Big 12 Football: Baylor upsetting OU plunges conference into more chaos

The biggest news likely to come out of the Big 12 football conference this weekend came when second-year head coach Dave Aranda and the No. 13 ranked Baylor Bears pulled off the upset at home of head coach Lincoln Riley and the No. 8 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. In the morning/early afternoon of Nov. 13, the Big 12 landscape did get a major shakeup with Baylor handing a loss to what was the last remaining undefeated team in the conference.

A huge defensive effort from Aranda’s Bears saw them hold the Sooners to just 14 points. And it took a late touchdown from the Oklahoma offense to even crack double-digits in this game. Oklahoma was behind for much of this game but really started to fall behind in the second half when the Baylor offense got rolling.

You have to give credit to the breakthrough redshirt junior quarterback Gerry Bohanon, who was great in the second half for Baylor in this game. This wasn’t the biggest day through the air for Bohanon, but he surely did a ton of damage to the Oklahoma defense with his legs.

Through the air, Bohanon registered just 117 passing yards on 12 completions, good for one passing touchdown and one pick. But he also racked up a whopping 107 rushing yards on just nine attempts (11.9 yards per carry) and two rushing scores.

Bohanon’s legs were the real difference maker in this game for Aranda and the Bears. Baylor just completely outclassed the Sooners on the ground too.

Baylor racked up an impressive 296 rushing yards, more than six yards per carry, and two rushing scores. Meanwhile, Oklahoma only managed 78 rushing yards, fewer than three yards per carry, and two rushing scores in this game.

Big 12 football landscape gets major shakeup with Dave Aranda’s Baylor upsetting Oklahoma

Nothing was better through the air for the Sooners either. Riley tried his hand with both freshman quarterback Caleb Williams and sophomore Spencer Rattler. But neither worked out too well for the Sooners, who had no passing touchdowns and two interceptions as a team on this day.

All in all, the Big 12 is now really relying on the outcome of Bedlam in a few weeks to determine what the conference’s chances to have a representative in the College Football Playoff will be. Oklahoma will theoretically still be alive in the race to land a spot in the College Football Playoff if they beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys and win the Big 12 Championship Game.

But Oklahoma would have to get through the rest of the regular season and the conference title game unscathed likely to do so.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma State definitely still has a shot to make the Playoff if they win out and get the Big 12 crown. Yet, that would entail the Pokes beating the rival Sooners twice this fall. Considering the lack of success for Oklahoma State in Bedlam throughout that rivalry’s history, that doesn’t seem too realistic.

Oklahoma now has one loss on the season following this double-digit upset at the hands of Aranda’s Bears. Meanwhile, Baylor moves to a record of 8-2 (5-2 Big 12) on the season following this win over Oklahoma, which came by the final score of 27-14.