Baylor Fined $25K by Big 12 After Fans Stormed Field Following Oklahoma Upset

The Big 12 fined Baylor $25,000 after fans rushed onto the field early during the football team's win over Oklahoma last week.

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby issued a statement on the matter Tuesday: 

"“We have a duty to ensure a safe game environment that provides the visiting team secure egress from the field for players, staff and support personnel, and protection of the team bench area. I appreciate Baylor’s advance planning and communication, and although well planned, the end-of-game circumstances made its field storming plan impossible to execute, resulting in an interruption of play, impeding the visiting team from reaching their locker room and damage to OU bench area equipment.”"

Baylor's student section rushed onto the field with one second remaining in the Bears' 27-14 win, resulting in Oklahoma players and coaches being swarmed by fans. Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley was incensed by the situation, both on the field and while speaking with reporters after the game.

"I don't believe the situation was handled well by a lot of people," Riley said. "But at the end of the day, doing it with class is important to me, and at the end of the day, we decided to bring 11 guys back out even though I damn well didn't want to." 

Baylor's win over Oklahoma snapped a 17-game winning streak for the Sooners, the longest in the nation. It was also Bears' first win over their Big 12 rival since 2014 and just their fourth overall in 32 meetings.

A year removed from an ugly 2-7 campaign, head coach Dave Aranda has Baylor at 8-2 with an outside shot at a Big 12 championship. 

Oklahoma, which was already looked at with some trepidation by the College Football Playoff committee, will likely fall out of the Top 10 following the loss. The Sooners entered last week ranked eighth in the country, behind four one-loss teams despite being undefeated. 

The selection committee will release its latest playoff rankings Tuesday night.