Oklahoma attorney general counters Texas AG, arguing Big 12 to sanction Texas Tech

Before we get into this, give me a minute if you don't mind. I've got to go out front of FootballScoop HQ and change the "Days without a lawyer injecting themselves into college football" counter from 1 back to 0.

One day after Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sent a letter to the Big 12 warning the conference that any attempt to sanction Texas Tech and/or Brendan Sorsby would be met with legal action, Oklahoma attorney general Gentner Drummond has sent a letter to the conference arguing them to do the opposite.

In the letter, Drummond challenges Paxton to an old-fashioned lawyer-off.

"The claims asserted in the (Paxton) letter are meritless. The idea that the Big 12 may not sanction the actions of one of it members under an agreed-upon preexisting contract is facially absurd," Drummond writes. The letter then dives into full-on legalese, which we'll skip and pick back up here: "The letter's citation to generic propositions of antitrust law holds no weight. If Texas Tech pursues such claims, they will fail."

Drummond's legal opinion is in alignment with another prominent attorney in the college sports space, Tom Mars.

Yesterday, Mars tweeted that the Big 12's bylaws grant its directors wide authority to sanction Tech, and that, despite Paxton's warning, Texas law would side with the Big 12. 

Sorsby's injunction request was successful because his lawyers argued the NCAA was not abiding by its own bylaws in protecting and promoting its athletes' well-being. But the Big 12's bylaws hold the conference to no such obligation, as Mars pointed out. One could argue Sorsby's presence on the football field violates each of the bylaws below.

We'll let the lawyers do their thing, but to me this whole fiasco boils down to the same question: Is the juice worth the squeeze?

1) Is sanctioning Texas Tech worth a protracted and ugly legal battle, even if that battle is likely -- but not guaranteed -- to be successful? Keep in mind, "successful" in this case is not winning before some appellate court three years from now. To be successful, the Big 12 would need to keep Sorsby off the field by Sept. 18, the first game Sorsby is eligible to play by court order, which happens to be Tech's Big 12 opener against Houston.

2) What is the cost of not sanctioning, or attempting to sanction, Texas Tech, by angering the other 15 members?

3) If the Big 12 is to move forward in sanctioning Texas Tech, would it be best served by pursuing the minimum possible punishment -- in hopes of appeasing Tech into cutting Sorsby loose, in whatever form that would take -- or would it be better off in pursuing the maximum possible punishment -- i.e., declaring every game in which he participates to be a forfeit -- knowing Tech is pot committed to Sorsby.

4) On the other side of the table, is Sorsby the player worth all this? (And, no, Kirby Hocutt: supporting and playing Sorsby are not the same thing.) As comforting as it is to circle the wagons at booster club events and on RedRaiderSports.com, Texas Tech University and every Texas Tech team is going to have to wear this for a long time. Is Sorsby the player that much better than Will Hammond? Texas Tech is not at risk of a de facto boycott from the College Football Playoff selection committee, saying it's not their role to award wins and losses. But that cuts both ways. Tech plays road games in the states of Oregon, Colorado, Ohio, and Oklahoma this season. What if two of those attorneys general declare Sorsby ineligible to play in their states? Based on that same CFP precedent, Tech would be 10-2 at best in the committee's eyes.

That's an extreme example, but the point is that there's only so much of this process Tech can control and dozens of variables that, again, would not be in play if Tech simply played Will Hammond at quarterback.

But I'm putting too much logic into this. The Brendan Sorsby fiasco started as a question of law, but it's now clearly become a matter of pride and ego for Texas Tech. And the Big 12 will have to proceed accordingly, perhaps as soon as the conference's presidents meeting on Monday.