Baylor’s wins over Rice, Iowa State means a lot for the Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns will face off against the Baylor Bears in one of their final games of the regular season. And while it seems like all Longhorns fans were anxiously awaiting the kick-off of the 2019 campaign in the opener against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs just a handful of weeks ago, the end of the season is drawing near. Texas is already heading into its sixth game of the season, arguably their biggest of the Big 12 schedule.

That matchup on tap for this weekend comes at the Texas State Fairgrounds at the original Cotton Bowl in Dallas, against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry. No. 11 Texas takes on No. 6 Oklahoma to try and find their footing as it pertains to the Big 12 standings.

Beyond the Red River Rivalry this weekend, what is the toughest regular season matchup for the Longhorns?

It was assumed heading into the regular season that the toughest conference game for the Longhorns would likely either fall against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, TCU Horned Frogs, or Iowa State Cyclones. While that assumption could still hold true, Baylor and Iowa State look like the toughest tests remaining. Texas disposed of Oklahoma State at home back in the Big 12 opener and TCU isn’t living up to preseason expectations thus far, and they need to find a quarterback.

A good candidate emerging as a formidable foe down the stretch for Texas is Baylor. Texas, Oklahoma, and Baylor are the lone remaining undefeated conference teams.

Something about that feels very 2013-like.

Nonetheless, the Baylor game comes at a difficult point in the season schedule. Two of the final three regular season games for the Longhorns will take place against Baylor and Iowa State, both on the road. Iowa State looks much better in Ames than they do on the road, and Baylor looks to be a well-rounded football team.

If the Bears will be the most difficult opponent during the regular season for Texas beyond the Sooners, they will have to prove themselves more so than they have so far. An easy non-conference slate combined with a home win over Iowa State and a recent road win over Kansas State Wildcats is respectable, but those wins will  not put them in conversation of national prominence or College Football Playoff contention.

The two most relevant wins for the Bears in relation to the Longhorns came against Iowa State and the Rice Owls. The only common opponent Baylor and Texas have with each other thus far is Rice. But since Iowa State lost by a measly two-point margin at McLane Stadium, there is a lot to takeaway.

Baylor’s win over Rice was a big struggle that saw them come out on top by just eight points. The final score of 21-13 highlighted the immobility of this offense under junior quarterback Charlie Brewer at times. Iowa State also held Baylor to just 23 points. Baylor didn’t score any points when it mattered most in the fourth quarter against the Clones either.

There could very well be a downturn in the fortunes for Baylor from here on out. But taking care of business against both Iowa State and Baylor on the road in two of the final three games of the season will be crucial to this team’s Big 12 Title hopes.