~@#STREAMS/NCAA**Baylor vs. Oklahoma: How To Watch Big 12 Championship TITLE GAME, TV Channel, Live Stream Free AND Odds
Baylor vs. Oklahoma Big 12 Championship Saturday greetings, Sooner Nation! With another wild regular season in the books, the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners look for a fifth-straight Big 12 Championship and a third-consecutive College Football Playoff berth with a win over the No. 7 Baylor Bears this morning in Jerry World.
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Baylor vs. Oklahoma: Prediction, pick, odds, line, point spread, football game, kickoff time, preview
The Big 12 Championship Game is a rematch of a thriller from mid-November
Just three weeks removed from the biggest comeback win in school history down in Waco, Oklahoma hopes this rematch against the Bears yields less turnovers and an easier win than the first matchup. Following No. 13 Oregon’s defeat of No. 5 Utah last night, the hopes of a playoff berth hang in the balance for not just OU but both one-loss Big 12 teams heading into Championship Saturday.
Head on down to the comments section for the game thread, where we’ll be asking questions, making predictions and discussing the day’s action with y’all.
OKLAHOMA VS. BAYLOR: WHERE TO WATCH BIG 12 TITLE GAME, TV CHANNEL, LIVE STREAM AND ODDS
Oklahoma and Baylor collide in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday, just two weeks after the Sooners needed the largest comeback in school history to defeat their conference rivals.
It's time to run back arguably the wildest comeback of the year. No. 6 Oklahoma will take on No. 7 Baylor for the Big 12 Conference Championship on Saturday in Arlington just weeks after the Sooners came back from a 25-point deficit.
Now, the Bears are looking for revenge at the most opportune time. Both teams are in the thick of the College Football Playoff race. While they both sit behind No. 5 Utah, which will play its conference championship game on Friday night, the winner of Saturday's game could possibly jump the Utes. Whether that matters or not may depend on how the SEC Championship Game unfolds. But, those are scenarios best left to discuss for after the weekend.
So who wins this rematch in the Lone Star State? Let's take a closer look at the storylines heading into the game and make some picks both straight up and against the spread.
Storylines
Oklahoma: The narrative that Oklahoma can't be helped by its defense has been outdated for a minute. Alex Grinch's takeover of the defense has produced noticeably improved results. It hasn't always been perfect (see: 48-41 loss to Kansas State) but it has bailed out the Sooners more often than not. In fact, Oklahoma has the top defense in the Big 12 in yards allowed per game and has allowed nearly 10 fewer points per game from last year. Oklahoma played a perfect second half of defense against Baylor the first go around, can it put together a better overall effort this time?
Baylor: To be frank, Baylor has been lucky this year. Six games have been decided by one possession and the Bears are 5-1 in such games. And in that one loss, you could surmise that Baylor was unlucky. Even one more second-half stop against Oklahoma probably would have resulted in a win. That's not to say Baylor hasn't earned the right to be in this position -- it has -- but it also provides some context for what can be the difference between 11-1 and, say, 8-4. The point being, Baylor's lived a charmed life because it's been able to finish close games. Will Baylor's defense, No. 13 in the country in points allowed per game, be able to slow down Oklahoma's offense for a second time? Even though the Sooners came out on top in the first meeting, it needed to run 95 plays to win at about 5.5 yards per play. Absolutely nothing was given up easily.
Viewing information
Date: Saturday, Dec. 7 | Time: Noon ET
Location: AT&T Stadium -- Arlington, Texas
TV: ABC | Live stream: WatchESPN.com
Game prediction, picks
I'll go ahead and put myself on the record. I'm going with Baylor straight up. You might want to #FadeBen and go a different route for the result, but at the very least, the Bears should be able to cover the 8.5 points Vegas has on the Sooners. The defense is just too good and I don't think the fast track in Arlington gives Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts that much more of an advantage. He's a powerful runner, but if Baylor can get to him early, he's neutralized. Pick: Baylor (+8.5)
Down 31-10 at halftime in Waco, Texas, Oklahoma scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to win 34-31 and keep its season alive, while ending the Bears' nine-game undefeated run.
Both teams arrive into Saturday's game in Arlington, Texas, with an 11-1 record after Baylor thumped Kansas 61-6 and Oklahoma defeated then-No. 21 Oklahoma State University 34-16 on the road.
The wins kept both programs in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot, with the Sooners rising one spot to No. 6 and the Bears climbing up two spots to No. 9, as the below graphic provided by Statista shows.
With Ohio State, LSU and Clemson having locked in the top three playoff spots, the final berth will fall to one between No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Utah, Oklahoma or Baylor.
The quartet have identical 11-1 records and are all involved in conference title games this weekend, with Utah taking on No. 13 Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game, while Georgia faces No. 2 LSU in the SEC decider.
Coverage Info
TV: ABC 11:00 A.M. CT
Live Stream: WatchESPN
TV Commentary: Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
Radio: OU Radio / TuneIn / SXM 200 / Español
Big 12 Championship Game preview, storylines & predictions
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The College Football Playoff debate between Oklahoma (or Baylor) and Utah
Joel Klatt breaks down the College Football Playoff debate
Hot Links: Hurts a Manning Award finalist, OU commit aims for a record
Lincoln Riley Presser Notes: OU strives for fifth straight Big 12 Championship
Sooners move up to No. 6 in CFP rankings heading into Big 12 title game
ICYMI, here’s the latest episode of Oklahoma Breakdown Podcast: Bedlam win, Big 12 Championship, CFP rankings and more!
Prediction
Thank you, Oregon! We’ve still yet to forgive you for 2006 but let’s let bygones be bygones, for now. After the two-loss Ducks’ dispatching of the fifth-ranked Utes on Friday night in the Pac-12 Championship Game, the College Football Playoff’s No. 4 spot is the eventual Big 12 champion’s to lose, provided the top three teams in the nation take care of business today.
In OU’s first matchup against Baylor, Jalen Hurts’s three-straight turnovers resulted in the motivated and explosive Bears building a 25-point second-quarter lead in Waco. Then, Hurts and the Sooners offense woke up, on the heels of Alex Grinch’s defense making the biggest statement of the year — a second-half shutout of then-undefeated Baylor — to propel Oklahoma to an historic 34-31 comeback win.
That miraculous turnaround could come to define a special season for the Sooners. Hurts played his best game of the season last week in Stillwater, leading OU to a fifth-straight win over their in-state rivals while failing to cough up the ball once in a crucial conference battle.
I expect the experienced playcaller to do the same today in this rematch against Baylor. A steady dose of the run game and mindful clock management, along with zero turnovers from Hurts on offense, will mean trouble for Baylor. Kennedy Brooks and Rhamondre Stevenson will rumble downfield all game long, while Hurts’s dual-threat skill set, coupled with a healthy CeeDee Lamb, will make this offense appear unstoppable most of the day against the overmatched Bears.
With nothing to lose and a CFP spot on the line, expect Baylor to keep this thing close for awhile. The Sooners’ talent and experience will ultimately prevail, however, in a hard-fought, intense conference championship game.
OU goes back and forth with Baylor in the first half, makes a couple of huge stops in the second to preserve the lead for a big win in Dallas and a fifth-consecutive conference crown. A spot in the College Football Playoff comes next.
Score: OU 35, Baylor 24
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