Earlier this month, Texas A&M became the latest program to turn down Texas Tech’s offer to rekindle the rivalry between the now non-conference opponents, along with Mississippi State, USC and N.C. State. To those believing Texas A&M is afraid to play Texas Tech. No. Of course not they’re not afraid. The reasoning is more simple than that.

But, give Texas Tech credit. They have cracked the code on generating good PR for its program. After the Brendan Sorsby situation, they needed a win in the public eye, and they found one. The formula is simple: poke the bear at every other school in the state of Texas, challenge them to “play us on the field, spot the ball,” and watch the discourse fly.

It works because people love the underdog energy. But it falls apart the second you apply an ounce of logic to the situation.

Texas Tech’s schedule explains why the Red Raiders are so desperate to book these non-conference games

Here’s the thing nobody wants to acknowledge when Texas Tech issues these challenges. Their schedule is as light as it is. If you dropped Texas A&M or Texas onto that schedule, that game would be Texas Tech’s Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the Aggies and the Longhorns would still have to turn around and play a nine-game SEC schedule after facing the Red Raiders. There is no incentive for either of those programs to add Texas Tech. And frankly, they aren’t really adding anybody else to begin with.

The majority of these high-level nonconference matchups have been paused across college football, and the reason is straightforward. Potential college football playoff expansion has changed the calculus.

The rankings have not been able to validate what a truly difficult schedule is worth. Is a 9-3 team with a gauntlet of a schedule better than a 10-2 team that feasted on cupcakes? We haven’t figured that out yet. So what’s the point of adding a high-level opponent when the system doesn’t reward it? There’s a compliment for you, Texas Tech. I know you need it.

I’d love to see it, but wanting it doesn’t make it smart, especially for A&M

Now, would I like to see this game played on the field? Of course I would. I wanted to see Texas A&M play Texas when the Aggies were still in the Big 12. I want to see these matchups happen because I think it would be high-level football rooted in regionality, especially in the state of Texas.

As someone born and raised there who lived there my entire life, I understand what football means to that state. The passion is real, and a Texas A&M-Texas Tech game in College Station or Lubbock would be electric.

But you have to separate what you want as a fan from what makes sense for these programs. A team isn’t afraid to play another team. There’s just no incentive for SEC programs to schedule a top Big 12 school at this point.

And you may say, Teagan, that sounds like a cop-out. It’s not. It’s the reality of a sport where the postseason reward system hasn’t caught up to the scheduling decisions programs are forced to make. Until it does, these challenges from Texas Tech will keep making great content and generating great PR, but they won’t lead to games being booked.