The Texas Longhorns lost their number one spot as the best college football team in the country this weekend. But fans aren’t blaming the Georgia Bulldogs — they’re blaming Sen. Ted Cruz (who never attended UT) and podcaster Joe Rogan. 

The Longhorns had a huge matchup Saturday against the number five ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Fox Sports predicted Coach Steve Sarkisian’s team would win by 4.5 points. But the score was a devastating 23-0 at halftime. And fans didn’t quite take the 30-15 loss in stride, instead using it as an opportunity to rip the deeply unpopular Cruz — whom, it must be said, wasn’t even at the game. (Rogan was in attendance, however.)

Cruz posted on X: “If I were there tonight, the Longhorns would be winning. #HookEm 🤘” 

But fans aren’t buying it. And some have suggested that even Cruz’s “sinister energy” is enough to ruin their teams’ chances. The Mothers Against Greg Abbott political action committee wrote, “The Ted Cruz Curse strikes again! He wasn’t at the game, but his face still haunted living rooms across Texas. Guess we’ve gotta add ‘TV appearances’ to the curse now too. 🙄 #TedCruzCurse.”

With Cruz’s opponent, Rep. Colin Allred, sharing the lore of the curse, it’s hard to tell how much of the anti-Cruz sentiment was organic — or the result of Democratic strategy. But this isn’t quite new: Three weeks ago, Isabella Feistauer from Cypress started a change.org petition to “Ban T*d Cr*z From All UT Sporting Events,”  collecting more than 2,000 signatures. 

“Last year, his downright sinister energy kept Texas from making it to the NCAA Football Championship, and that’s a risk we cannot take again,” said the petition.

In 2018, Houston Rockets fans blasted Cruz for the game 7 Western Conference finals loss against the Golden State Warriors, which cost the team a trip to the NBA finals. In 2019, Cruz was blamed by Texas Tech fans for their failure to secure their championship win. In 2022, Yankees fans booed Cruz while he sat in the stands at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and said his curse was at fault for their loss to the Astros, which cost the Yankees a trip to the World Series. In 2023, Cruz was also blamed when the Astros lost to the Texas Rangers. In 2024, fans pointed fingers at Cruz for the Texas Longhorn’s Sugar Bowl loss (37-31) against the Washington Huskies. Just days later, fans again faulted Cruz when the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers — that time, he’d only tweeted in support. 

Clearly, Longhorns fans aren’t the only ones who don’t want him at their games. The Aggies don’t want him around either: Cruz was blamed in early September for Texas A&M’s loss to Notre Dame, and one woman went viral for pretending to throw up when she saw him on the sideline. Y’all that’s a lot of “coincidence” to be coincidental right?? 

Leslie Rangel, a first generation daughter of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, is deputy managing editor for The Barbed Wire. Her award-winning journalism is focused on issues of health, mental wellness,...