Poor Kirby Hocutt

When it was announced that the College Football Playoff committee named Kirby Hocutt as its new chairman, Texas Tech fans were ecstatic.

“This is great for Texas Tech’s brand!”, “The Double T will be represented on national television every week!”, “Kirby Hocutt is so well-respected among his peers!”

All of that is still true.

But boy is it tough to watch some Tuesdays when Hocutt is being berated for some of the rankings. I feel bad for him, since he’s not the one deciding everything, he just has to go defend everyone else’s mistakes to a national audience.

When Texas A&M was ranked No. 4 in the first revealing of the rankings, Twitter lit up with conspiracy theories that the CFP’s new chairman form Texas Tech was colluding with our friends down in College Station to get a Texas school into the playoff.

Since its inception, the CFP committee has seemed to have a Big Ten bias. Two Big Ten schools are in the top eight with two losses on their record (Wisconsin and Penn State). Nothing exemplified the bias more than Michigan staying at No. 3 after losing.

From a literal, objective standpoint, the committee was not swayed in the slightest by the fact that a team lost. They were No. 3 before they lost, and No. 3 after they lost. They’re making it up as they go along.

“Michigan looks great!” *they lose* “Who cares? They’re still really good!” But Hocutt did a good job at explaining why the Wolverines remained in the top four.

Anyway, we could debate until the cows come home about what the committee gets right or wrong. With Texas Tech not standing a chance, I really don’t care.

But poor Kirby Hocutt, having to be interrogated on every single team’s position every Tuesday night. I get the outrage of Michigan not moving even a hair after their loss, but I also get what Hocutt is saying about their overall season resume.

Hocutt was also forced to justify why West Virginia isn’t ranked higher than Oklahoma, seeing as the Mountaineers have a better record and a more quality win (Oklahoma State) than the Sooners.

It really doesn’t matter, since Oklahoma and West Virginia play each other on Saturday, and we will find out soon enough which one deserves a higher ranking the old fashioned way: let them play for it.

But that looming matchup that would put all questions to rest of course doesn’t stop the media from grilling Hocutt about it.

I do not envy the position Kirby Hocutt is in, especially in front of the cameras at ESPN on Tuesday nights. Let’s hope for his sake that when the season concludes, there is little controversy surrounding the top four so that Hocutt isn’t scrutinized for the rest of his tenure as the committee’s chairman.