Baylor Looking Like 1st Unfair Casualty of the College Football Playoff Era

The Baylor Bears, at 11-1 overall and 8-1 in league play, are the Big 12 co-champions, have three wins over top-15 teams, two over top-10 teams and have two straight conference titles. 

Yet—unfortunately for fans in Waco, but fortunately for fans in Fort Worth or Columbus—the Bears won't be in the playoffs. 

The resume, as polished as it is, isn't strong enough. 

The Bears were sixth in the playoff rankings, behind Alabama, Oregon, TCU, Florida State and Ohio State. They needed help, if only a little. At least one of those teams had to lose on Saturday for Baylor to have a realistic chance. 

None did. In fact, all five made nearly as big, if not bigger, statements than the Bears did in beating No. 9 Kansas State. 

Take a look at what the top five in the playoff rankings did this week: 

Team	Result	Notes
1. Alabama	def. No. 16 Missouri 42-13	SEC Championship Game
2. Oregon	def. No. 7 Arizona 51-13	Pac-12 Championship Game
3. TCU	def. Iowa State 55-3	TCU secures share of Big 12 title
4. Florida State	def. No. 11 Georgia Tech 37-35	ACC Championship Game
5. Ohio State	def. No. 13 Wisconsin 59-0	Big Ten Championship Game

The weakest win of those six was TCU's victory over Iowa State, but the 52-point margin was enough to turn heads around the country. 

Pro-Baylor folks will point out that the Horned Frogs fell to the Bears 61-58 earlier in the season, in a game which TCU led by 21 points in the fourth quarter. 

As thrilling as that victory was for Baylor (it's the only thing really keeping them in the playoff conversation), the comeback nature of it may very well be the shot in the foot to Art Briles and co., as harsh as that sounds. 

The committee has to wonder, was that game indicative of which of the two teams is better, or was the comeback an anomaly? 

Even the final margin of victory—a field goal's worth of points—plus the fact that Baylor was at home, leans that game more toward a wash than a defining resume-builder for the Bears. 

Art Briles added in his criticism after the game for the Big 12 not naming a true champion, which hurt Baylor's resume, per Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News. 

Is it all unfair? You bet. 

Baylor just won a share of the Big 12, the only conference in America with three top-10 teams (that'll likely change by Sunday). The Bears beat the other two—TCU and K-State—that are ranked as high, and had just one off day against a West Virginia team that, at the time, looked like a dark horse to compete for the conference title. 

But there was widespread disapproval of the BCS system, fans clamored for a playoff and they got one. But nothing is ever black-and-white, and even the new playoff system will have casualties. 

In 2014, Baylor's playoff corpse can be found in Morgantown, West Virginia.