Things change quickly in the college football world. Earlier this month, the talk about who was the biggest villain in the sport still had the Notre Dame football team right at the top of the list. As the sun rose on Tuesday morning, it sure felt like Texas Tech had overtaken the Irish as the most hated by the rest of the country. Congratulations to everyone involved in the Brendan Sorsby mess. Without the unwavering support, turning to wavering support, I don’t think Joey McGuire and the gang could have gotten this done.
Why the Fighting Irish are so often at the top of the list of most hated teams isn’t hard to figure out. Not only are they the only Power 4 independent, but they have an entire network dedicated to only them during the season. Even when things turn for the better every now and then, as they did in the 2024 College Football Playoff, it doesn’t last.
However, one thing Notre Dame has never done that Texas Tech has is attempt to play a quarterback who bet on his own team. More than that, the Irish have never started someone like Brendan Sorsby while simultaneously attacking everyone else for having a problem with it. The Red Raiders stand alone on that score.
The passing of the torch happened quickly. Two weeks ago, The Film Guy Network podcast took up the debate about the Top-10 Most Hated Teams in College Football. Brooks Austin made a very strong argument for Marcus Freeman’s program with the caveat that the Irish don’t mind being hated in a good-natured way. When it’s based on jealousy more than anything else, the team from South Bend relishes its role as the villain of the sport.
Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby chaos makes Notre Dame football hate look tame
"Notre Dame is hated because historically they are great, but they have this holier-than-thou supremacy thought process to themselves," Austin said. "I think they should almost go No. 1 because of all the fan bases we are about to talk about, they want to be No. 1 on this list. They want to know that everybody hates them."
The difference here is that the anger and hatred of Texas Tech after last week’s events isn’t good-natured. It’s based on annoyance and outrage. The annoyance comes from things like a 20-minute video explaining why Brendan Sorsby should play in 2026, only to part ways with him four days later. There’s outrage that the Red Raiders were even trying to explain why they wouldn’t just say “Brendan Sorsby will remain with the program but will not play.”
Then there were the reams and reams of social media posts from Texas Tech fans and Cody Campbell (the school’s biggest booster) explaining why all of this was really everyone else’s problem. The excuses ranged from “it’s not that bad” to “you’d do it if it were your team” to “the system is broken, and I want to fix it but until I do fix it, I’m cool with it being broken as long as it benefits my school.”
The latter excuse was Campbell’s first salvo after Brendan Sorsby got an injunction that would have allowed him to play this fall. It was the shot heard ‘round the world because it set Texas Tech on the slippery slope, safely past Notre Dame, as the most hated program in the country. Congrats to the Red Raiders. Time to collect your prize.
Add us as a preferred source on Google