Sen. Ted Cruz got a rough welcome from his fellow Texans Saturday when a packed crowd of University of Texas fans loudly booed him during a live appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay.
The Texas Republican joined host Rece Davis in Austin to discuss the Protect College Sports Act, but much of the nearly nine-minute interview was overshadowed by relentless jeering from fans gathered behind the set.
Ted Cruz getting booed way worse than Ohio State or Oklahoma down in Austin https://t.co/IwinNIKANV
— Chris Marler (@Vern_Funquist) September 12, 2026
At one point, members of the crowd broke into chants of “Ted, you suck,” while others could be seen giving the senator a thumbs-down as cameras rolled.
Cruz and Davis largely ignored the commotion and continued discussing the legislation, which Cruz has helped champion as Congress considers new federal rules governing college athletics.
The bipartisan proposal would create nationwide standards covering issues including name, image and likeness compensation, athlete transfers and other major changes that have transformed college sports in recent years. Supporters argue federal action is needed to bring stability to the system and protect non-revenue sports, while critics have raised concerns about how the legislation could affect athletes’ rights.
But inside the College GameDay crowd, the policy debate appeared to take a back seat to the reaction to Cruz himself.
College football writer Chris Marler noted online that the boos directed at Cruz appeared even louder than the reaction to mentions of Texas rival Oklahoma or Saturday night opponent Ohio State.
Fans could be heard jeering throughout much of Cruz’s appearance, creating an uncomfortable backdrop as the senator tried to make his case on national television.
Cruz, 55, leaned heavily into the home-team atmosphere, wearing a burnt orange blazer matching the University of Texas colors.
The Houston senator did not attend UT. He earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton before attending Harvard Law School.
Cruz has nevertheless frequently appeared at sporting events across Texas, something that has helped fuel a long-running joke among some fans about a so-called “Ted Cruz curse.” The gag suggests Texas teams have an unfortunate habit of losing when Cruz shows up to support them.
The boos quickly became a major talking point on social media.
One widely circulated post described the reaction as nonstop from beginning to end, while other users mocked the senator over the hostile reception.
Cruz himself made no mention of the jeering afterward.
Instead, he posted that it was “great to be in Austin” supporting the Longhorns.
His replies quickly filled with people reminding him about the reception he had just received on live television.
Despite the uncomfortable scene, Cruz stayed on set and completed the interview without publicly reacting to the boos.
ESPN also did not directly address the crowd’s reaction during the segment. A network source later told Front Office Sports that bringing Cruz onto the program had been an “easy decision,” given the ongoing congressional debate over the future of college sports.
Whatever ESPN intended the segment to be about, the images that spread online afterward told a different story: a sitting Texas senator dressed in Longhorn colors trying to talk college sports while a crowd of Texans loudly made their feelings known behind him.
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Sports fans aren’t the smartest. What has he done or not done that they don’t like?