The stage is being set for Oklahoma football to finish off one of the best Big 12 bowl seasons in years.
Baylor, Kansas State and Oklahoma State have all posted bowl victories this week to give the Big 12 a 3-2 record and a chance to make it 4-2 when conference-champion Oklahoma squares off against Auburn in the Sugar Bowl on Monday in the postseason finale for Big 12 teams.
A Sooner win over Auburn in the second-ever meeting between the two schools would also give the Big 12 a 2-1 advantage this bowl season in games against teams from the Southeastern Conference.
In the battle between the Big 12 and the SEC, Kansas State gashed Texas A&M with 218 yards on the ground and held on for a 33-28 victory over the Aggies on Wednesday in the Texas Bowl in Houston. TCU lost to Georgia in a wild back-and-forth affair in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
The two other wins by Big 12 teams in bowl games this week belonged to Oklahoma State and Baylor. Oklahoma State rolled over an injury-plagued Colorado team 38-8 in the Alamo Bowl on Thursday night, and Baylor had surprisingly little trouble putting away Boise State 31-14 in the Cactus Bowl in Phoenix.
West Virginia was upended by Miami (Fla.), 31-14, in the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando.
The Big 12 has had only one winning season in bowl competition since 2008. Seven Big 12 schools went bowling in 2008, and four of them came away as winners. Oklahoma was one of the three teams from the conference that were defeated in bowl action that season. The Sooners lost to Florida 24-14 in the BCS National Championship that season.
In the 2011 season, eight teams from the conference participated in postseason bowls, with six of them taking home trophies, including the Sooners, who defeated Iowa in the Insight Bowl. Those six bowl wins and .750 win percentage represent the high-water mark in the 21-year history of the Big 12.
In the four years since 2011, the Big 12 has not produced a winning record in bowl competition. The collective conference bowl record in those four seasons was 12-17.
An Oklahoma victory over Auburn on Monday would give the Big 12 only their eighth winning bowl record under the banner of the Big 12. It would also even the Sooners’ record in bowl games under Bob Stoops at nine up and nine down.
Texas owns the most bowl wins as a member of the Big 12. The Longhorns are 10-7 in bowl games in the Big 12 era.