Kansas State vs. Baylor: Score and Twitter Reaction

The No. 6 Baylor Bears won 38-27 over the ninth-ranked Kansas State Wildcats Saturday night, grabbing a share of the Big 12 Championship and leaving their national-title hopes up to the College Football Playoff committee.

Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty's status was unknown for much of the week following a concussion suffered last week, but he was back to his usual self Saturday. The senior finished with a sterling stat line of 34-of-40 passing with 412 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his McLane Stadium send-off.

The Bears added 172 more yards on the ground, including 91 yards on 18 carries from Shock Linwood. The balanced attack thwarted a Kansas State defense that had allowed more than 30 points only once all season. 

Here was the box score from the Waco, Texas, contest:

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
No. 9 Kansas State	0	14	6	7	27
No. 6 Baylor	14	10	14	0	38

Baylor jumped out to an early lead that it wouldn't relinquish on the game's opening drive. Despite the Wildcats trimming the deficit to one possession early in the third quarter, Petty and the Bears offense rediscovered their offensive success in the second half for a couple of game-sealing scores.

After the win, Bears head coach Art Briles resurfaced the case for Baylor over TCU in the playoff that he echoed earlier in the week, per Andrew Perloff of Sports Illustrated:

Despite Saturday's game being a matchup of two Top 10 teams, the focus remained on remained whether Baylor could do enough to supplant the likes of TCU, Florida State or Ohio State and sneak into the CFP.

But after the Bears killed Kansas State's hopes in a similar scenario back in 2012, Briles wanted to keep things centered on the matchup at hand in the days leading up to the game, per ESPN.com's Max Olson.

"When you ride up there at a certain level for so long and every week there’s people shooting at you, as Kansas State was that year, it’s hard to dodge for 12 weeks," Briles said. "It’s just hard to do."

On the very first drive, Baylor looked just as focused as it needed to be to avoid that sort of slip-up.

Petty led the Bears on a quick 81-yard drive to open the game, scampering in from one yard out to give Baylor a 7-0 lead less than two minutes in. Baylor kept its foot on the gas pedal and nearly scored on its next drive, before Petty threw a costly interception in the end zone.

With the Bears' defense holding firm and forcing quick K-State punts, Baylor got another chance to punch it in but nearly suffered another terrible goal-line mistake. After review, though, a forced fumble was overturned, and Linwood broke through for a one-yard score, per Sports Illustrated:

But in the typical fashion of head coach Bill Snyder and Kansas State, the Wildcats rolled down the field in a long drive to get back in it. Running back Charles Jones found the end zone from one yard out, making it a 14-7 game.

Baylor had no trouble responding, but once again it came in controversial fashion after nearly fumbling. But as Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel showed, those near-gaffes didn't overshadow Baylor's offensive dominance:

Petty and the Baylor offense had it going early, but the defense couldn't continue shutting Kansas State down. The Wildcats rolled out another methodical drive and used a splash play to get back in the game.

Jake Waters found Zach Trujillo for a big 36-yard touchdown, bringing the game to 21-14 and resurfacing some of Baylor's secondary woes, as Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram noticed:

Baylor added a last-second field goal before halftime after Petty led them 48 yards in just 44 seconds, but the Wildcats were still very much in it with the score at 24-14 as the teams headed in to the break.

K-State threatened to grab a crucial touchdown coming out for the second half but was held to a 24-yard Matthew McCrane field goal that made it a one-score game again.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Right when the Wildcats were within striking distance, Petty struck back.

The senior found Antwan Goodley for a 58-yard touchdown that mimicked so many of Baylor's long scores this season, putting the Bears up 31-17 and spurring USA Today's George Schroeder to note how short the touchdown drive was:

K-State kicker McCrane answered with another field goal, but the Wildcats needed seven points on those drives, not threes. That was clear when Baylor next got the ball and rattled off a 10-play, 72-yard drive capped by Johnny Jefferson's three-yard score. That drive extended the Bears' lead to 38-20.

At the end of the third quarter, just about the only critique you could give Baylor was that the likes of Ohio State and TCU were winning in similar fashion, per The Dallas Morning News' Chuck Carlton:

The Baylor victory looked more than guaranteed at that point, but it just isn't in Kansas State's DNA to keel over in such a situation. The Wildcats had to scratch and claw on a 90-yard drive that took up more than seven minutes, but made it a 38-27 game on Waters' eight-yard touchdown toss to Tyler Lockett.

Waters got a chance with 9:48 left to lead the Wildcats down the field and make it a one-score game, but threw a game-sealing interception at the Baylor 34 to essentially end the contest.

Everyone will have their own opinions on whether TCU has done enough to stay ahead of Baylor despite the head-to-head loss or whether one of them even deserves to be in the playoff after Ohio State's convincing win over Wisconsin. But no matter what happens, the Baylor Bears can crown themselves the Big 12 champions after holding the tiebreaker over fellow one-loss TCU.

CBS Sports' Dane Brugler and Craig Smoak of 1660 ESPN Radio had more from Art Briles concering the playoff and the face that the Big 12 doesn't use a conference championship to determine a "true" champion:

It's safe to say, though, that those conference championship celebrations will turn sour come Sunday afternoon if Baylor's name isn't among the Top Four.