Sporting burnt orange, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz attends the Sugar Bowl on Monday. Credit: X / @RedditCFB

University of Texas fans pissed about the Longhorns’ 37-31 Sugar Bowl loss to the Washington Huskies have found someone to blame: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

In Monday’s game against the No. 2 seeded Huskies, Texas lost in the final seconds after quarterback Quinn Ewers threw an incomplete pass to Adonai Mitchell. However, some upset fans aren’t blaming either player — or even the team’s numerous penalties.

Instead, they’re putting Texas’ junior Republican senator on blast.

“It’s his fault,” X user @Hudson D Locke wrote, tweeting a photo of Cruz at the game.

Others, including X user @NoahDreyf, questioned why Canada-born Cruz — an alumni of Princeton and Harvard — would even bother attending the Sugar Bowl sporting Longhorns gear.

“Ted Cruz is on the University of Texas sideline despite being born in Alberta, Canada and attending Princeton and Harvard…..okay,” he wrote.

Naturally, at least one of the senator’s political rivals jumped in as well.

“Everywhere Ted Cruz goes, losses follow,” tweeted State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat vying to challenge Cruz in 2024. “We don’t want Ted at our football games. We don’t want Ted representing us in the Senate. Texans don’t want Ted.”

Indeed, Lone Star State sports fans have spent recent years complaining about the “Cruz Curse.” The team Cruz roots for loses during postseason games he chooses to attend, curse believers claim.

Although it sounds far-fetched, numbers appear to back up the notion.

In the 17 games Cruz attended since 2017, the team he rooted for lost 15, according to the college football account @ RedditCFB. Those losses include Game 7 of the 2023 World Series, in which the Astros lost to the Texas Rangers.

“For the sake of all Texans, Republican and Democrat, Ted Cruz needs to be banned from any Texas team’s postseason games,” tweeted X user @errod210.

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This article appears in Dec 27, 2023 – Jan 9, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...