Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

BIG 12 NOTEBOOK

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BEST MATCHUP: Art Briles vs. Gary Patterson, the coaches for No. 7 Baylor (9-1, 6-1) and No. 19 TCU (9-2, 6-2). With his big-play offense, Briles has led the Bears to back-toback Big 12 titles and they again have the nation’s top offense and still could win their third conference title in a row. While Patterson changed his team’s offensive scheme before last season, he still runs the TCU defense the same way he did as coordinato­r before becoming head coach 15 years ago. Baylor won 61-58 with its big comeback in the last matchup, in Waco nearly 14 months ago.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Texas (4-6, 3-4) plays at home on Thanksgivi­ng for the 56th time. This is only the second one against Texas Tech (6-5, 3-5). ... Paul Rhoads led Iowa State to three bowl games in his first four seasons as coach, but is 32-54 overall in seven seasons. The Cyclones (3-8, 2-6) play their final game under Rhoads at West Virginia (6-4, 3-4).

LONG SHOT: Kansas (0-11, 0-8) being able to avoid becoming the first Power Five conference team since Washington in 2008 to finish a season without winning a game. The young Jayhawks, under

first-year coach David Beaty, are nearly three-touchdown underdogs at home in the Sunflower State rivalry against Kansas State (4-6, 1-6), which is still trying to get bowl eligible.

IMPACT PLAYER(S): Patrick Mahomes is only 89 yards from becoming the seventh Texas Tech quarterbac­k with 4,000 yards passing in a season. If he gets that, the Red Raiders will have a 4,000yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher (DeAndre Washington) and a 1,000yard receiver ( Jakeem Grant) in the same season for the first time in school history.

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