There’s plenty at stake in this showdown
Bears seeking to be first team to beat Stoops 3 times in a row
WACO — Spencer Drango was standing on the Baylor sideline during his redshirt season four years ago when the Bears finally beat Oklahoma for the first time.
“We were going nuts,” said Drango, now a senior All-America left tackle. “It kind of solidified and just kind of spoke that we can beat them. And if we can beat them, we can beat anyone. … They were the powerhouse back in the day. Now, it’s shifted a little bit.”
Now fourth-ranked Baylor (8-0, 5-0 Big 12, No. 6 CFP) is trying to become the first team to beat a Bob Stoops-coached Oklahoma team three consecutive times and join the Sooners as the only teams to win three Big 12 titles in a row.
But 12th-ranked Oklahoma (8-1, 5-1, No. 15 CFP) has a four-game winning streak since losing its last game south of the Red River, scoring at least 50 points every week since that 24-17 loss to the Longhorns at the State Fair of Texas.
Win out in this regular season-ending stretch against the Bears, No. 13 TCU and fifth-ranked Oklahoma State, and the Sooners will claim their first Big 12 title since 2012. That would end their longest conference title drought in Stoops’ 17 seasons and put them in position for a possible playoff spot.
“I’m just worried about one big game,” Stoops said. “That’s right now. That’s how it’s been for the last — every week. The way we’ve been playing, you have to feel confident.”
For all the critics of the Bears’ weak schedule so far, they have the same remaining games as Oklahoma. They play at Oklahoma State and TCU, plus their regular-season home finale against Texas.
“You don’t have big games unless you take care of games prior to big games,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “So fortunately our team, I think, has been fairly consistent throughout the season with their play, with their attitude and with our results, which leads into big games.”
A few things to watch in today’s game:
• Former Texas Tech walk-on Baker Mayfield, the junior in his first season as Oklahoma’s quarterback, has thrown for 2,812 yards with 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He has at least three TDs in seven games. Baylor true freshman Jarrett Stidham threw for 419 yards and three TDs last week in a win at Kansas State, his first start replacing injured Seth Russell.
• OU running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon have combined for 200 yards rushing per game with 11 rushing TDs during the Sooners’ winning streak.
• Baylor passing game coordinator Jeff Lebby will not be in the press box for the first half. He is serving a one-half suspension for being on the sideline during an Oklahoma game against Tulsa this season when the Bears were off and he was in Oklahoma for a wedding.
The Big 12 issued a public reprimand and accepted the school’s self-imposed penalty.
• Baylor is 8-0 at home against Top 25 teams since the start of the 2011 season, including two victories over Oklahoma. The Sooners won the first 20 meetings in the series un- til a game-winning pass by Robert Griffin III in the 2011 game that pretty much clinched the quarterback the Heisman Trophy. The Bears have won three of the last four meetings.
• Oklahoma has outscored its past four opponents by an average margin of 45.5 points and outgained them by 364 total yards. Baylor is the nation’s top offense with 665.6 yards and 57 points per game, though the Bears over their past four games have won only by an average margin of 27 points.