ESPN announcer Kirk Herbstreit's disastrous year on television continued on Sunday afternoon. 

During the final College Football Playoff rankings reveal show, Herbstreit served up a bizarre take that makes the longtime ESPN employee look quite hypocritical. 

Herbstreit's co-worker, Booger McFarland, suggested during the reveal show that the committee was weighing Alabama's "brand" versus SMU's resumé. 

That comment didn't sit well with Herbstreit, who called it "low-hanging fruit" on social media. 

“Right out of the gate, I don’t understand Booger’s comment about brand over last night, I think that’s low-hanging fruit on the internet or social media,” said Herbstreit. “To me, it’s very, very clear that…this isn’t easy. The committee is going to lose no matter what they do. You look at SMU, they make it to their conference championship game, they lose on a last-second field goal, they don’t have any wins over anybody in the Top 25. Then you have Bama with the strength of schedule, but then they have a very, very disappointing, almost embarrassing loss late in the year when they’re a three-touchdown favorite to Oklahoma."

“So really there’s no right answer," continued Herbstreit. "Normally I’d err on the side of what Coach (Nick) Saban is saying. Alabama has three wins over teams that are currently in the Top 25, usually that should matter. But that loss, for me, I called the game in Norman, it’s not a great Oklahoma team, and Alabama didn’t just lose that game, they got embarrassed. And I’m guessing that could potentially be an anchor for them that could be tough to overcome. I wouldn’t be surprised if the committee honored SMU because of that loss in Norman late in the year.”

First off, the idea that Alabama is benefitting from brand bias isn't "low-hanging fruit". That's exactly what's happening. Alabama has a couple of bad losses on its resumé, but they were in the top 12 conversation because of a miracle half (Lane Kiffin's words, not mine) against Georgia and a win against South Carolina. 

Ole Miss also has impressive wins against Georgia and South Carolina, and the Rebels have the same record as Alabama, yet they weren't in the top 12 conversation. In fact, Ole Miss was ranked THREE spots below Alabama on Sunday despite having a very similar resumé. 

That's brand bias. There's no way around it. 

But that's not why Herbstreit looks like a hypocrite. 

Herbstreit cited low-hanging fruit on the "internet" and social media" in his strange rebuke of McFarland, which is rich coming from a guy who spread unfound rumors (that originated on the internet and social media) two years ago on national TV about the Vols having locker room issues after a late-season loss to South Carolina. 

“Tennessee is not necessarily playing for bowl eligibility and their opportunity to get into the Playoff is gone," said Herbstreit in late 2022. "They’re fighting amongst themselves in the locker room, things are not good right now in Knoxville. Plus Hendon Hooker obviously has that injury. So I’ve got a weird feeling on Vandy this week.”

Vols head coach Josh Heupel responded to Herbstreit's comments after Tennessee's win against Vanderbilt in the 2022 regular season finale. 

"This is a great win for our program," said Heupel to SEC Network's Cole Cubelic after the win against Vandy. "A lot's been made about the culture in the locker room, whatever it might be. This is a culture win."

Heupel also addressed the locker room chatter during his post-game show. 

“There were a lot of questions about the culture of our program from some media that don’t understand who our kids are and what this program’s built on” pic.twitter.com/ihCbn5qQdR

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) November 27, 2022

That was an incredibly unprofessional and reckless moment from Herbstreit, which makes it strange that he clapped back at McFarland for a totally reasonable take. 

Herbstreit comes across as an entitled broadcaster who thinks he should be immune from criticism. College football deserves a better voice than that guy.