Oklahoma Sooners Football Faces 2013’s Toughest Test In Baylor Bears

The Oklahoma Sooners football team will see its biggest challenge of the 2013 campaign when they travel to Floyd Casey Stadium Thursday night for a Big 12 showdown with the No. 6-ranked Baylor Bears.

The 7-1 Sooners squad, which former Oklahoma footballer Brian Bosworth said has lost its bite, is No. 10 in the BCS standings and without hope for a national championship, with five undefeated teams—including Baylor—ahead of them in the rankings. But Oklahoma can do more than play spoiler to the Bears: a win over Baylor keeps the Sooners’ hopes of a Big 12 title alive.

Oklahoma heads into the game off a win against then-top-ten-ranked Texas Tech, while Baylor’s last outing was a 59-14 stomping of Kansas (who the Sooners beat handily as well). In Baylor, Oklahoma faces the highest-scoring offense in college football and the one ranked first in passing yards per game. But, in the Sooners, Baylor also faces its first ranked opponent of 2013 and the first Big 12 team anywhere near the title talk. This Oklahoma football team can show the Baylor Bears that running up the score against the MAC East-leading Buffalo isn’t the same as a two-score win over the likes of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

With the Big 12 title race likely to culminate in Week 15 of college football, the Oklahoma Sooners need a win against Baylor to stay relevant. In order to do so, the Sooners will rely on the revamped defensive front with three down linemen and five defensive backs, a move made specifically after getting burned by the spread in 2012. Oklahoma will need big games from sophomore defensive end Charles Tapper and senior defensive back Aaron Colvin. Tapper needs to get to QB Bryce Petty early and often and Colvin will have to contain dynamic Bears RB Lache Seastrunk.

Offensively, the Oklahoma Sooners will need to feed senior RBs Brennan Clay and Damien Williams the football and keep the stingy Baylor D-line guessing. Sooners junior QB Blake Bell needs to put his inconsistent season behind him and have a solid outing if his hopes of leading Oklahoma to a championship want to survive the week.

With Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State all facing each other in the final weeks, the Big 12 championship is still anyone’s to win. The Oklahoma Sooners can take the first steps to the title on Thursday night.