Baylor v. Kansas St.

It's hard to believe, but the 2012 college football season is almost over.  Lots of year-end rivalry games being played today -- games like Harvard v. Yale, USC v. UCLA, Vanderbilt v. Tennessee, and William & Mary v. Richmond.

Kansas State was so bad for so long that they never really developed a strong end-of-the-season tradition.  For years, the biggest college football game in Kansas was the KU/Mizzou game -- and that game isn't even played anymore.  But this year, the eyes of the nation will be very much focused on K-State, because the Wildcats are currently ranked # 2 in the nation in the AP poll, and they are currently on track for an appearance in the BCS title game.  They are also on pace for a Big XII championship.  Baylor, on the other hand, is suffering through a disappointing season as they really miss RG III.  Here are the current Big XII standings:

Kansas St.:  7-0, 10-0
Oklahoma:  5-1, 7-2
Texas:  5-2, 8-2
Oklahoma St:  4-2, 7-2
Texas Tech:  4-3, 7-3
Texas Christian:  3-4, 6-4
W. Virginia:  2-4, 5-4
Iowa St:  2-5, 5-5
Baylor:  1-5, 4-5
Kansas:  0-7, 1-9

(By the way, notice that our old friends from WVU have lost every game they've played since they lost the UCFC a few weeks ago.)

For most of their history, of course, Kansas State and Baylor were in separate conferences, with the Wildcats in the Big 8 and Baylor in the Southwest Conference.  So this will only be the 10th meeting between the two schools.  K-State leads the all-time series 7-2.

This is a prime-time game on ESPN, and I have no doubt the folks in Waco will come out in big numbers to see if their guys can upset the Wildcats.  But K-State has been pretty solid all year.  According to Vegas, the Wildcats are favored by 12 1/2 points, and the over-under is 74.  That points to a typical Big XII shootout, with the Wildcats winning 43-31.  That sounds about right to me.