Texas Tech coach Joey Maguire replied to schedule ridicule with an offer he hopes Texas coach Steve Sarkisian won’t refuse.

Maguire said Texas Tech has already received confirmation that Texas State and Abilene Christian — who are set to face Texas and Texas Tech, respectively, in Week 1 this fall — would be willing to accept a payment and play each other instead.

The idea, of course, being Maguire would push to the next step of the transaction if Sarkisian and Texas would like to play Week 1 at AT&T Stadium or in Lubbock, Texas.

“We would love to play the University of Texas in Week 1,” Maguire said Thursday at the Big 12 Conference spring meetings.

Texas Tech won the conference at 12-1 and made the College Football Playoff last season, losing to Oregon in the quarterfinals after earning a first-round bye.

Sarkisian raised eyebrows when he said “there’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year.”

Cody Campbell, Texas Tech chairman of the Board of Regents, confirmed Thursday via X the possibility of paying to open up a spot on the schedule for Texas was a reality. He tagged Sarkisian and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte.

“Upping the ante: @TechAthletics will pay the buyout for both the ACU and Texas State games. Let’s go!!! @CoachSark @_delconte.”

When Maguire first heard the comments, he didn’t think Sarkisian was actually talking about Texas Tech. But when he ran the numbers and computed the geography, he decided to extend Texas a chance to prove it.

“I said there’s no way they’re talking about us because Sark’s a pretty tough guy,” Maguire said. “I would think if he was talking about us, he’d call us out.”

” … They can come to Lubbock Week 1, and we can figure out if their 2’s and 3’s can win this conference.”

–Field Level Media