Some things to watch in the Big 12 on Saturday, when three conference games are scheduled to make up earlier postponements because of virus issues. No. 10 Iowa State has completed its regular season and can start prepping for the Big 12 title game Dec. 19 against five-time defending league champ Oklahoma, which has another game to play.
GAME OF THE WEEK
No. 13 Oklahoma at West Virginia. The Sooners earned their title game slot by winning six games in a row since their first 0-2 start in league play since 1998. They still have a makeup date at West Virginia, a game that was pushed back two weeks from Thanksgiving weekend due to COVID-19 issues in the Sooners program. The Mountaineers (5-4), trying to clinch a winning record in coach Neal Brown’s second season, are coming off a 45-6 loss at Iowa State. West Virginia is 0-8 against Oklahoma since joining the Big 12, and the four Morgantown matchups have had an average score of 53-42 with more than 1,000 yards of total offense in each game.
BEST MATCHUP
Oklahoma State at Baylor. With the Cowboys out of contention for the Big 12 title, they are still a slight favorite going on the road to play Baylor. The game previously scheduled Oct. 17 is now the season finale for first-year Bears coach Dave Aranda. Baylor has won five of six in the series and in a 27-14 loss last week played a tighter game against the Sooners than the Cowboys did in Bedlam. Baylor held the Sooners to 278 total yards, their fewest since 2015. The Cowboys lost 41-13 in Bedlam and have dropped three of their last five games.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
An Oklahoma win Saturday would be the 44th for fourth-year coach Lincoln Riley. Bob Stoops, his predecessor, had 43 wins in his first four seasons, which included a national championship in 2000. … West Virginia junior Leddie Brown is 55 yards shy of joining Iowa State’s Breece Hall as a 1,000-yard rusher in the Big 12 this season. … TCU, which hosts Louisiana Tech in a game added just last week, is 5-0 this season and 100-8 in coach Gary Patterson’s 20 seasons when rushing for 200 yards in a game.
LONG SHOT
Texas is 16-1 against Kansas since the Big 12’s inaugural season in 1996, and the Longhorns are more than four-touchdown favorites to extend that against the winless Jayhawks — when and if they finally get to play the game in Lawrence. After getting postponed from Nov. 21 when the Jayhawks had virus issues, the Longhorns have been dealing with an outbreak this week.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Oklahoma junior linebacker Isaiah Thomas has 6 1/2 sacks over the last four games. He has sacks in six of the last seven games, with a season-high 2 1/2 coming last week against Baylor.
