(12-01-2019 11:56 PM)1845 Bear Wrote: Utah is a very good team that has dominated a lot of teams. However look at the schedule so far:
- Lost to the only ranked opponent they faced who had to play a third string QB
- Their blowouts mostly happened against sub .500 or .500 teams or an FCS team. Oregon State, Colorado, UCLA, Idaho St, Northern Illinois, and 6-6 Wazzu.
Against 7-5 teams they beat Washington by 4 and they had another two solid wins Vs BYU & ASU where they pulled away late.
They also got a blowout Vs Cal when the Golden Bears had to play a third string QB but that’s a big asterisk on an already bad Cal offense.
It’s a pretty weak schedule resume despite their dominant margins in several weeks. The entire argument is surviving Vs Washington and pulling away from two decent teams while ignoring the USC loss because the margin of victory is bigger.
Both the Big 12 teams have faced tougher schedules, have more notable wins, have more forgivable losses, and face a tougher opponent this week.
It’s whether you value margin of victory or value quality wins.
Baylor 2019 Schedule:
1) 3-9 Stephen F. Austin, won at home, 56-17
2) 4-8 UTSA, won at home, 63-14
3) 3-9 Rice, won on the road, 21-13
4) 7-5 Iowa State, won at home, 23-21 (Baylor won with a 38 yard field goal with 21 seconds left)
5) 8-4 Kansas State, won on the road, 31-12.
6) 4-8 Texas Tech, won at home, 33-30 in 2OT. (Baylor drove 89 yards in 11 plays to kick a field goal on the last play of regulation and send the game into overtime).
7) 8-4 Oklahoma State, won on the road, 45-27.
8) 5-7 WVU, won at home, 17-14. (score was tied 14-14 in the 4th quarter).
9) 5-7 TCU, won on the road, 29-23 in 3OT (Baylor needed a 51 yard field goal with 36 seconds left to tie the game and send it into OT).
10) 11-1 OU. loss at home, 34-31 (blew a 28-3 2nd quarter lead).
11) 7-5 Texas, won at home, 24-10.
12) 3-9 Kansas, won on the road, 61-6.
The wins at Kansas State and Oklahoma State were impressive. It is never easy to win on the road against good teams. Good win against Texas. The games against Iowa State, Texas Tech, WVU and TCU don't look so impressive. Texas Tech lost to a 4-8 Arizona team, 28-14 at Tucson.
Utah's wins over ASU, BYU and Washington were not as you described them. Utah led BYU 30-6 in the 4th quarter. BYU scored a touchdown in the 4th to get to the final 30-12. Against ASU, in a game they won 21-3, they led all the way. ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels, a true freshman, threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns against Oregon. Against Utah, he threw for 25 yards. ASU had a total of 136 yards in offense. UW is always tough in Seattle and Utah led 33-21 until the Huskies scored a touchdown with about a minute left in the game.
Utah has won 10 of their 11 games by 18 points or more. They don't have a win against a team currently ranked in the top 25. But then neither does Baylor. OU has the win over Baylor. The Baylor non-conference schedule may be the worst in the country among power conference schools. So, I see a few good wins over non-ranked teams for Utah and Baylor and OU has that impressive comeback over Baylor. Utah has been crushing teams with losing records and Baylor has struggled with teams with losing records. I could make a case for OU over Utah, but not Baylor.