Baylor is out of the College Football Playoff race, thanks to TCU

TCU has had a rough season, starting No. 13 in the preseason AP Poll and coming into Saturday’s game at No. 17 Baylor with a 4-4 record.

The Horned Frogs are feeling just fine right now, though, walking away with a 62-22 W and giving the Bears their second loss.

The Frogs looked like the better team for the whole afternoon, taking a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter and never looking back, except to stick their tongues out and wiggle their fingers in front of their noses. They didn’t do that, but could’ve.

TCU won by completely dominating on the ground. Kyle Hicks’ 192 yards and five touchdowns led a 431-yard rushing outburst, and QB Kenny Hill pitched a turnover-free 244 yards. Baylor’s offense produced all of 3 yards per rush, with a long of 14.

The Big 12’s poor performance in non-conference play and lack of a 13th game for its conference champion mean there’s no way a two-loss Big 12 team is getting in this year, and certainly not one that just lost by 40 points.

West Virginia, you’re the Big 12’s last hope. That’s amazing.

TCU-Baylor has been a long-simmering rivalry that’s exploded over the last few years. From last year:

No [officials] want to call it a rivalry. Never mind that it meets every requirement.

Proximity. A mere 90-mile stretch of Interstate 35 separates the campuses.

History. Baylor’s 61-58 comeback thriller over the Frogs in brand new McLane Stadium last October defines the spread offense era. That afternoon, which upended the plot of the entire season, gave the Bears a 52-51-7 lead in a rivalry dating back to 1899, when both private Christian schools were neighbors in Waco.

Stakes. In 2014, these teams combined to go 15-1 in the Big 12 and 10-0 vs. the states of Texas and Oklahoma, moving national attention away from traditional rivalries like the Sooners vs. Longhorns. Both then spent the offseason claiming Big 12 championships, with no “co-.” Entering 2015, the two rank in the AP Poll’s top four and split every first-place vote in the Big 12 media poll.

And most importantly, vitriol.

Saturday, some Baylor fans sported black shirts in support of “Coach Art Briles,” the head coach who was fired amidst a university-wide sexual assault scandal. (Other Baylor fans objected, and most Bears in the stands were wearing yellow or green.)

A new Wall Street Journal report, based on interviews with Baylor regents, finds that 17 women reported domestic violence or sexual assault incidents involving 19 football players since 2011, Briles’ fourth year at BU.

According to the report, regents said “Mr. Briles knew about an alleged incident and didn’t alert police, the school’s judicial-affairs staff or the Title IX office in charge of coordinating the school’s response to sexual violence.”