Baylor Defense Reaches New Level at Oklahoma State, Keeps Bears in Playoff Hunt

Baylor upset Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Saturday, and despite a big performance from receiver KD Cannon—five catches, 210 yards and two touchdowns—the real MVP was the defense.

Seriously.

It may look different on paper, where the box score shows the Cowboys gained 441 yards and hung 35 points, but much of that production came at the end of the fourth quarter, when Baylor had a comfortable three-score lead.

The meat of the game saw Baylor force seven straight empty possessions and nine scoreless trips in 10. It sacked Mason Rudolph six times, owning the line of scrimmage and pulverizing the Cowboys' running game.

Kyle Porter of Pistols Firing summed things up nicely:

The key to Baylor's defense was, per normal, the line.

Tackle Andrew Billings and ends Jamal Palmer and Shawn Oakman flooded the backfield often, making Cowboys blockers look small and slow.

Billings excelled in particular, which was crazy after pregame reports suggested he would sit with an injury. Those reports were quickly amended, and Billings proved his health from the gun. It was arguably his best game of the season—although picking is admittedly hard—and indubitably the best Baylor's defense has played all year.

"We felt like we were together tonight as a defense," Billings told reporters after the game, per Baylor's official Twitter account. "It felt great."

The offense did its part across the line, even after quarterback Jarrett Stidham left with an injury.

Third-string QB Chris Johnson connected on two deep touchdowns at the start of the third quarter, and the offense eventually finished with 700 yards. (Ho-hum.)

Head coach Art Briles gave a somber update on Stidham, saying "he's not very good" and that Baylor will "have to hustle to see if he's able to go" against TCU next week, per Big 12 reporter David Ubben.

But Johnson has the skills to run this offense, can make enough plays to gash an injured TCU defense and inspires enough confidence to beat any potential playoff opponent. Quarterbacks in this system have proven fungible, much like Ohio State's system, which third-string QB Cardale Jones led to last year's national title.

Especially if Baylor's defense balls out like it did in Week 12, Johnson can steer the ship past just about anyone.

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Having said that, Baylor still needs help to make the playoff. Oklahoma beat TCU in Norman, surviving after a wild late comeback attempt, and now stands one win from finishing 11-1.

The Bears could make an argument to pass Oklahoma, even though they lost head to head, because their only loss of the season came against a playoff contender, while Oklahoma dropped a game to non-contender Texas.

The problem is Baylor can't really make that argument after last year, when in order to pass TCU it argued the opposite. The Bears claimed head-to-head was more important than whom one lost to, because it made them look better than the Horned Frogs, whom they beat, despite a loss to non-contender West Virginia.

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Pyrrhically, that argument worked, and Baylor passed TCU in the final poll. But neither team made the playoff, and the precedent the Bears set by passing TCU will prevent them from passing Oklahoma. They need Oklahoma State to beat the Sooners next week in Bedlam. There's no good way around that.

But strange things always happen in Bedlam, so Baylor shouldn't count itself out. It just beat a 10-0 opponent with its second- and third-string quarterbacks in a city where it hadn't won since FDR's second term (1939). Its defense also flashed another gear.

The Bears should feel good heading into TCU week.

They are still very much in the hunt.

Brian Leigh covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @BLeigh35