Wow. Hat-tip to Flags Over Raiderland who caught it first, but it appears that the University of Tulsa is dropping Texas Tech for Arkansas in their opening game. LAJ's Don Williams is reporting this morning that Texas Tech officials still believe the game will be played and that to get out of the contract would require a $150,000 payment. Here's some quotes from said Texas Tech officials:
Asked what he expects to happen, Gleason said, "We fully expect them to play the game. We really do.''
"We still have a contract with Tulsa,'' he said.
Tech officials said they were surprised by the report.
"I was really caught off-guard,'' said Tech director of football operations Tommy McVay, who does much of the work on the Red Raiders' future schedules.
McVay said he was told that a cancellation "wasn't a done deal.''
What an absolute load of crap this whole situation is and I'm stunned that University of Tulsa would even try and pull this so late in the season. I can understand how Tulsa is afraid of playing Texas Tech, and now that I think about it, Tulsa is no stranger to seeing others sign contracts and then ignoring them (i.e. Todd Graham is a douchebag).
According to Fanblogs, these are the teams that still have one game, and there's some pretty good teams that may be looking to add a team in 2008. If Tulsa is too scared to play the Red Raiders, then make them pay their $150,000 and move onward. Note to self: There should be a graduated scale of payment on contracts such as these, the closer you get to the actual game, the higher the payment to break the contract.
[editor's note, by Seth C] I should also note that Tulsa is my law school alma mater and I still think this is a crappy situation.