Bears' climb began vs. OU
Major success followed Baylor’s first-ever win over Sooners in 2011.
Want to know when Baylor officially reserved its spot on college football’s glitzy stage?
Try Nov. 19, 2011, in Waco against then-fifth-ranked Oklahoma. With 8 seconds remaining and the game tied, Robert Griffin waited for Terrance Williams to shake a Sooners cornerback, then tossed a 34-yard touchdown pass. The fans at Floyd Casey Stadium swarmed the field, reveling in the Bears’ first-ever win over Oklahoma.
Since that moment, Baylor has won a Heisman Trophy and two Big 12 titles. At 20 straight, the Bears have the nation’s longest home winning streak. Success seems established, not outlandish.
And the Bears have added two more victories over OU by a combined score of 89-26. That includes the 48-14 win
last year in Norman. It was the first time Baylor beat the Sooners at their place. The game was so one-sided that Oklahoma fans booed and coach Bob Stoops and his brother, Mike, the defensive coordinator, openly argued on the sidelines.
The two teams meet again Saturday at McLane Stadium. It’s a marquee contest on the national schedule, with the sixthranked Bears trying to vault into the top four and No. 12 Oklahoma attempting to get back into the playoff conversation.
“Now that it’s here, a lot of eyes will be on us,” Baylor defensive back Trayvon Blanchard said. “We have a lot of tough games ahead of us, a lot of ranked opponents. So a lot of attention will be on our offense and defense in these next few weeks.”
ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be in Waco on Saturday morning to hype the game and all the others of national significance. The Bears haven’t lost in Waco in three years. That includes eight straight wins over ranked opponents. Saturday starts a string of significant games for the Bears. After the Sooners, they’ll have road games against Oklahoma State and TCU, then finish at home against Texas.
“We can’t get involved with what’s happening out there,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “Then you lose your focus on what’s important, and that’s being the best we can be mentally and physically as a football player and a football team and a football staff to give Baylor the best opportunity to win against a very good opponent Saturday night.”
Briles isn’t being hyperbolic. Oklahoma is a formidable opponent. The Sooners’ 24-17 loss to Texas on Oct. 10 seems to be more of an outlier considering how Oklahoma has played since then. The Sooners have won four straight by a combined score of 232-50. The biggest change has been the way they’ve run the ball and defended against it. The offense is averaging 295 rushing yards a game during the stretch; the defense is giving up only 96.5.
It’s an effective game plan for controlling an offense like Baylor’s, which will run enough with Shock Linwood to keep defenses from solely trying to gang up on the pass.
“The way we’ve been playing, you have to feel confident the way we’ve been executing really in all parts of the game,” Bob Stoops said. “As much as anything, (it’s) playing together as a team. Offense is moving the ball and putting pressure on the other team the way they’re scoring and moving the ball. Defensively (we’re) coming up with pressure and getting turnovers and a lot of good stops. We’ve got to play that way Saturday.”
The Sooners also have a backloaded schedule. After Baylor, there’s a home date against TCU, then the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State.
Probably the best tack either team can take is to ignore the outside noise.
“We’re just going to do what we do,” Baylor quarterback Jarrett Stidham said. “Whether there are national TV cameras or not, we can control what we can control and worry about what we can worry about.”