No. 6 Baylor came into its matchup against No. 10 Oklahoma with the top rated offense in the FBS, and one of the best in college football history. The game was meant to be a test of Baylor’s legitimacy on offense and whether it would hold up against elite competition.

After seven games without a true test on the gridiron, the Baylor Bears were supposed to be challenged by the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners, the first ranked opponent for Baylor this season. The No. 6 Bears answered the call and more by thumping Oklahoma 41-12 in front of 50,537 fans decked out in black at Floyd Casey Stadium on Thursday night.

“[The blackout crowd] was something I hadn’t seen before,” Baylor head coach Art Briles said. “It was very emotional and very humbling at the same time. When you’ve got support, you can get things going a little bit. It certainly made a difference in the football game.”

The only thing standing in the way of a Big 12 Conference Final appearance is a game against regular season champions No. 1 seed West Virginia in the semi-finals of the Big 12 Tournament. The game will take place at 5:30 p.m. today at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City.

No. 5 seed Baylor is riding a three-game winning streak and hopes to carry this momentum to take down the Big 12 powerhouse, but defeating West Virginia is no small feat.

TCU (3-6, 1-5) at Iowa State (1-7, 0-5)

Texas Christian has struggled mightily after coming into the season ranked in the top 20. The Horned Frogs are on a three-game losing streak, and have lost four of their last five and six of their last eight. TCU is coming off a tough overtime loss against West Virginia in Fort Worth, where their offense managed only 60 yards of rushing. Senior quarterback Casey Pachall has entered back into the offense, but the Horned Frogs still have one of the worst offenses in football. The defense has been solid, but a defense can only do so much when an offense averages only 23.4 points per game.

By Daniel Hill Sports Editor The No. 6 Baylor Bears led the No. 10…

If there is a word that has been thrown around with Baylor football, it’s history. The Bears are ranked top five in the Associated Press poll for the second time in history and the first time since 1953. The Bears are ranked No. 6 in the BCS standings, the highest the program has been in the 16-year history of the BCS. Baylor is the highest ranked team in the Big 12. The Bears are 4-0 in conference play for the first time in Big 12 history.

With the wind of that success behind its back, Baylor (7-0, 4-0) looks forward to challenging traditional Big 12 power No. 10 Oklahoma (7-1, 3-1) today at Floyd Casey Stadium.

23 seconds made all the difference in the previous matchup between No. 4 Iowa State (9-9-2) and No. 5 Baylor (11-5-3), but not this time as Baylor came away with a 1-0 win on Wednesday at Swope Soccer Village in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship.

By Parmida Schahhosseini Sports Writer With the sweet smell of barbecue filling the air…