Kellis Robinett’s Big 12 Report: Are you ready for championship month?

The race for the Big 12 championship is about to get interesting.

Thanks to conference schedule-makers, the best four teams in the Big 12 – Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU – will all play each other in the next four weeks. So far, they have feasted on the league’s lesser teams, piling up a combined record of 30-1. If not for Oklahoma inexplicably losing to Texas in Dallas, it would be an undefeated cage match.

Nevertheless, November will be filled with must-see games.

TCU takes on Oklahoma State on Saturday. Next weekend, it’s Oklahoma at Baylor. After that, we get TCU at Oklahoma and Baylor at Oklahoma State. Finally, on Nov. 28, it’s Oklahoma at Oklahoma State and Baylor at TCU. The Big 12 used to play a championship game. This will be championship month.

“There are a lot of good football teams left to play,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “ I wouldn’t use the word fun. I would say what we have to do is going to be a grind.”

Forget what’s happened so far. The team with the best record in November will win the Big 12 and have the best opportunity to represent the conference in college football’s playoff. If things fall perfectly, perhaps two teams can sneak into the top four. Then again, if no team emerges unscathed, the Big 12 could be left out for a second straight year.

November should also be interesting from a bowl perspective, as Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia and Kansas State begin to play each other.

Is this a good schedule for the Big 12? Or is it the opposite?

League coaches agree on only two things – it will be difficult, and any team that wins out will be a shoo-in for the playoff.

Let’s handicap the race:

▪ Oklahoma State has the most favorable schedule, with Baylor, Oklahoma and TCU all visiting Stillwater. The Cowboys are tough to beat at home, and their 70-53 victory over Texas Tech over the weekend is the type of result that tends to provide a long-term boost. But Oklahoma State has needed late theatrics to beat several mediocre teams. Can its magic last against the big boys?

▪ Baylor has the hardest remaining schedule, with a trip to Kansas State added on to games at Oklahoma State and TCU. The Bears have been among the nation’s most dominant teams, but starting quarterback Seth Russell is out for the season. Can the Bears win three road games with freshman Jarrett Stidham leading the offense?

▪ The Sooners have the most to gain. Left for dead after losing to the Longhorns, they are back in the playoff hunt following a pair of 55-point victories. If they can end the season with victories over Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State, they will make a compelling case for playoff inclusion. Yes, they would have a bad loss. But Ohio State got in last season despite a loss to unranked Virginia Tech.

▪ TCU may have the best chance of winning out. Its roster is healing, and its defense is improving. If it can get by Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, it will host one of the most anticipated games of the season against Baylor, a rematch of last year’s thriller.

Then again, Bedlam would make for a fun pseudo Big 12 championship, too.

The hope, at least at the conference office, is for one of those two games to be for all the marbles. If Baylor and TCU enter their game undefeated, the winner most likely advances to the playoff. Same for Bedlam if those schools keep winning. The fear is that all four teams beat each other, forcing the selection committee to choose between several one-loss teams like last year.

Late-season losses are harder to overcome than early defeats. Alabama or Stanford could jump a Big 12 team, simply based on the timing of their losses.

For now, there is unparallelled intrigue.

“From a television standpoint it will be really good,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “It makes for a fun finish.”

Power rankings

1. TCU (8-0, 5-0): Trevone Boykin made a push Heisman push against West Virginia.

2. Baylor (7-0, 4-0): Can the Bears keep things rolling with a freshman quarterback?

3. Oklahoma (7-1, 4-1): Say this much about the Sooners -- they own the Sunflower State.

4. Oklahoma State (8-0, 5-0): Don’t sleep on the Cowboys. They get Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma at home.

5. Texas Tech (5-4, 2-4): Scored more than enough points to beat TCU and Oklahoma State, but lost both games.

6. Iowa State (3-5, 2-3): Paul Rhoads with some uninspiring words: “We shouldn’t beat Texas, probably.”

7. Texas (3-5, 2-3): Losing at Iowa State was bad. Getting shutout in Ames was horrific.

8. West Virginia (3-4, 0-4): The hard part is over. Mountaineers could realistically win out.

9. Kansas State (3-4, 0-4): Wildcats nearly beat TCU at home, but there is no buzz surrounding the Baylor game.

10. Kansas (0-8, 0-5): You know things are bad when fans tear the goal posts to celebrate the Royals.

Game times for Nov. 14 (announced Monday)

▪ Kansas State at Texas Tech, 2:30 p.m. (FS1)

▪ Four games: Oklahoma at Baylor, Oklahoma State at Iowa State, Kansas at TCU and Texas at West Virginia will be assigned times on Sunday, after Saturday’s results.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Kellis Robinett’s Big 12 Report: Are you ready for championship month?."