The Big 12 championship picture got clearer on Thursday night. The West Virginia Mountaineers handed the Baylor Bears their second conference loss of the season. With that loss, Baylor fell from the ranks of conference title favorites.
No team in the conference is yet eliminated, but there’s a significant separation between the bottom and top half of the league. Oklahoma and Iowa State are both 0-3 in conference, while Baylor, Texas Tech and West Virginia have already lost twice. Barring chaos, those five likely won’t make the championship game.
Texas stands at 2-1 in conference play heading into their home game against Iowa State. The Cyclones could be the Longhorns’ least difficult remaining game, but shouldn’t be considered an easy win.
Let’s look at the five conference contenders most likely to make the Big 12 championship game.
Kansas Jayhawks (2-1)
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Kansas suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday against TCU. In the game, they lost their starting quarterback Jalen Daniels to shoulder injury. Adding to their difficulty, they play the other three title contenders in their remaining six games. The Jayhawks will host Texas and face Kansas State to end the season. They’ll have a home game with the title favorite Oklahoma State to start November.
Kansas State Wildcats (3-0)
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The Kansas State Wildcats are 3-0 in conference play. They also lost to Tulane 17-10 at home this year. The latter could be indicative of Kansas State’s overall talent level.
Last week, K-State defeated Iowa State 10-9 on the road. Eventually, the lack of offensive consistency could prevent the Wildcats from success against the league’s best teams. They have yet to play Oklahoma State, Kansas, Texas or TCU.
Texas Longhorns (2-1)
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The Longhorns dropped their conference opener with their backup quarterback, but have since bounced back convincingly. Texas defeated West Virginia 38-20 the following week and returned to form with Quinn Ewers defeating Oklahoma 49-0. They will face Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma on the road.
Story continues
TCU Horned Frogs (2-0)
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TCU is in a great spot after rolling past Oklahoma and defeating Kansas on the road. Sonny Dykes and Garrett Riley have their offense rolling with no sign of slowing down. This week’s home game against Oklahoma State and the looming road matchup with Texas could decide their conference title fate.
Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-0)
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Perhaps the least tested of the teams, Oklahoma State is off to an uneventful start. Helping their case, the Cowboys will face the Texas Longhorns at home next week. Before that, they’ll have a trip to Fort Worth to face TCU. The Horned Frogs are arguably playing the best football in the conference right now. If Mike Gundy’s squad can win the next two games, Oklahoma State fans might as well reserve their Big 12 title game tickets. Albeit, they could just as easily lose the next two games. By the beginning of November, the title race should all but sort itself out for Oklahoma State.
Story originally appeared on Longhorns Wire
