UCLA 26 - 49 Baylor (Final)

Nothing of interest happened in the second half, as the game was basically over at the break.  For that matter, the game appeared to be over at the kickoff, because UCLA seemed to have no interest in this game.  The Bruins' all-time record in UCFC competition falls to 37-21-7, and they still haven't won the title since 1993.

But let's give it up for Baylor!  The Bears were 4-5, and apparently going nowhere, when Kansas State came to Waco.  Baylor stunned Kansas State 52-24 to take the title, and have now defended the crown three times, beating Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and UCLA.  They finish the season 8-5, and get to take the Holiday Bowl trophy home with them.  They are also now 18-18-3 in UCFC competition.

We hope you've enjoyed another season of UCFC battles.  I certainly didn't think West Virginia and Baylor would hold the crown for most of the year, but that just shows that you should expect the unexpected.  Next season, the Baylor Bears -- our defending champion -- will open the season at home on September 7, 2013, when they will take on the University of Buffalo Bulls.  We plan to be there.

UCLA 10 - 35 Baylor (Halftime)

UCLA gets a last-second field goal from Ka'imi Fairbairn of Punahou H.S. in Honolulu, Hawaii (the President's alma mater!).  But this ends what has to be one of the most embarrassing halves of football UCLA has ever played in a bowl game.  This is the first time UCLA has ever played Baylor in football.  From what I've seen so far, the Bruins won't want to play Baylor again anytime soon.

UCLA 7 - 35 Baylor (1:58 left in 2d Quarter)

Well, it would appear that this page will be green and gold for a long time.  Baylor holds again.  Baylor  gets the ball close to mid-field.  Soon afterward, Lache Seastrunk of Temple H.S. in Temple, Tex. dashed 45 yards for Baylor's fifth touchdown of the half.

UCLA 7 - 28 Baylor (4:36 left in 2d Quarter)

Never mind.  Baylor takes the ball and goes straight down the field for another touchdown -- this one on a 26-yard run by Glasco Martin.  This game is actually not as close as the score would indicate.

UCLA 7 - 21 Baylor (6:21 left in 2d Quarter)

A huge sequence right there.  Baylor's defense had stopped UCLA again, and the Bears took over at their own 8 with a chance to really put the game away.  But they ended up fumbling the ball, and UCLA took over at the Baylor 21.  Two plays later, Brett Hundley of Chandler H.S. in Chandler, Ariz. threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Fauria of Notre Dame H.S. in Encino, Calif.  Suddenly, after looking absolutely hapless since the opening kickoff, the Bruins are back in the game.

UCLA 0 - 21 Baylor (11:08 left in 2d Quarter)

UCLA apparently never got over the disappointment of losing the Pac-12 championship, because they are simply not competitive in this game.  They haven't come very close to scoring, and they just gave up a 55-yard pass from Nick Florence to Tevin Reese of Temple H.S. in Temple, Tex.

I'm not surprised that Baylor is scoring so much -- that's what they do.  But I am surprised that UCLA has done so little on offense.

UCLA 0 - 14 Baylor (4:22 left in 1st Quarter)

Now Baylor is looking extremely comfortable.  They hold UCLA again, take over at their own 15, and go 85 yards with almost no difficulty.  The touchdown came on an 8-yard pass from Nick Florence of South Garland H.S. in Garland, Tex. to Antwan Goodley of Midland H.S. in Midland, Tex.  So far UCLA looks totally overmatched in this game.

UCLA 0 - 7 Baylor (8:01 left in 1st Quarter)

Well, this looks more like the Baylor we're used to seeing.  The Bears held UCLA, took over at midfield, and drove straight down the field for a touchdown.  Glasco Martin, of Stony Point H.S. in Round Rock, Tex., dashed in from four yards out for the score.

UCLA 0 - 0 Baylor (10:59 left in 1st Quarter)

Baylor took the opening kickoff and did not score.  That's a bad sign for the Bears.

UCLA 0 - 0 Baylor (15 minutes left in 1st Quarter)

And the final UCFC game of the year is under way!

Holiday Bowl: UCLA v. Baylor

Usually, by the end of the season, the team holding the UCFC is a conference champion.  In fact, the UCFC holder often plays for the national title.  But this year, Baylor had a record of 4-5 when it took the crown thanks to a stunning upset over Kansas State on November 17.  The Bears held on with hard-fought wins over Texas Tech (52-45) and Oklahoma State (41-34), meaning that they get to take the Big Gold Trophy out to San Diego for a Holiday Bowl match-up with UCLA.  As a result, 2013 will be the first year since 1996 with no UCFC game in January.

I have no idea who will win tonight.  Baylor lost five out of six games from late September to early November, but then won three in a row to finish off its season with a record of 7-5.  To some extent, the Bears simply had their luck even out -- a lot of their early losses could have been wins, and their last two wins could have been losses.  But their offense has been red-hot down the stretch, and they will expect to put a lot of points on the board.  As for UCLA, they are also hard to read.  First-year coach Jim Mora seemed to have things well in hand through 11 games -- the Bruins had a record of 9-2 and they beat USC 38-28.  But their season ended with back-to-back losses to Stanford (in the last game of the regular season and in the Pac-12 Championship).  On the other hand, the Holiday Bowl is right down the road from UCLA in San Diego, so the Bruins should have a good rooting section at tonight's game.

Putting it all together, Vegas has made UCLA a three-point favorite in a game where the over-under line is 82.  That would work out to something like a 42-39 Bruins victory, and that score does sound like the typical game we've seen from Baylor this year.

UCLA

On May 23, 1919 -- after years of fighting to overcome opposition from Northern California -- the people of Los Angeles were awarded a second campus in the University of California system, the first after Cal-Berkeley.  That fall, the University of California at Los Angeles played its first football season.  This makes the Bruins relatively young as college football programs go, but they have had a great amount of success in their history.  Their all-time record is 557-390-37, and they finished in the AP top 5 in 1946, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1965, 1966, 1975, 1982, and 1997.  Ever since the advent of color television, UCLA's powder-blue uniforms have been a glory of the sport.  Plus it is the alma mater of Jackie Robinson, who led UCLA in rushing as a senior before concentrating on baseball.  On the whole, it is a great and proud legacy.

UCLA has also played a huge role in the UCFC.  On September 29, 1939, the Bruins beat TCU 6-2 to end the Lone Star State's dominance of the UCFC and take the title to the Pacific Slope, where it stayed for the rest of the year.  Since then, the UCFC has spent a lot of time out on the Slope.  As a result, the Bruins have played in no less than 64 UCFC games.  The 1954 team, which came closer than any other UCLA team to winning the national title -- they finished 2d in the AP poll -- won the UCFC with a 41-0 victory over Oregon on November 6, and held it through the end of the season.  On January 1, 1976, the Bruins upset Ohio State 23-10 in the Rose Bowl, and held the title until they were beaten by USC on November 20th of that year.  On January 1, 1985, the Bruins won the title with a 39-37 victory over Miami of Florida in the Fiesta Bowl, and then kept the title for much of the 1985 season -- before losing again to USC at the end of the year.  UCLA last held the title in 1993, when they beat Washington on October 16 and defended the crown three times before losing to Arizona State 9-3.  Since then, they have had only three shots at the title, and lost all three.  Their last UCFC game was on December 3, 2005, when USC crushed them 66-19.  But now they will have another chance.

Wrap Up: 2012 Week 14

Baylor defended the TUCFC in their final regular season game beating Oklahoma State 41-34. Now Baylor will go to the Holiday bowl where they will play UCLA. This could mean a move of the TUCFC into the Pac 12 and will be a bowl to watch.

The big story of course in college football is Northern Illinois. Their inclusion in a BCS bowl has created ripples throughout the bowls. The biggest loser may be Louisiana Tech who is not in a bowl. At one point they were ranked in the top 25 and finished the season with a 9-3 record. But they were holding out to see which bowls would be available to them and got left with no bowl invitation after the Northern Illinois selection created a ripple effect that pushed Louisiana Tech out of two of the bowls they were targeting and the one where they had a standing offer closed as the bowl made their decision while Louisiana Tech was asking for more time. It is crazy to think that they got left out of the bowls.

As expected Notre Dame will face Alabama in the BCS championship game. To me the biggest loser here at the end of the season is Stanford. They played Notre Dame very close during the season and then had a bad loss to Washington. After that they started a new quarterback and have been a much better offensive team since.  They went to Oregon and beat them, then capped it off by winning the Pac 12. Still in the BCS rankings they are only ranked 6th, mostly because of bad rankings from the human voters. I don't understand why as a human voter you would rank Oregon ahead of Stanford when they beat them at Oregon.

Normally at this time of year I begin my 32 team NCAA football tournament, but I'm not going to this year. I'm beginning to believe that we will eventually work our way into a 16 team tournament. Though a 32 team tournament would come closer to matching the number of bowl games, it would require teams to only play a 10 game regular season and I don't think that will happen. A 16 team tournament would fit with an 11 game regular season and I do believe that is possible. That would mean the most games any team would play would be 15 a number we will be at next year when they begin the four team tournament.

So what would a 16 team tournament look like. Well it would look something like this based on the BCS final standings.

Group A
1. Notre Dame vs. 4. Nebraska
2. LSU vs. 3. Oklahoma

Group B
1. Oregon vs. 4. Clemson
2. Kansas State vs. 3. South Carolina

Group C
1. Alabama vs. 4. Northern Illinois
2. Georgia vs. 3. Florida State

Group D
1. Florida vs. 4. Oregon State
2. Stanford vs. 3. Texas A&M



TUCFC Power Ratings
Since it's the end of the regular season I give you the top 20.  Stanford made the biggest move up with their win over UCLA to take the Pac 12 title.  Truth is I actually think that Stanford is the best team in the country and as I said earlier, feel they got a bad wrap here at the end of the season.

Rank	Team	Record	WP	WDiffP	LP	LDiffP	Power
1	Notre Dame	12-0	1,652.219	1,187.163	0.000	0.000	2,839.381
2	Stanford	11-2	1,787.250	1,202.325	94.250	251.313	2,644.012
3	Oregon	11-1	1,328.594	1,125.588	18.406	53.313	2,382.463
4	Florida	11-1	1,340.906	1,072.425	9.188	39.125	2,365.019
5	Alabama	12-1	1,198.813	1,124.800	9.969	21.188	2,292.456
6	Kansas State	11-1	1,340.844	1,119.513	91.469	286.563	2,082.325
7	Ohio State	12-0	1,179.438	852.150	0.000	0.000	2,031.588
8	Oklahoma	10-2	1,107.813	931.838	29.906	99.563	1,910.181
9	Louisiana State	10-2	986.750	808.875	12.969	34.313	1,748.344
10	Georgia	11-2	907.438	872.850	15.719	70.438	1,694.131
11	Texas A&M	10-2	856.844	858.625	14.906	35.313	1,665.250
12	South Carolina	10-2	874.438	785.400	13.906	62.313	1,583.619
13	Nebraska	10-3	1,100.563	794.125	134.594	332.250	1,427.844
14	Oregon State	9-3	1,003.250	789.238	120.000	337.063	1,335.425
15	Clemson	10-2	703.469	648.100	42.156	123.938	1,185.475
16	Florida State	11-2	770.094	803.838	117.906	278.688	1,177.338
17	Michigan	8-4	595.594	533.200	45.063	146.500	937.231
18	UCLA	9-4	965.719	728.075	204.375	567.875	921.544
19	San Jose State	10-2	519.594	546.275	53.750	117.313	894.806
20	Northern Illinois	12-1	552.844	613.325	149.781	319.063	697.325

Baylor 41 - 34 Oklahoma St. (Final)

But the Bears smother the onside kick -- and hold onto the ball, despite a desperate effort from OK State.  They run out the clock and KEEP THE UCFC FOR THE THIRD WEEK IN A ROW.  It's their second upset win in three weeks.  Their all-time record in UCFC play is now 17-18-3.  We will now wait to see which bowl will invite the Bears, and who their opponent will be in the final UCFC match-up of 2012.

Oklahoma State suffers its second UCFC loss of the year, and the Cowboys' all-time record in UCFC competition falls to 2-10.  They will hope that Baylor will bring the title back to the Big XII next year.

Baylor 41 - 34 Oklahoma St. (1:16 left in 4th Quarter)

Hold the phone.  OK State scores on an 18-yard pass from Clint Chelf to David Glidden of Mustang H.S. in Mustang, Okla.  The Cowboys will now have to go for the onside kick.

Baylor 41 - 27 Oklahoma St. (5:11 left in 4th Quarter)

Well, the OK-State defense couldn't hold.  Lache Seastrunk of Temple H.S. in Temple, Tex. bursts through the middle on Baylor's first play and goes 76 yards for a touchdown.  The run was the more impressive because Seastrunk appeared to pull a muscle with about 20 yards to go, and somehow managed to hang on and stagger into the end zone anyway.

So Baylor, which was 4-5 just a few weeks ago -- and facing a game against the number 2 team in the nation -- is going to finish with a 7-5 record and the UCFC.  That's pretty impressive.

Baylor 34 - 27 Oklahoma St. (5:30 left in 4th Quarter)

After trailing by double-digits for most of the day, OK State has just closed to within a touchdown on a four-yard run by J.W. Walsh.  The Cowboys have actually played good defense in the second half, and if they can hold Baylor, they will have a chance to tie.

Baylor 34 - 20 Oklahoma St. (5:30 left in 3d Quarter)

So far, this half has only seen a pair of field goals.  The folks who bet the over (88 points) are starting to get nervous.

Baylor 31 - 17 Oklahoma St. (Halftime)

Baylor ends the first half scoring with a 3-yard run by Nick Florence, and the Bears take a 14-point lead into the break.

Baylor 24 - 17 Oklahoma St. (6:50 left in 2d Quarter)

Baylor started on the usual drive, but lost the ball on a fumble at about the OSU 30.  The Cowboys, of course, then zipped right down for another score -- this one coming on a 15-yard pass from Clint Chelf of Enid H.S. in Enid, Okla. to Josh Stewart of Guyer H.S. in Denton, Tex.

Baylor 24 - 10 Oklahoma St. (11:23 left in 2d Quarter)

Back in the 1970's, they used to say that you should only tune in for the last three minutes of an NBA game, and I'm starting to think that's true for Big XII football as well.  OK State takes the kickoff, zips down the field, and scores on a 1-yard run by J.W. Walsh of Guyer H.S. in Denton, Tex.

Baylor 24 - 3 Oklahoma St. (14:31 left in 2d Quarter)

Baylor has really picked up where they left off last week.  They stop OK State again, take over at their own 25 -- and immediately score on a pass from Nick Florence of South Garland H.S. in Garland, Tex. to Tevin Reese of Temple H.S. in Temple, Tex.  Seventy-five yards in one play, and the Bears have a 21-point lead.

Baylor 17 - 3 Oklahoma St. (20 seconds left in 1st Quarter)

OSU couldn't score, and punted to the Baylor 3.  Of course, punting is usually a waste of time in Big XII football, and the Bears just drove 97 yards for another touchdown -- this one topped off by a short run by Glasco Martin of Stony Point H.S. in Round Rock, Tex.

Baylor 10 - 3 Oklahoma St. (7:50 left in 1st Quarter)

Give it up for Eddie Lackey of Vista Murrieta H.S. in Murrieta, Calif.  This Baylor linebacker appears to be the only guy in the Big XII who really plays defense.  Last week, he had three takeaways against Texas Tech.  Today, he intercepts a pass at the Baylor 26 and runs untouched into the end zone to put Baylor on top.  Those folks who took the over, and who were nervous about the field goals on the opening drives, will be happy with this development.

Baylor 3 - 3 Oklahoma St. (8:05 left in 1st Quarter)

Baylor kicker Aaron Jones of Crowley H.S. in Crowley, Tex. had a rough game last week, but today he boots a 39-yard field goal to bring the Bears into a tie.

Baylor 0 - 3 Oklahoma St. (9:08 left in 1st Quarter)

On SportsCenter, they said that the over-under line for this game -- 88 points -- was the highest for any college football game ever, and the scoring has already started.  OK State takes the opening kick, drives down the field, and Quinn Sharp of Summit H.S. in Mansfield, Tex. kicks a field goal to put the Pokes into the early lead.

Baylor v. Oklahoma St.

The last UCFC battle of the 2012 regular season features our current holders, the Baylor Bears, defending their title at home against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  We saw the Cowboys a few weeks ago, when they were beaten by then-holders Kansas State.  With one week left in the season, here are the Big XII Standings:

Kansas St.  7-1, 10-1
Oklahoma  7-1, 9-2
Texas  5-3, 8-3
Oklahoma St.  5-3, 7-4
Texas Christian  4-4, 7-4
Texas Tech  4-5, 7-5
W. Virginia  3-5, 6-5
Baylor  3-5, 6-5
Iowa St  3-6, 6-6
Kansas  0-8, 1-10

So the winner of this game, whoever it is, will be defending the title in a non-BCS bowl.  Which bowl they will attend is still up for grabs.  Over on ESPN, they think Oklahoma State is going to the Alamo Bowl to play UCLA or Oregon State, while they think Baylor could be headed for the Pinstripe Bowl (to play Syracuse) or the Texas Bowl (to play Purdue).  It makes a huge difference, of course, because the bowl matchup will determine which conference has the chance to take the UCFC away from the Big XII.

But in the meantime, we're still waiting to see which team will defend the Big XII's honor.  Oklahoma State has had a good season, with the caveat -- usual in the Big XII these days -- that they play no defense.  They lost to Arizona 59-38, Texas 41-36, K-State 44-30, and Oklahoma 51-48 (in OT).  But they've won everything else, and they have scored a ton of points.  The Cowboys also lead the all-time series with Baylor 18-12, and they won the only UCFC meeting between the two:  a 34-6 victory on October 18, 2008.  (The Cowboys lost the title to Texas the next week, and they are 2-9 in UCFC games all-time).

Week after week, as Big XII games have looked more like video games than traditional football, Vegas has raised the over-under lines.  This week, Vegas expects Oklahoma State to win by 4 1/2 points in a game where the teams are expected to score 88 points.  That would work out to something like a 47-42 win for the Cowboys, and I have to admit that sounds like a Big XII score.