Big 12 Football: Predicting Every 2016 Bowl Game
How could the Big 12 bowl games go down over the next three weeks?
The college football regular season recently ended, but that brings us to the annual set of bowl games. This will see six Big 12 teams with a matchup: Baylor, West Virginia, TCU, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Oklahoma. Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Iowa State are on the outside looking in due to not reaching six wins.
Since the Longhorns aren’t in the bowl season, we’re going to take a look at every game featuring a Big 12 team. How many of these schools stand a chance at winning? There are teams like Baylor that have struggled mightily and Oklahoma, who have looked dominant after starting the season slow. How will they fare this winter?
Take a look below as we begin predicting every Big 12 team’s bowl game in 2016.
Motel 6 Cactus Bowl – Dec. 27
Baylor vs. Boise State
On Tuesday, December 27, Baylor and Boise State will go to battle in the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl. Each team had a fair amount of success in the 2016 season, but only one of them could sustain this.
After starting the season 6-0, Baylor lost their last six games to finish 6-6 and barely got their way into the bowl season. They were defeated in all but two Big 12 Conference games, and lost to the likes of Texas, Oklahoma, and West Virginia to build up the losses at the end of the season. Despite having new head coach Matt Rhule coming in, this team has no momentum in the last game of the Jim Grobe era.
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Boise State Started the year 7-0, but eventually dropped two games, which took them out of the College Football Playoff rankings. Given their placement in the Group of Five’s Mountain West Conference, it’s not a huge surprise that a 10-2 record couldn’t keep them in the rankings. However, they still have quality players like quarterback Brett Rypien and running back Jeremy McNichols, both of whom had terrific years for the Broncos.
Baylor will be without their own quarterback, Seth Russell as he went down with an injury in the fourth-to-last game of the season. This led to freshman Zach Smith taking over and providing some inconsistent results, including not being able to have a completion percentage above 50 against the two ranked opponents he faced (Oklahoma, West Virginia).
It has been a struggle for Baylor, and things probably won’t be too different in the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl. This won’t be a blowout, but the shaky Bear rush defense won’t be able to handle McNichols.