By Michael Knight | Contributor
The Baylor Bears are rolling on the football field, starting off the year 9-0 for the second time in the history of the school. The 2013 team was the only other one to do so.
Baylor football was still disrespected a bit by the College Football Playoff (CFP) committee last Tuesday when the first rankings came out. They were put at No. 12 in the nation despite having impressive wins by the normal standards.
Two teams with multiple losses, Florida and Auburn, ranked above the Bears in the CFP standings. Four teams with one loss, including conference opponent Oklahoma, were also above Baylor.
Two other conference opponents were ranked in the top 25 of the CFP rankings. Oklahoma State is at No. 23. Kansas State is also up there at No. 16.
Baylor easily handled both of those teams in their home stadiums, especially Kansas State. That’s the main reason why I believe that the Bears deserved to be higher ranked than they are. They have two high quality road wins and have yet to lose (despite there being some close calls).
Oklahoma, who is ranked at No. 9 still, lost a couple of weeks ago against the same Kansas State team that Baylor blew out. Whether Oklahoma State or Kansas State actually deserve to be valued this highly is another discussion, but since they are, Baylor’s No. 12 ranking is too low.
So why is Baylor likely that low? They have had an issue showing up at times for the lower tier games. Close games, against teams like Rice, Texas Tech and West Virginia, are hurting the Bears and is a reason why many people are not taking them seriously.
Another low-tier game happened again this past weekend when Baylor faced rival TCU. The Bears didn’t look great, but still fought and clawed their way to a triple-overtime victory over the Horned Frogs — a team that really isn’t very good.
It will be interesting to see where the committee ranks Baylor Tuesday. They are one of the few unbeaten teams left in the nation, with two more going down last Saturday.
Baylor loses some credibility as well, as Kansas State will likely fall out of the rankings after losing to Texas. Oklahoma State had a bye last week, so they will still probably be in there. We could still potentially see the Bears crack the top-10.
This is really cool to see as a senior who has been here for some mediocrity. Baylor has had some rough seasons recently, but a Matt Rhule-led revitalization has been a huge success as the team will at the very least have a decent bowl game this year.
Next up is the biggest game of the season and the biggest game that Baylor has had in quite some time. Oklahoma is coming into town Saturday, and the top two teams in the Big 12 will battle it out in a prime-time 6:30 p.m. game. College Gameday will be coming as well. Be there and be loud!
