Key keywords: Urban Meyer, Steve Sarkisian, Joey McGuire, Texas Longhorns football, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Big 12 rivalry, college football trash talk, 2024 College Football Playoff, Fox Sports Big Noon Kickoff Championship-winning college football coach turned top Fox Sports analyst Urban Meyer went viral this week with his unfiltered "mic drop" take on the ongoing verbal drama between Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas Tech Red Raiders leader Joey McGuire, shutting down debates over whether Sarkisian should engage with McGuire’s repeated public digs. The feud first kicked off earlier this month when McGuire made multiple provocative comments during local media appearances and his weekly press conference, questioning Texas’ status as a 2024 national title favorite, claiming his Red Raiders had “the talent and defensive scheme to blow out the Longhorns” in their upcoming in-state Big 12 matchup in Lubbock, and even taking shots at Sarkisian’s recruiting strategy, claiming Texas had “overprioritized skill position talent at the cost of offensive line depth” his team would exploit. When asked for his take on the back-and-forth during Thursday’s taping of Big Noon Kickoff, Meyer did not mince words, slamming his analysis binder down on the desk in a move widely described as a “mic drop” moment across college football social media circles. “First off, any head coach at a blue blood program with legitimate national title aspirations that takes that kind of silly bait from a lower-ranked division rival is making a catastrophic, unforced error,” Meyer stated, drawing on his own 17-year head coaching career that included three national titles across stints at Florida and Ohio State. “I faced this exact scenario dozens of times in my career,” he explained. “Opposing coaches would run their mouths all week in the press trying to get a rise out of me or my team, because they knew they had no shot if we played to our potential. If you respond, you’ve already given them exactly what they want: free publicity for their underdog program, extra motivation for their players, and unnecessary pressure on your own squad that has nothing to gain from the exchange.” Meyer went on to specifically break down Sarkisian’s position, noting that the Longhorns entered the 2024 season ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25, boast a Heisman Trophy favorite at quarterback in Quinn Ewers, and have their sights set squarely on making the 12-team College Football Playoff and competing for a national championship for the first time since 2005. “Sark doesn’t gain a single thing by trading barbs with McGuire,” Meyer said. “If he wins the game, everyone says ‘well, Texas was supposed to win by 21 anyway.’ If he somehow loses? It’s the biggest upset of the year, and McGuire gets to talk about it for the next decade. The only smart move is to ignore it entirely, focus on your game plan, and handle business on the field. That’s the end of the conversation.”