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.
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