Bears hosting a title teaser
WACO — No. 13 Baylor has been quite defensive and kept things close to stay undefeated. No. 10 Oklahoma just keeps winning November games, even when needing a big escape.
The Bears (9-0, 6-0) and Sooners (8-1, 5-1) now play Saturday in a potential Big 12 title game preview.
“It’s a lot at stake, honestly. We’ve got to go there with the right mindset that we’re going to handle business and get out of there,” said Oklahoma receiver CeeDee Lamb, the national leader with 13 touchdown catches. “But it’s going to take a lot more than just the right mindset. You have to go out there and play physical football and mentally be mistake-free.”
Baylor, with an 11-game winning streak, and Oklahoma are the Big 12’s last hopes of getting into the College Football Playoff. The four-time defending conference champion Sooners will have to win out to have a chance to make its fourth national semifinal in five seasons.
The Sooners have won 18 November games in a row since a home loss to Baylor in 2014, when the Bears were the last team other than OU to win the Big 12. Oklahoma could still lose and get to the Big 12 title game with the head-tohead tiebreaker over No. 22 Texas, the only other team with fewer than three conference losses.
Oklahoma is suddenly giving up a lot of points again. After their 48-41 loss at Kansas State, the Sooners won 42-41 at home last week when Iowa State got stopped on a 2-point conversion in the last seconds.
With dual-threat quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Sooners still are the Big 12’s highest-scoring team with 48 points a game. They lead the nation with 598 total yards a game.
“He’s able to move around and keep plays extended, he can extend drives,” Baylor coach Matt Rhule said of Hurts. “He’s a great runner, has a great vision. He’s accurate, he can do it a multitude of different ways.”
The Sooners offense presents a challenge for Baylor, which has allowed more than 20 points in regulation only once, allowing a Big 12best 19 points per game and 337 total yards per game.