Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas received a not-so-warm welcome during his recent College GameDay appearance.
The polarizing politician sat down with ESPN’s Rece Davis ahead of the No. 4 Texas Longhorns’s highly-anticipated matchup against the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, September 12, to discuss the “Protect College Sports Act.”
The bipartisan bill that would establish a national set of rules and standards for college athlete compensation, branding and school revenue sharing deals.
During his nearly 10-minute segment, Cruz, 55, received a relentless onslaught of booing from the Austin, Texas, crowd, followed by clear chants of, “Ted you suck.”
“Right now college sports is in chaos — the current situation is nuts,” the senator said in an attempt to speak over the deafening crowd. “Between Lane Kiffin down in Louisiana trying to bring NFL players back into college sports or between up in Lubbock [Texas], Brendan Sorbsy and litigation over whether someone who was gambling over his own game should be allowed to play. What we have right now is chaos. We have no rules.”
US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) Getty Images
He continued of the proposed legislation, “It brings order to chaos, it protects the students – protects the students’ ability to be compensated [and] to receive name, image and likeness compensation. I think that’s only fair, it’s only right – they’re producing enormous value and enormous skill. But it also puts reasonable rules in place — for example, every player gets one free trade. Not three to five — one trade.”
The senator went on to argue that without a set of national guardrails college athletic programs are being “bankrupt” across the country, arguing that now is the time for congress to act.
“College sports is too precious — we’ve got to make sure this remains an avenue for opportunity for millions of kids,” he went on to add during the segment. “And we gotta make sure it remains not just [for] football but [for] all of women’s sports all of the non-revenue sports ll of the olympic sports — this bill is designed to do all that.”
For the entirety of Cruz’s appearance, the crowd continued to boo him and chant in opposition to his appearance. Us reached out to Cruz’s office for comment.
Lane Kiffin is gone from Ole Miss — but he’s certainly not forgotten. The former Rebels head coach ruffled some feathers with his abrupt exit from the team — leaving in November to coach at LSU despite his former team securing a spot in the College Football Playoff after one of the best seasons in […]
Coach Kiffin made headlines in late 2025 following his controversial decision to leave Ole Miss amid their playoff run to coach at LSU. He was once again in the spotlight when he finalized his inaugural LSU season’s roster, which featured two former NFL players: Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris. Both players spent the summer on NFL rosters before they were waived in August.
Sorsby, also mentioned by Cruz during his contentious segment, was a former quarterback for Texas Tech whom the NCAA later ruled ineligible for play after he acknowledged placing bets totaling at least $90,000 on collegiate games, including his own. The player later sued the NCAA, which led to a June decision from a Lubbock, Texas, judge that ruled the athlete eligible after serving a two-game suspension.
Facing considerable public and conference pressure in the wake of the controversial ruling, Texas Tech and Sorsby eventually decided to part ways.
