As the 2013-2014 college football season approaches the final stretch, multiple marquee match-ups promise to entertain fans across the country while also giving a glimpse as to who the nation's best teams truly are. With the Alabama Crimson Tide currently holding onto the top spot in the BCS rankings, teams like the No. 2 Florida State Seminoles, No. 3 Oregon Ducks and No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes continue to plow through their schedules while holding hope that they'll be the team with a chance to end Alabama's run of two-consecutive National Championships. While the aforementioned squads are just a handful of teams capable of playing for the title this season, a major Week 11 showdown between two of the top teams in the Big 12 will also have an impact on the BCS rankings.
Set to meet at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas, the No. 6 ranked Baylor Bears and No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners will jumpstart and action packed week of college football with a Thursday night showdown. The Sooners took a close 42-34 contest last season in Norman, Oklahoma and as they prepare to take on the undefeated Bears, OU hopes they're able to slow a Baylor offense that ranks first in passing yards and seventh in rushing yards. Sooners head coach Bob Stoops hopes his team is able to use what they learned in a recent defeat of high-scoring Texas Tech when they take on the sixth ranked Bears.
"We just saw it with Tech and Baylor is also a part of that, you know, on and on," Stoops said of the multiple defensive looks his team was able to use to slow down Tech. "We felt it gave us more versatility. It played to our strengths better and it put more speed on the field. Hopefully, it will continue to help us. You can only do so much, in that, when they line two guys up all the way out there, you've got to go out and cover them, so there's only so many left. At the end of the day, there's only so much you can do. You have to be able to play. You've got to be able to cover them out there and you've got to be able to stop the run game with what's left in here."
Playing to a perfect 7-0 record that also includes an unblemished 4-0 mark in the Big 12, Baylor and head coach Art Briles know that their success on both sides of the football has opponents understanding that the Baylor Bears are for real and they should be viewed as a legitimate threat.
"I certainly think that people view us as a legitimate threat," Briles said. "Whether we're viewed as the perennial program that this is one that you better watch out for all the time, I don't know. Time will tell on that. But I do think now that we've earned enough respect where when people look at us, they're thinking that's a tough out."
Oklahoma Sooners vs. Baylor Bears: DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Thursday, November 7
TIME: 7:30 p.m., ET
TV COVERAGE: FOX Sports 1
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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