Texas at Baylor Spread

The Big 12 season comes to an end this week, and outside of Bedlam, the highlight finale just might be in Waco this week as the up-and-coming Baylor Bears face Texas. Baylor is looking to set a program record for conference wins and record a nine-win season for the first time in about 25 years, while Texas is looking to finish in the top half of the league standings and stay in the hunt for a quality bowl berth by pulling off its first win over a team currently ranked in the top-25.

Texas has won 73 of 100 all-time meeting with Baylor, but saw its 12-game series win streak snapped with a 30-22 loss last year in Austin – the first UT loss at home to Baylor since 1991. The last Baylor win before that in the series came in 1997 in Waco, a 23-21 decision.

The latest college football odds list Baylor as a 2.5-point favorite, while the over/under is listed at 64 points.

Texas

The Longhorns posted a 27-25 road win over Texas A&M last week to break a two-game losing streak and improve their record to 3-2 outside of Austin. Since the 55-17 loss to Oklahoma, Texas has the best defense in the Big 12, which includes a shutout (Kansas) and holding two other teams to 17 points each (Missouri, Kansas State).

Overall, Texas ranks 32nd nationally in points allowed (21 ppg), giving up 298 yards per game (202 passing, 96 rushing) while recording 22 sacks and forcing 20 turnovers – with one returned for a TD (Carrington Byndom, interception).

Emmanuel Acho leads the defense with 116 tackles (33 more than anyone else), adding three sacks and one forced fumble. Alex Okafor has seven sacks, 46 tackles, two forced fumbles and a recovery, while Quandre Diggs has three picks, 43 tackles and two forced fumbles.

Baylor

The Bears have won four straight games and are coming off a 66-42 win over Texas Tech last week. Baylor is 6-0 at home this year, which includes a wins over Oklahoma and TCU. Baylor is 7-0 when it scores 40 ore more points in a game.

Baylor ranks sixth nationally in scoring offense (43 ppg), compiling 577 yards per game (360 passing, 217 rushing). Robert Griffin III captains the offense by running and passing, completing 73 percent of his passes for 3,678 yards and 34 touchdowns with five interceptions, and running for 612 yards and seven scores on 4.1 yards per carry.

When Griffin hands off, the top runner is Terrance Ganaway with 1,195 yards and 14 TDs on 5.8 yards per carry. When Griffin throws the ball, his top target is Kendall Wright with 95 catches (46 more than anyone else) for 1,406 yards and 12 TDs, while Terrance Williams has 49 grabs for 807 yards and 10 TDs.

Baylor’s defense has been suspect, being ranked outside the top-100 in points allowed (37 ppg), surrendering 470 yards per game (272 passing, 198 rushing) while recording 17 sacks and forcing 21 turnovers – three of which were returned for TDs (Ahmad Dixon and Joe Williams, interceptions; Tevin Elliott, fumble).

Elliot Coffey leads the defense with 90 tackles, adding two interceptions, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a half-sack, while Mike Hicks has 89 tackles with three picks and a fumble recovery and Sam Holl has 86 stops with a pick.