Why Baylor’s dominance might hurt it in the end

Photo Attribution: USATSI

It initially sounds quite silly. To say Baylor’s utter destruction of the collective college football world will, in the end, befall it.

But hear me out.

Baylor hasn’t played a game closer than 10 points this season. They faced some “adversity” on the road when Kansas State led 25-21 going to the 4th quarter. That ended quickly when Petty hit Tevin Reese for 54 yards and six points. Baylor hasn’t trailed in a 4th quarter since.

That’s 135 fourth-quarter minutes, 134:33 of which it has led.

Nobody has taken them deep into the fourth quarter this season, much less on the road in the freezing cold with the Big 12 title on the line and 60,000 maniacal fans berating its poor kicker.

Just take a look at these scores:

That’s great — it might be the best offense ever — but I’m interested to see how they respond if OSU leads with 10 minutes left. Or five minutes left. It’s easy to jump around on the sidelines and all that mess when you’re up 25 on OU in the third but what are you giving me when you need 85 yards in the shadows of Gallagher-Iba late in the fourth?

And its poor kicker, what will he do if he has to hit a 45-yarder for the win? Will they have to clear the sidelines after the dump he takes in the kickers net?

Of course, OSU has to get Baylor there first. And that could be the problem.

Here’s a look at OSU’s scores this season:

The Kansas State game will come in handy, although 4 was at the helm then, not 10.

More importantly, this team — most of this team, anyway — has been here before. I think it knows what it takes and it seems like that should matter in a big game.

If Gundy and Yurcich can smoke and mirrors their way to a 7-point or 10-point lead, I think 60K can close.

The problem?

Baylor might be too good to let that happen.