A look back at Oklahoma vs. Baylor through the years in stunning still photos

A look back at Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Baylor Bears through the years in fantastic photos. From @john9williams

The Oklahoma Sooners and Baylor Bears are both on two-game winning streaks that they hope to extend to three on Saturday when the two sides face off. This is a game that’s been a tough one for the Sooners over the last few years, even if they still hold a significant edge in the all-time matchup.

It’s a game that’s provided some incredible moments in recent memory.

Who can forget the improbable come-from-behind win in 2019 after the Sooners fell behind 28-3 and 31-10 at halftime. It was as rough a first half for the Sooners as we’d seen under Lincoln Riley. But what came in the second half was absolutely magical.

Jalen Hurts threw three touchdowns in the second half, and the Sooners outscored the Bears 24-0 after the break to complete the comeback sealed by Nik Bonitto’s interception of quarterback Charlie Brewer.

It was one of the most memorable football games in the history of the matchup. Hurts threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another 114 yards against a tough Bears defense.

Last season, Baylor played spoiler behind a strong rushing effort from Abram Smith and a defensive game that shut down Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley, and the Oklahoma offense. Oklahoma went into the game undefeated and came out of Waco with more questions than answers.

This year, the Sooners have a chance to play spoiler. If Baylor wins out, they can punch their ticket to Arlington for the Big 12 title game. However, if Oklahoma wins this game, that road to the championship gets a little more daunting and they’d need a ton of help to get there, even if the Bears were able to beat Kansas State, TCU, and Texas down the stretch.

Get ready for the game by taking a look back at the Oklahoma vs. Baylor over the years in stunning still photos.

After a quarterback battle, Blake Shapen to be named starter for Baylor Bears

For the third straight year, it looks as if the Oklahoma vs. Baylor matchup will feature a different pair of starting quarterbacks in 2022.

The most intriguing quarterback battle in the Big 12 this offseason could be found down in Waco, Texas. Gerry Bohanon and Blake Shapen were locked in a tight one throughout the spring, a battle that reportedly has come to a close.

Now that Baylor’s wrapped up their spring ball, it looks like Blake Shapen will be named the starting quarterback for Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears. SicEm365 first reported the news late Tuesday night, which has been confirmed by The Athletic as well.

SicEm365 has learned through multiple sources that sophomore Blake Shapen is expected to be named Baylor’s starting quarterback. The news began to surface on Tuesday evening after a round of meetings with each of Baylor’s quarterbacks following the end of Baylor’s spring practice on Saturday. – SicEm365 Staff

After redshirting in 2020, Shapen appeared in five games in the 2021 season. He took over for Gerry Bohanon when the former starter went down with an injury against the Kansas State Wildcats. Shapen made a relief appearance and went 16 of 21 for 137 yards and no touchdowns in that win over the Wildcats. He’d start the season finale against Texas Tech, going 20 of 34 for 254 yards and two touchdowns, surviving a late surge from the Red Raiders to win 27-24.

With Bohanon’s injury persisting, Shapen would get the start in the Big 12 championship. Aided by some costly turnovers from Spencer Sanders and the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Shapen helped stake the Bears to a 21-6 halftime lead. The redshirt freshman quarterback set a Big 12 championship record for consecutive completions at 17.

When the Baylor Bears and the Oklahoma Sooners meet in Norman, it will be the third straight season each side will have a different quarterback. In 2020, it was [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag] and Charlie Brewer. 2021 featured [autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag] and Gerry Bohanon. If things hold up as they are now, [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] and Blake Shapen will carry the next chapter in the matchup.

Like in 2021, their matchup on November 5 will have Big 12 championship game implications. The Sooners will be looking for redemption for one of their two losses from the 2021 season.

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Texas Longhorns vs Baylor: Quarterback tale of the tape

As the kickoff for the Baylor Bears and Texas Longhorns, we examine the battle of the gunslingers as Charlie Brewer and Sam Ehlinger battle.

The bye week is now firmly in the rearview mirror. The Texas Longhorns look to get back on the field Saturday against the Baylor Bears at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This game features two Austin native quarterbacks going head to head once again. For the Longhorns it puts Austin Westlake’s Sam Ehlinger against Lake Travis’ Charlie Brewer of Baylor. Can the Longhorns ruin Brewer’s final shot at a win in his hometown?

These two quarterbacks have won one game apiece when facing off. Ehlinger didn’t play against them in 2017 so which quarterback will get the edge on Saturday?

Ehlinger vs Brewer
6-3 Height 6-1
225 Weight 210
Senior Class Senior
40 Games 37
62.9 Career Comp % 64.0
10,081 Yards 8,113
7.7 YPA 7.9
84 TDs 55
26 INTs 22

Ehlinger is looking to best Brewer once again and get the Texas Longhorns back on track. When looking at the season numbers, there really isn’t a comparison. The Bears have managed to play just two games due to three separate COVID-19 outbreaks. They beat Kansas in their Big 12 Conference opener and fell to West Virginia in overtime.

Brewer ended up leaving the game but would return after having his shoulder examined. With the two weeks off since that game, he should be good to go against a Texas team that is desperate for a win after dropping two-straight games. Ehlinger wants to win to not only stop the snide but help eliminate the outside noise.

There seems to be a fair amount of negativity surrounding this program but winning cures all. For the Longhorns they have to believe they have the better quarterback and hopefully that gives them the edge on Saturday.

 

Report: Baylor Bears have no new COVID-19 cases

The best news for the Texas Longhorns and Baylor Bears game on Saturday came out on Monday. Baylor reporting no new coronavirus cases.

On Saturday the Texas Longhorns will face off  with the Baylor Bears in Austin at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Or at the very least that is the hope. The two teams were on bye weeks for completely different reasons. While the Longhorns were on their second scheduled bye week, the Bear had to halt all football activities. Prior to their game with Oklahoma State it was reports that the Bears had 42 COVID-19 cases.

Despite the number of cases, the school felt it was ok to host their homecoming ceremony at their stadium even with no game to play. Talk about poor optics of the climate in college football. Now for the positive news. According to Morgan Uber of the Big 12 Conference, the Bears have no new positive coronavirus cases after their recent round of testing.

This is the first positive step towards the Bears and Longhorns meeting on the field. Baylor sits (1-1) and the Longhorns come in at (2-2), one of these teams will fall below .500 for the first time this year. One of the big storylines in this game is two Austin native quarterbacks going to battle. Charlie Brewer will look to best Sam Ehlinger for the first time in their hometown. The Bears won 24-10 in Waco last season.

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Texas Football preseason preview: Baylor Bears

Baylor is coming off a historic 2019 season and will be looking to repeat it this season. Here is a 2020 season preview for the Bears:

Baylor was a surprise team in all of college football last season, finishing with an 11-3 record. The Bears made it to the Big 12 championship game and the Sugar Bowl, before losing both matchups to Oklahoma and Georgia respectively.

From a Longhorn perspective, Baylor dominated Texas from start to finish in their 2019 matchup. Tim Beck’s offense struggle mightily, only scoring 10 points. Seven of them came from a Daniel Young touchdown with 0:01 left on the clock. Sam Ehlinger was held to just 200 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception.

Coming off its historic season, Baylor will be slightly pivoting with a coaching change. Matt Rhule had been the head coach in Waco for three seasons and turned the Bears around from 1-11 and into a participant in a New Year’s Six bowl game.

It could be seen as a transition year for Baylor but if new head coach Dave Aranda has anything to say about it, his team will be back in the thick of the Big 12 championship hunt. A veteran quarterback mixed with a preseason first-team All-Big 12 star on defense gives Baylor hope in 2020.

Here is a 2020 season preview of Texas’ Big 12 foe, Baylor:

Quarterback Sam Ehlinger named to Johnny Unitas Golden Arm watchlist

Senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger joins two other Big 12 passers on Johnny Unitas watchlist. Looking to become the second Longhorn to win it.

Stop me if you have heard this before but Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger has been added to a preseason watch list. Yes, indeed after being named to the the Maxwell, Davey O’Brien, Manning and others you can add the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watchlist.

Texas Tech’s Alan Bowman and Baylor’s Charlie Brewer join Ehlinger as the only Big 12 passers to make the watch list. In a press release from Texas Athletics a list of the accolades for Ehlinger over the past two seasons show how good he has been.

Ehlinger, an Austin native, has started all 27 games for UT over the past two seasons and leads all active FBS quarterbacks in completions (571), attempts (879), passing yards (6,955), total offense (8,100) and total touchdowns (80) since the start of the 2018 season. He also ranks second among active FBS quarterbacks in touchdown passes (57) and fifth in completion percentage (65.0) during that stretch. Ehlinger is the only FBS player to account for at least 50 passing touchdowns and 20 rushing touchdowns over the last two seasons.

The award was first presented in 1987 with Don McPherson of Syracuse being the first recipient. In the 33 year history, five times a Big 12 quarterback has been given the award. Colt McCoy is the only Texas quarterback to earn this honor. Last season Joe Burrow walked away with the honor of being associated with a legendary quarterback in Johnny Unitas.

In 2017 Mason Rudolph of Oklahoma State was the winner of the award under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. As Ehlinger enters his senior season that kicks off September 12th against UTEP, expectations are high. The senior quarterback hopes to pick up the accolades as the looks to dethrone the Sooners as top dog in the conference.

 

College football players react, express fear of a cancelled season

College football players, coaches and athletic directors began a ‘We Want To Play’ movement on Twitter.

Where do we begin?

With every minute that passes, a new opportunity seems to present itself with college athletics. This particular offseason has been unlike any other and has brought on a significant amount of anxiety and uncertainty to all those involved.

The past few months have been centered around an ongoing fluid situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s getting down to crunch time to make a final decision on the upcoming college football season this fall.

It appeared things were trending in the right direction when Power Five conferences agreed to a shortened, conference-only schedule. However, over the past two days the rumors have become more rampant that there may not be a college football season at all.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 are pushing towards not playing, while the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 are doing their best to salvage what they can.

A common denominator among all major conferences is that the athlete’s want to play. On Sunday night, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence took the lead for all players when he began a ‘We Want To Play’ movement on Twitter.

While Lawrence was the first high-profile athlete to speak out in that sense, several began to follow suit. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer, Texas safety Caden Sterns and many other coaches, athletic directors, and players express their views on the next page.

Will their voices be heard?

Big 12 Football: Ranking all 10 quarterbacks

When it comes to Big 12 football, quarterbacks get all of the glory and all of the blame when it doesn’t go well. Let’s rank the passers.

In the Big 12 Conference it has been all about the offense. Of course that all starts with the gunslinger at each school. Over recent years the names of Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Colt McCoy, Bryce Petty and many others have led high-powered offenses onto the field.

With so many quarterbacks ready to be the next great Big 12 quarterback, we ranked each one to determine who reigns supreme.

Continue reading “Big 12 Football: Ranking all 10 quarterbacks”

Top five quarterbacks Texas will face in 2020

Even with an improved defense, UT is going to have some challenges with these talented QBs. Here are the top five QBs UT will face in 2020:

Outside of Sam Ehlinger, the quarterback play for the Big 12 is full of talent going into the 2020 season. To win in the conference, quarterbacks must be the driving force of the offense.

A mixture of younger and older signal callers have taken over, ranging from a redshirt freshman like Spencer Rattler, all the way to juniors and seniors such as Brock Purdy and Charlie Brewer.

Getting ripped to shreds in the passing game last season, the Longhorns ranked ninth in the Big 12 last season. Even with an improved defense, Texas is going to have some challenges ahead facing these talented quarterbacks.

Related: Game-by-game prediction for the 2020 Texas Longhorns football season

Here are the top five quarterbacks Texas will face in 2020:

Twitter reacts to questionable late hit call in Sugar Bowl

Twitter reacts to a questionable late hit call on Georgia

The Georgia Bulldogs currently lead the Baylor Bears in the middle of the fourth quarter in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, but that could quickly change.

Bears quarterback Charlie Brewer scrambled for a first down deep in his own territory just a few moments ago, diving for the orange marker. While Brewer came up a few yards short, the officials called a questionable late-hit penalty on the Bulldogs, which sparked a critical response on Twitter.

Take a look: