The meat of Baylor’s schedule
By Peter Smith
The Baylor Bears have dismantled every opponent they have come across this season and on both sides of the ball. They have put up at least 59 points on every opponent they have played so far with the exception of Kansas State and only West Virginia has put up more than 25 points against them. Baylor has been absolutely dominant to this point in the season, but their schedule gets extremely difficult over the last five weeks of the season and the Bears are not only going to have to prove they are legitimate but do it consistently week in and week out to stay undefeated and have a shot at the National Championship.
The Bears did a great job of scheduling this stretch. They have this week off to prepare for their Thursday matchup with Oklahoma in Waco. They then have 11 days to prepare for Texas Tech. They follow that up with back to back road trips to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State and then TCU in Fort Worth before they host Texas in the regular season finale.
Baylor has been outstanding this year and with the exception of Kansas State, they have not just beaten opponents, they have taken them apart and it was over quickly into the games. They are not going to suddenly be a mediocre team when they run into this stretch, but it is going to be difficult.
They put up a ton of points and try to make it so opponents have to keep up with them point for point while having a better defense than many expect. The offense is going to continue to put points, but the question will be how legitimate that defense has been this year. They have not played a lot of great offenses to this point. The tougher task is just hitting on all cylinders week in and week out against this type of schedule. The extra time to prepare for the Sooners and Red Raiders is invaluable and they may get through those pretty comfortably, but the games on the road against Oklahoma State and TCU will be tough to maintain that dominance. And when Texas comes to town, they are playing the role of spoiler. Baylor has the firepower to get it done, but it just makes for an extremely difficult stretch, but if they do it, they have not only earned the Big XII championship, but a really good shot at the National Title.