The Big 12 has designed November to be a round-robin of its best teams, starting with TCU-Oklahoma State last week. This week, Oklahoma-Baylor takes the main stage, with ESPN’s College GameDay in Waco and a potential spot in the College Football Playoff on the line.
Oklahoma vs. Baylor 2015 live stream: How to watch the Big 12 showdown online
This is the big Big 12 battle of the weekend.
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
For Baylor, this is an opportunity to actually play someone. The Bears have been criticized for their strength of schedule, and rightfully so. They haven’t played a single team so far with a winning record, which is apparently now a metric used by the Playoff selection committee. Also complicating things is the fact that quarterback Seth Russell is out for the season. True freshman Jarrett Stidham looked fine against Kansas State, but the Bears still almost lost to the Wildcats.
Oklahoma presents by far the toughest test Baylor has seen this season. The Sooners inexplicably lost to Texas, but they have a quality win at Tennessee, and the offense has taken off under quarterback Baker Mayfield. All eyes coming into November were focused on the three undefeated teams, TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma State (only the latter two are still undefeated), but Oklahoma could be the best of the lot. If the offense continues to roll and the defense shores up its consistency, the Sooners will have an argument for the College Football Playoff.
How to watch, stream and listen
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ABC
Online streaming: WatchESPN
Spread: Baylor is favored by three points.
Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at Crimson And Cream Machine for Oklahoma fans and Our Daily Bears for Baylor fans.
Three big things to know
1. This game is ultimately for the chance to keep playing for a College Football Playoff spot. Maybe Baylor could lose this game and still make it, but that’s unlikely. Oklahoma absolutely has to win this game to stay in contention.
2. This is Stidham’s first go-round in a big game. He did fine against Kansas State. Can he keep it up against Oklahoma?
3. Mayfield should have a strong game. The real question for Oklahoma is the defense. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s very bad. It will need to be great against Baylor.
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