Happy game day, Sooner Nation! We’ve arrived at the last game of September, which will see the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners head to Waco to take on unranked Baylor. While this matchup suddenly became a “rivalry” (please don’t throw things at me) in recent years, the wackos from Waco are safely back in their old, familiar place as the Big 12’s cellar dweller, so far winless on the season, while the Sooners are back in the top 5 with everything on the line. Yikes.

I’ve watched enough OU football to not take any road foes lightly, especially those with any sort of history with the Sooners, and a healthy squad returning a handful of starters makes me at least a little bit nervous about what to expect from Baylor at least early on. And OU hasn’t gotten off to the most impressive starts the last two contests.

After an 0-3 start and no grand expectations coming into this season (except from stupid, stupid Joey Galloway), beginning a long rebuild and redefinition of a program and playing spoiler to the top of the conference are what make this Baylor team dangerous given a few chances on the right day at home. I don’t think that’s going to happen today against Oklahoma — a road-tested title contender with solid preparation, leadership, ambition and focus, especially on the road — and I certainly don’t see this game being close late in the second half.

But I’m personally not sleeping on this game being a little closer than any of us would like. The Sooners after a surprisingly competitive first half will pull away in the third quarter and never look back. OU 45, Baylor 20

Coverage Info:

TV: FS1 at 5:30 CT

Live Stream: FoxSportsGo

Radio: OU Radio / TuneIn / TuneIn (Español) / Sirius/XM792

Week 2 College Football Viewing Guide (plus Jack’s gambling picks)

As we covered in Thursday’s Hot Links, a handful of compelling matchups could make for some Week 4 drama across the country. Most likely, chalk wins out, but here’s my usual take on a couple of this week’s other top games.

No. 16 TCU at No. 6 Oklahoma State

The Pokes fly out to an early lead at home and though the Horned Frogs will narrow the gap in the second half, Gary Patterson’s bunch will have too big a hole to climb out of on the road against an absolute juggernaut with confidence growing by the day. Pokes 44, TCU 31

No. 7 Washington at Colorado

This rematch of last year’s Pac-12 Championship has the look of an upset. The Buffs lost some NFL-caliber talent from last season’s resurgent squad and probably feel a bit disrespected after a 3-0 start. The Huskies also lost some NFL talent but retained much of their blistering offense along with a talented but rebuilding defense. This one has the making of a Pac-12 shootout in Boulder, but Colorado’s scrappiness on defense does just enough to disrupt Washington’s attack to keep it close throughout. Huskies 38, Buffaloes 28

No. 10 Michigan at Purdue

With a questionable offense and plenty of new faces on defense in Ann Arbor, Jim Harbaugh’s crew is in for all it can handle with Jeff Brohm’s high-octane Boilermakers. Earlier this week, SBN’s Ian Boyd broke down Purdue’s resurrection under Brohm, evoking references to Drew Brees, and I look forward to watching this team (I know, crazy it’s Purdue, right?) for years to come. This one’s tomorrow’s top-10 upset: Boilermakers 35, Wolverines 21

Enjoy Week 4, friends and fellow fans!

Head down to the comments section for the game thread, where Austin, Sam and others will be asking questions, making predictions and discussing the day’s action with y’all.

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