“When [the coaches] told me I had to go in, I felt like I was ready”. He just wishes that when his team calls the shots at home in the final stages of a Big 12 season, the Cowboys can one day deliver the dagger that hasn’t been found in either 2013 or 2015.
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It becomes easy, then, to ignore the Big 12 like it was 2014 … except you can’t.
Not with undefeated No. 5 Iowa headed to Nebraska for its regular-season finale.
The league has four teams in the top 18 of this week’s playoff ranking. Ohio State’s only touchdowns were the result of a short field after MI State turnovers.
Baylor got a 34-yard field goal from Chris Callahan to extend the lead to 24-14 with 3:25 to play in the first half. That win was followed up by a much closer four-point victory over unranked Iowa State, and I’m sure the Bears have watched the tape from that contest closely.
It’s the time of year for coaches to make a case to the playoff committee, but after just two punts on Saturday night, Briles elected for a third when asked about what Baylor proved to the 12-person roundtable. A victory would give Ohio State a share of the Big Ten East Division title.
What they need to do: Beat Notre Dame. The Cowboys control their own fate.
Where does that leave Baylor? Baker Mayfield is completing 68.7 percent of his passes for 3,209 yards, 33 touchdowns and five interceptions.
The Bears cracked the 300-yard barrier late in the fourth quarter.
You see where this is heading?
Sophomore Chris Johnson would quarterback the Bears after halftime, and he was extremely effective. He was forced into action Saturday after freshman Jarrett Stidham, already playing with a bruised back, suffered a sprained ankle and injured hand in the first half.
“We didn’t tackle well”, Cowboys defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer said.
There are several key matchups today that not only have playoff implications but also can help sort out conference championship games, unless you’re the Big 12.
“As far as the first-string offense?”
Foster Sawyer’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Kolby Listenbee extended TCU’s nation’s-best streak to 24 games with a first-quarter touchdown.
“Honestly, he’s not very good”. Oklahoma defeated Baylor’s second-string quarterback and now faces a TCU team decimated by injuries as it skids down the polls. No conference and they get credit for a “good loss”. In came Stidham, who’d only arrived on campus in January. In his second career start, Oklahoma picked him off twice and the Bears were considered done – as of last week.
The Big 12 changed nothing while hoping to gain everything. TCU made a furious comeback playing a backup quarterback (Foster Sawyer). Wins by both Oklahoma teams would set up a huge game between the rivals next week, with the victor taking the Big 12 title. Beat TCU and the Bears are in. But the other four teams (Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma State) could conceivably win out, and yet at least one of them would be on the outside looking in. The Bears hadn’t scored first against the Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium since 2008, Art Briles’ first as head coach. His 316-yard average is 13th best in the country. Baylor rushed for 304 yards.
“Everything he did was not surprising to us”, Briles said. “We tried a few truisms, too”.
– North Carolina can wrap up the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal with a win or Pitt loss to Louisville.
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“It’s about surviving late in the year”. Then there’s the next group of contenders, the one-loss power conference schools, headed by MI State, Florida, Oklahoma and Baylor. Could the Bears sneak back into the CFP?
