WACO, Texas -- Spencer Drango was standing on the Baylor sideline during his redshirt season four years ago when the Bears finally beat Oklahoma for the first time.
"We were going nuts. It kind of solidified and just kind of spoke that we can beat them," said Drango, now a senior All-America left tackle. "And if we can beat them, we can beat anyone. ... They were the powerhouse back in the day. Now it's shifted a little bit."
Now the sixth-ranked Bears (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) are trying to become the first team ever to beat a Bob Stoops-coached Oklahoma team three consecutive times and join the Sooners as the only teams to win three Big 12 titles in a row.
But the No. 12 Sooners (8-1, 5-1) have a four-game winning streak since losing their last game south of the Red River, scoring at least 50 points every week since that 24-17 loss to the Longhorns at the State Fair of Texas.
Win out in this regular season-ending stretch against Baylor, No. 15 TCU and No. 8 Oklahoma State, and the Sooners will claim their first Big 12 title since 2012. That would end their longest conference title drought in Stoops' 17 seasons, and put them in position for a possible playoff spot.
"I'm just worried about one big game. That's right now. That's how it's been for the last -- every week," Stoops said. "The way we've been playing, you have to feel confident."
Former Texas Tech walk-on Baker Mayfield, a junior in his first season as Oklahoma's quarterback, has thrown for 2,812 yards with 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He has at least three TDs in seven games. Baylor true freshman Jarrett Stidham threw for 419 yards and three TDs last week in a victory at Kansas State, his first start replacing injured Seth Russell.
Oklahoma has outscored its last four opponents by an average margin of 45.5 points and outgained them by 364 total yards. Baylor is the nation's top offense with 665.6 yards and 57 points a game, though the Bears over their past four games have won only by an average margin of 27 points.
For all the critics of the Bears' weak schedule so far, they have the same remaining games as Oklahoma. They play at Oklahoma State and TCU, plus their regular season home finale against Texas.
"You don't have big games unless you take care of games prior to big games," Baylor Coach Art Briles said. "So fortunately our team, I think, has been fairly consistent throughout the season with their play, with their attitude and with our results, which leads into big games."
Baylor is 8-0 at home against Top 25 teams since the start of the 2011 season, including two victories over Oklahoma. The Sooners won the first 20 meetings in the series until a game-winning pass by Robert Griffin III in the 2011 game that pretty much clinched the quarterback the Heisman Trophy. The Bears have won three of the last four meetings.
Baylor passing game coordinator Jeff Lebby will not be in the pressbox for the first half. He is serving a one-half suspension for being on the sideline during an Oklahoma game earlier this season when the Bears were off and he was in Oklahoma for a wedding. The Big 12 issued a public reprimand and accepted the school's self-imposed penalty.
Sports on 11/14/2015