DALLAS – Baylor didn’t play a strong non-conference schedule in 2014.
The Bears beating up on SMU, 45-0, Northwestern State, 70-6, and then finally Buffalo, 63-21, to close out the non-conference portion a perfect 3-0. But who didn’t expect that.
Baylor has come under scrutiny in the past for scheduling a soft non-conference slate, for example placing themselves against SMU, Lamar and Rice in 2015.
With how the College Football Playoff Committee decided against the Bears, some believe Baylor having stronger non-conference opponents would have made a difference, but not head coach Art Briles.
“Well, those were long‑term thinking,” he said. “Truth be known, I think, if we’d have gone 12‑0, there’s no doubt we’re in there and we’re rolling. So that’s something, if we win all our games, it takes care of itself.”
Currently, the Bears are looking to add more formidable opponents in the future, Briles said, making the games more attractive to the public.
When it boils down to the Bears getting into the second annual College Football Playoff, Briles said winning is all they need to worry about, not who they play in non-conference.
“If we line up and we win 12 games this year, we’re going to be in the final four,” he said. “I think you can put that in ink right now. Because we will have beaten many ranked teams in this conference, and last year we beat more top ten teams than anybody in America.
“So we come through there without a blemish, we’ll be in good shape. So will be the Big 12.”
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