Dave Wilson Oct 22, 2026, 08:00 AM ET

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Dave Wilson is a college football reporter. He previously worked at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.

The Honorable Bruce McFarling, a judge in the 362nd District Court of Texas, has spent more than 25 years on the bench reviewing evidence.

So, as he sat in a bar in Boulder's Omni Interlocken Hotel before Texas Tech played Colorado recently, he was skeptical of what he was seeing. McFarling, a Red Raider, was a big Mike Leach fan. He knew the legendary tale of the Pirate "losing" a fake play script in his only appearance on the Oklahoma side of the Texas -OU rivalry and fooling the Longhorns.

Twenty or so of McFarling's old 1980s fraternity brothers had made a trip to Boulder for an annual get together for a Red Raiders road game.…