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Someone, somewhere along the way, really hurt Kirby Hocutt’s feelings. Maybe it was a bad breakup when he was playing linebacker for Kansas State. Perhaps there were some really mean Texas fans at the Red River Shootout one year while he was getting his Masters at Oklahoma.
Whatever it may have been, Hocutt certainly doesn’t have any love for any Big 12 team not named OU.
But we’ve bashed Kirby quite a bit over the past few months. And while he deserves most of it, mainly for his circular arguments and loose affiliation with reality, he’s not a lone-man making decisions by himself. Here’s the rest of the committee:
- Frank Beamer | Former HC at Virginia Tech
- Jeff Bower | Former HC at Southern Miss
- Herb Deromedi | Former HC at Central Michigan
- Chris Howard | President at Robert Morris
- Tom Jernstedt | Former NCAA Executive Vice President
- Bobby Johnson | Former HC at Vanderbilt
- Jeff Long | Former AD at Arkansas
- Rob Mullens | Director of Athletics at Oregon
- Dan Radakovich | Director of Athletics at Clemson
- Gene Smith | Director of Athletics at Ohio State
- Steve Wieberg | Former USA Today college football reporter
- Tyrone Willingham | Former HC at Stanford, Notre Dame, and Washington
These are the men of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. These are the men who, for the last two months, have tortured us with their illogical reasoning and clear, unabashed bias for Alabama, and any other team not affiliated with the Big 12.
These are the men who dropped TCU four spots for a loss they already had on their resume, while dropping Miami just three for a 35 point loss. Stanford fell just one spot after earning their fourth loss of the season.
Washington was awarded a New Year’s Six bowl for not being good enough to play for a PAC-12 Championship. Same goes for Penn State. An undefeated Central Florida team didn’t even sniff the top four, and Alabama, who also missed out on their conference championship, gets in because Iowa destroyed Ohio State a month ago (ok, I don’t really feel bad for the Buckeyes, but you get my point).
There are eight Big 12 teams that qualified for a bowl game. Oklahoma, TCU, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Kansas State, Texas Tech, and Texas. 80% of the conference. That’s the highest of any conference in the country. Check this out:
Conference Bowl Eligibility %
| Conference | Bowl-eligible teams | Total teams | Bowl Eligibility % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | Bowl-eligible teams | Total teams | Bowl Eligibility % |
| Big 12 | 8 | 10 | 80% |
| PAC-12 | 9 | 12 | 75% |
| SEC | 10 | 14 | 71.40% |
| ACC | 10 | 14 | 71.40% |
| CUSA | 10 | 14 | 71.40% |
| AAC | 7 | 12 | 58.33% |
| MAC | 7 | 12 | 58.33% |
| Big 10 | 8 | 14 | 57.14% |
| MWC | 6 | 12 | 50% |
| Sun Belt | 5 | 12 | 41.66% |
But of those eight Big 12 teams, one is going to the CFP, and none are going to a New Year’s Six bowl. Meanwhile, three Big 10 teams and two PAC-12 teams are going, only two of whom even competed in a conference championship.
In case that doesn’t have you worked up enough, here are some more fun facts.
Adding to disrespect from earlier: TCU is the only Power 5 team in the country with 3 10-win regular seasons since 2014 and just 1 New Year's Six Bowl game appearance in that span.
— Dean Straka (@dwstraka49) December 3, 2017
Something's gotta change there.
Lost in all of this, it's pretty absurd too that Oklahoma State is being sent to the Camping World Bowl in all likelihood when two of their three losses came to the teams that competed for a Big 12 title on Saturday. Was certain they'd be no worse than the Alamo in Sept.
— Dean Straka (@dwstraka49) December 3, 2017
TCU has the 5th most weeks spent in the CFP top 6. Only four teams have spent more and two teams tied with TCU.
— Billy (@BCasey55) December 3, 2017
All of those teams have at least one appearance in the CFP.
Except TCU.
Yes, the Alamo Bowl against Stanford is a great game against a fun opponent. And sure, at the beginning of the season if you had said TCU would win 10 games and go to the Big 12 Championship, people would have been thrilled.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t be frustrated at what’s taken place here. It’s absurd, and it becomes even more obnoxious when we realize that nothing will be done about it.