For the playoff selection committee, TCU’s win against Texas Tech won’t be enough

There were some empty seats at kickoff.

TCU’s fog machine was almost too good, as it created a haze that took several minutes to dissipate.

The fly-over before TCU’s game against Texas Tech on Saturday was a B-52 from Louisiana. Couldn’t even get the Blue Angels, or Maverick from Top Gun.

Game-time temperature was sunny and 50 degrees. Not sunny and 72 degrees.

The “Hypnotoad” logo embraced by TCU could send a message to kids that an NCAA member institution uses a mascot on a bad acid trip.

On Texas Tech’s first offensive play, TCU dropped an interception.

Three plays later, TCU’s Derius Davis returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown. 82 yards. Not 92. Not even 83.

TCU quarterback Max Duggan’s first pass was incomplete.

This is how the TCU football program is currently viewed in the eyes of a playoff selection committee that will use every single detail against the Horned Frogs to prevent this team from reaching No. 4 in the final rankings.

No. 7 TCU came back from yet another second-half deficit and defeated Texas Tech 34-24. The Horned Frogs are now 9-0, and will again be a team of discussion when the next playoff rankings are unveiled.

Of the teams currently hovering in the playoff chatter, no school has to hit a constantly elevating target like TCU.

“We are learning how to play with a target on our back,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said after the game. “The last few weeks we’ve played tight at times.”

There are two ways to look at everything TCU does, and achieves; the safe bet is to assume the committee will always go with the negative.

By defeating Tech, TCU keeps The Saddle Trophy in Fort Worth, a point that the playoff committee will likely use against the Horned Frogs. A saddle can be cruel to a pony.

Even though TCU defeated Texas Tech, it’s conceivable the Horned Frogs will drop from seventh to 17th. Don’t ever trust the country club-style board members who put their heads together and pick the same bunch of jerseys they do every year.

Brand bias runs (ruins?) this sport more than any other.

Last week, TCU’s defense was used as the reason why the Horned Frogs were ranked seventh.

On Saturday, TCU held Texas Tech to 17 points. Not going to cut it; TCU should have limited Tech to minus-7 points.

No, these Red Raiders are not exactly The Pirate’s Red Raiders, but TCU’s defense kept the team in the game until the offense finally decided to play.

This week, expect the committee to insist the reason why TCU is ranked where it is because the offense looked a “little leaky.”

On Saturday, the Horned Frogs offense was mostly sluggish and sloppish for three quarters.

Twice they went deep into Texas Tech territory and came up with zero.

TCU quarterback Max Duggan badly missed wide receiver Quentin Johnston, who left the game early in the first quarter due to an undisclosed injury. His absence created problems for this offense that the team didn’t quite figure out until late.

After the game, Johnston was walking around in his uniform without his right shoe.

“It took us a while to get in sync offensively. Texas Tech had a lot to do with that,” Dykes said. “We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We did stuff we don’t normally do. We felt like we’d have (Quentin) all week and he got to the game and it didn’t feel right. We want to get him back 100 percent healthy.”

TCU trailed 17-13 in the third quarter before Duggan and his buddies finally got it together. It’s a similar pattern they have followed for more than a month.

TCU scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take the lead, and blow it open.

By any metric or rational measurable, TCU is one of the best teams in the nation at this point in the season. This is an undefeated team in a power-five conference.

That should be enough, and we all know it isn’t because of the name on the jersey.

“You have to play it all out,” Dykes said. “At times we’ve been really good, and at times, like today, pretty average. You are going to have to win some games when you don’t play your best.”

All of it can change, and it will, but what will not change is how the selection committee treats TCU.

TCU’s only chance is to be perfectly perfect.