Big 12 Releases Date For Baylor Rivalry Game vs. TCU
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Football season is just around the corner!
Ok, not really, but today is a milestone day for Baylor and the rest of the Big 12, as conference schedules are getting released.
Early Wednesday morning, we learned when Baylor will be taking on their rival, the TCU Horned Frogs.
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Shehan Jeyarajah reported that Baylor will host TCU on October 17, which will be during Week 7 of the college football season.
These two teams have had some interesting matchups over the years, and certainly had some high stakes.
Memory Lane
In fact, the matchup between these two teams is likely what inspired the Big 12 to add a conference championship game.
In 2014, TCU and Baylor locked horns in early October, and the winner would have the inside track to winning the Big 12 and a possible shot in the expanded College Football playoffs.
Baylor trailed by 21 points in the final 11 minutes and it looked like TCU was simply going to put them away with a devastating loss.
Instead, Baylor found a way to make up those 21 points, and got themselves in position for a game-winning field goal.
Chris Callahan’s 28-yard field goal was true, and Baylor stole a victory from the jaws of defeat against their rival, and sent Waco into pandemonium.
“I didn't watch the kick. I saw the holder celebrate and I assumed he was right, and he was,” Said Baylor coach Art Briles.
Senior quarterback Bryce Petty threw for 510 yards and six touchdown passes.
It looked like Baylor would have the inside track to the playoff from there, but they stubbed their toe the following week against West Virginia, losing 41-27.
When the season ended, both Baylor and TCU were 11-1, and had to split the Big 12 championship.
Controversy?
Splitting that conference title ended up benefiting Ohio State, who was not ranked in the college football playoff rankings prior to conference championship games being played. After they blew out Wisconsin 59-0, TCU fell from two, after winning 62-3, out of the playoffs.
Baylor, despite winning the head-to-head matchup against TCU was not the team that replaced TCU, but rather Ohio State, which wound up winning the national championship that season.
The conference had dropped the title game after Texas and Oklahoma argued it would hurt the chances of getting a representative in the College Football Playoff. As it turns out, the opposite turned out to be true.
The conference title game would return in 2017
Since the turn of the decade, however, this rivalry has been one-sided. Baylor has won just once since 2020, a 37-34 victory in November of 2024.
Last year, TCU won 42-36.
Overall, the Horned Frogs lead the all-time series 60-54-7.
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Jacob Westendorf is a contributing writer for Baylor Bears on SI. He is also a writer covering the Green Bay Packers for Packers on SI. Westendorf graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and mass media. He worked in newspapers in Green Bay and Rockford, Illinois. He also interned at Packer Report for Bill Huber while earning his degree. In 2018, he became a staff writer for PackerReport.com, and a regular contributor on Packer Report's "Pack A Day Podcast." In 2020, he founded the media company Game On Wisconsin. In 2023, he rejoined Packer Central, which is part of Sports Illustrated Media Group.