season, including the entirety of the Red Raiders’ Big 12 conference schedule.

College Football World Stunned by Ruling

Outside of Sorsby, there weren’t many observers who reacted positively to the development. That started with the NCAA, which later on Monday formally filed a Notice of Appeal in the case.

“The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in this case and is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching, and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome,” the NCAA said in a statement. “The NCAA is committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one’s own sport.”

Individual schools also took their own stances on the news.  Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks sent a memo to his staff forbidding the school's teams from playing Texas Tech. TCU athletic director Mike Buddie and Kansas State AD Gene Taylor both suggested the Big 12's other schools might elect not to play the Red Raiders this season.

According to ESPN, Big 12 athletic directors plan to hold a conference call with commissioner Brett Yormark on Tuesday. 

"The ramifications of today's ruling are significant and could have broad impacts across college athletics, creating great concern amongst our membership," Yormark told ESPN. "I've been consulting with our key stakeholders and have scheduled meetings with our conference ADs and executive board this week."

The conference may not need to wait for the NCAA appeal to play out. Conference attorney Thomas Mars told ESPN that Big 12 Bylaw 3.6 gives the conference significant independent authority to act against Texas Tech for using a player ruled ineligible by the NCAA, through measures such as postseason bans, revenue restrictions, and scholarship limitations. 

NCAA Playing an Away Game in Appeals Court

The NCAA’s appeal will be heard in the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas in Amarillo, which may not be a friendlier venue for the national organization. The initial case was heard in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech University is located. All four judges currently presiding over the Court of Appeals graduated from the Texas Tech University School of Law.

The facts of the case are agreed on by all parties, including Sorsby. Under NCAA rules, a player who gambles on their own team is permanently ineligible to participate in their athletic programs. The legal question is whether a court can override that ruling on mental health grounds.

A trial date has been set for February 8, 2027. That date falls two weeks after the College Football Playoff National Championship is scheduled to be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, so the full legal picture may not be resolved until well after Sorsby's 2026 season is complete.

The NCAA has faced an increasing number of issues involving gambling in recent years as sports betting has expanded across the United States. In September 2025, the NCAA banned three former Fresno State basketball players for gambling violations, while the University of Notre Dame suspended its entire men’s swimming team earlier that year after it found that many of the athletes on the team were betting on their own performances with each other.