Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt believes Big 12 officials made an egregious error in last weekend's 33-30 double-overtime loss to No. 18 Baylor. Now, the conference is making him pay for the backlash. On Monday, the Big 12 announced that Hocutt has been given a public reprimand and fined $25,000 for comments he made regarding an illegal snap penalty in overtime. 

"The Big 12 Conference members have developed policies governing the officiating of our contests," said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby in a statement. "It is vital that senior administration officials, especially the Directors of Athletics, adhere explicitly to these policies.  It is very difficult to balance support for an institution's teams while fully complying with the imperative created by schools acting together to manage athletics competition.  On this occasion, the required discipline was not exercised.  Kirby Hocutt is one of the very best athletics administrators in the nation, and I am grateful for his assistance and support in resolving this matter."

The play that drew Hocutt's ire erased a fumble recovery by Red Raiders defensive lineman Jaylon Hutchings in the first overtime period against the Bears. Baylor center Jake Fruhmorgen snapped the ball, which hit his back side, fell to the turf and was recovered by Hutchings. However, officials ruled it an illegal snap, and instead penalized Baylor five yards which allowed the Bears to keep possession. Baylor scored on that same possession and went on to win in the next overtime period. 

Here's the play in question:

"It has been confirmed that the ruling on the field of an illegal snap was incorrect," Hocutt said in a Texas Tech statement emailed Sunday afternoon. "The play is not reviewable by rule because it is a dead ball judgement call by the official. I am confident that the Big 12 Conference will deal with the matter internally as they complete the review of the game in its entirety. While this is a very unfortunate circumstance, I could not be more proud of our team and the competitive fight and effort with which they competed."

Hocutt then doubled down on his statement during his weekly show ... 

Texas Tech fell to 3-3 with the loss and will host Iowa State this week.