Football: Big 12 Championship Game Matchup and Prediction

The Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Baylor Bears will play in the Big 12 Championship game this Saturday.

© Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports

Rankings are Associated Press. Game time in Central Time Zone.

#9 Baylor Bears (10-2, 7-2) vs #5 Oklahoma State Cowboys (11-1, 8-1)

 Saturday December 4th 11:00 a.m. ABC. AT&T Stadium Arlington, Texas.

For the first time since the Big 12 brought back the Conference Championship game after the Big 12 missed out on the inaugural College Football Playoffs because of the lack of one, the Oklahoma Sooners are not one of the participants. Their instate rivals, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, ensured OU would miss out on the new Big 12 title game for the first time by beating them in a Bedlam thriller in Stillwater last week 37-33.

SCENES FROM STILLWATER

Oklahoma State wins Bedlam for the first time since 2014 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qqOgcaCSmL

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 28, 2021

With Baylor needing Oklahoma State to beat Oklahoma to get into the Big 12 Championship game, they are grateful but not overly impressed. After all it, was the Bears that beat the Sooners earlier in the year to knock them from the ranks of the undefeated and set up a winning tie breaker scenario with the head-to-head victory over the Sooners.

Matt Rhule lead Baylor to their first Big 12 Conference Championship game in 2019. The #6 Sooners took down the #7 Bears 30-23 in overtime.

After the departure of the University of Colorado to the Pac 12, the University of Nebraska to the Big 10, and the University of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, the Big 12 Conference Championship game went on hiatus as the league moved to a round robin schedule. However, "One True Champion" backfired in the first year of the Big 12 Round Robin with no Championship Game setup as TCU and Baylor tied for first and were named "Co-Champions", with no 13th data point or true conference title. Ohio State would jump from 6 to 3 after Championship weekend, still the lowest ranked team before the teams were selected to be invited to the invitational to get in. Which conversely means that TCU at #3 is still the highest ranked team the week before the invites went out to be left out for reasons other than losing. Thus, the return of the Big 12 Championship Game.

This will be Oklahoma State's first Big 12 Championship game appearance since joining the conference during its formation in 1996. If they are able to beat Baylor this Saturday [FuboTV 11:00 ABC], they could be in line for their first College Football Playoff appearance as well. 

Oklahoma State defeated Baylor 24-14 during Week 5 of the regular season in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys won the Big 12 regular season outright and will be the home team during the Big 12 Championship Game. 

Pick: Oklahoma State 

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