Big 12 gets title game without Texas or OU

By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer

The Big 12 doesn’t have to wait until Oklahoma and Texas are gone to experience something that hasn’t happened for a long time — a championship game without either of those teams.

When fifth-ranked Oklahoma State plays ninth-ranked Baylor on Saturday, it will end a streak of 16 consecutive Big 12 title games involving the Sooners or Longhorns, including one in which the SEC-bound teams played each other. The last without one of the Red River rivals was in 1998.

“There’s a lot of positives from that perspective,” Baylor coach Dave Aranda said. “With Oklahoma State being in it and Baylor being in it, I have to imagine that just the conference moving forward is looking at that with a smile on their face.”

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