A Texas judge just overturned the NCAA’s lifetime ban on a college quarterback. The court ruling granted Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby a temporary injunction that allows him to play for his final year of eligibility in 2026, a decision has shaken college football’s already unstable foundation. The court justified it by stating Sorsby “will suffer a probable, imminent and irreparable injury.” ESPN’s Chris Fowler is one among many who worries the kind of precedent this create and about all that comes next.

“College football is so rife with upsets,” said ESPN’s Chris Fowler on The Rich Eisen Show on Monday. “The fact that a Lubbock judge, Ken Curry, ruled that way, I would not call it ‘upset.’ I think you can find a judge to create an injunction for or against anything in the world, and it didn’t surprise me. Gambling is a pretty serious thing; you should be taken really seriously by anybody who’s in charge.

“As you [Rich Eisen] said, ‘The problem is no one is in charge of college football, so maybe there’s other chapters to happen.’ I mean, I never take pleasure in seeing a dude make a big mistake and then have it cost in his career, but there are consequences for these things, and I would expect that this winning is still beyond the field, but there may be another chapter that happens.”

Sorsby admitted to placing at least 9,000 impermissible bets (exceeding $90,000) on his team’s games while being a member of Indiana football program in 2022, and for that, the court issued a two-game suspension, sitting him out against Abilene Christian and Oregon State. NCAA regulation dictates gambling on one’s own team leads to mandatory, lifelong, permanent ineligibility. Sorsby was no exception to this with the NCAA ban in place in May. The QB’s legal team filed a lawsuit, arguing the organization weaponized Sorsby’s medical issue of gambling addiction, and ultimately, the court’s decision restored his eligibility.

The ruling exposes the NCAA’s inability to enforce its own rules without court approval. The organization can appeal the court’s decision, althogh the chances of blocking him from playing this season is negligible. That essentially translates to temporary injunction clearing him to play is effectively permanent in reality.

NCAA President Charlie Baker gave his two cents about the situation, claiming that he’s watching the system crumble. Baker knows that if Congress doesn’t step in with the Protect College Sports Act, college football won’t be more than a mess bound by local rulings and conflicting rules. And that’s exactly what Chris Fowler is worried about.

“When you have schools and deep-pocketed supporters willing to look the other way on the glaring integrity threat of betting on your own team, and judges whose rulings effectively strip away our ability to stop them, only Congress can equip the [NCAA] to apply this common-sense rule to everyone fairly and consistently,” wrote NCAA president Charlie Baker.

“The Protect College Sports Act would empower the NCAA to enforce rules, including the gambling restrictions; it’s needed now more than ever.”

To put things in perspective, this isn’t the NCAA’s first legal defeat. As recently as March, the organization lost an eligibility battle over Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Not only that, NCAA’s petition to appeal the eligibility ruling in the case was officially denied. More than anything else, this ruling reveals the NCAA’s weakened position in controlling college athletics’ shifting landscape. That’s why big names like Nick Saban testified for the Cruz-Cantwell bill in a Senate hearing and pleaded with Congress to bring intervention. But nothing is settled yet, as the Big Ten and SEC are actively fighting against this bill.