E-mail Pete Fiutak 
Follow me … @PeteFiutak 

Okay, Baylor. You got me. 

I got ripped on by Bear fans for making the statement that Baylor could be in Jerry World on January 12th with confetti falling and I still wouldn’t believe the team is that good, but all of a sudden, one West Virginia loss later, everything clicked perfectly in a dominant win over Oklahoma. 

Everything was going right for the Sooners with a 14-3 lead and the running game in place to take control, but then a funny thing happened on the way to my narrative. Baylor’s defense stopped the Sooners cold, and the offense exploded for 45 unanswered points. 

I joked time and again that Baylor was the master of the bum wins – doing nothing in non-conference play. But Bryce Petty was nearly perfect, Shock Linwood and Devin Chafin each pounded out tough yards and two scores each, and everything seemed to work perfectly. So is it now time to really and truly believe that the No. 12 team in the CFP rankings can be in a position to be among the big four? Losing to the Mountaineers didn’t help the overall cause, but with Kansas State still to play in December, and with the win over TCU already under its belt, as long as there aren’t brain cramps against Oklahoma State and/or Texas Tech, everything is set up perfectly for a second straight Big 12 championship. 

I’m sorry, Baylor. Any room on the bandwagon? 

E-mail Rich Cirminiello 
Follow me … @RichCirminiello 

Move over, UCLA and South Carolina. Oklahoma just surpassed you guys slackers as the most disappointing program so far this season. 

The Sooners, a preseason favorite to earn a playoff berth, knocked on the door of Big 12 mediocrity with earlier losses to TCU and Kansas State. On Saturday, they kicked it off the hinges following an embarrassing loss to Baylor. After the first quarter, Oklahoma was dominated in all phases, allowing 45 unanswered points. The defense was clueless, the offense inept and starting QB Trevor Knight left the game in the fourth quarter on a cart. It was a total collapse for Bob Stoops and kids. And it happened in Norman, eliciting a rare and steady cascade of boos from the home crowd. 

For Baylor, meanwhile, this was exactly the kind of result it needed to restore its sagging reputation. Going on the road to obliterate a ranked conference rival will really resonate with committee members who still have the Oct. 18 loss at West Virginia fresh on their minds. 

All of a sudden, the Bears must be taken seriously as a playoff contender, Oklahoma’s old job title. They’ve got two winnable games upcoming versus Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, and Kansas State travels to Waco to close out the regular season. An 11-1 Baylor would have a very compelling argument, since one of those wins would have come over Big 12 frontrunner TCU. 

By Phil Harrison

At some point, the lack of a championship game in the Big 12 is going to have something to say about who gets to the College Football Playoff. It’s looking more and more like one the contenders in the conference (Baylor, TCU, K-State) are going to finish with one-loss with nothing to do but hope things break the right way.

This could of course be a curse or a benefit, but when you’re looking for additional quality victories in a crowded room, the advantage might go to a one-loss champion from another conference. It should be very, very interesting if the scenario plays out.

But that’s for another day.

Who saw this coming? Picking Baylor to win in Norman is one thing, but if you’re telling me you saw this kind of public flogging against an Oklahoma team that has enough talent to compete with anyone, then it’s time to hand in your honesty card.

This game should serve notice to us all that this season just needs to play out. With all of the one-loss teams out there, it’s really tough to know who slots in where, but with all the games still remaining between teams in contention, there’ll be a separating of the masses to some extent. 

Still, as we sit right here at the end of this week, you’ve got to start giving Baylor some credit and rank them according to the body of work that the CFP committee has stressed to date. The Bears lead the nation in offense, have only one loss to a formidable foe in Morgantown, but maybe most importantly, there appears to be an effort on the defensive side of the ball more so than some of the other offensive-minded teams out there.

Though nothing is given this college football season, you have to like the chances of Baylor getting by Oklahoma State and Texas Tech before all eyes turn to a showdown at home against Kansas State on December 6.