Win a hard fought road battle with a team from Texas last week. Your reward this week: a visit from another team from Texas. This one is a top 5 offensive juggernaut that is coming off an amazing comeback of its own. Say hello to Baylor.

 

West Virginia's football team had has had rough start since joining the Big 12. The Mountaineers record through two and a half seasons in the league is 8-14. Not exactly what WVU fans had become accustomed to over the past decade. Some of that record is that WVU is facing more opponents each year that really care about football. Need some proof that these schools care? Look no further than the billions of dollars recently being pumped into Big 12 football programs:

 

Baylor - $250 million new stadium completed prior to the start of this season

 

Oklahoma - recently announced $370 million in stadium renovations

 

TCU - $160 million stadium renovation completed in 2012

 

Texas Tech - $135 million in stadium renovations (some projects completed last year, others still to come)

 

Iowa State - announced this spring a $60 million stadium renovation project due to be completed in the summer of 2015

 

Kansas State - announced last spring a $65 million third phase in stadium upgrades. In total, Kansas State will spend approximately $125 million.

 

You don't put up that kind of money if you don't deeply care about football. You also don't put up that kind of money to lose games. There's pressure to win in this league. The week in, week out grind of the Big 12 is very difficult. But here's the flip side: great opportunity. When you're playing highly ranked, highly competitive, well respected programs wins are tough to find. When you get a win however, it has a chance to make a national impact because of the quality of the opponent most weeks in this league.

 

Today's game is one of those opportunities. Beat Baylor and WVU announces to the country it is back. The Mountaineers would be nationally relevant again. Beat Baylor today and WVU will lead the highlight shows tonight.

 

This is the second time in a month WVU has had the opportunity to knock off a top 5 team. It's the third time this season. WVU is playing its third top 5 team and the season just hit the halfway point last weekend. As I mentioned here last week those games against top 5 Alabama and Oklahoma have a lot to do with the optimism surrounding WVU this year. WVU lost both games, but played well enough to get noticed. Now the Mountaineers hope the third time (against a top 5 team) is a charm.

 

We all remember how badly WVU was beaten last year in Waco. The game wasn't as close as the final score indicated, which is saying something since Baylor won by 4 plus touchdowns. The Bears rolled up 872 yards of offense against the Mountaineers last year. 872 yards. Only 128 yards shy of 1,000...in a single game.

 

That would be scary enough, but keep in mind, this wasn't the first time a WVU defense had trouble stopping the Bears. Baylor put up 63 points on the Mountaineers in 2012. Of course in that one, WVU came out on top after throwing up 70 points of its own.

 

What does this year hold? I don't think there is much doubt the Bears will score. We already knew Baylor could score points in bunches and in a hurry, but last week's amazing comeback against what was supposed to be an elite TCU defense, showed us WVU may have to put up another 70 points to be in this game.

 

If WVU loses, but keeps it close they will again be talked about nationally as a program that is on its way back. The time for moral victories has passed however. This is a game today against a team in your own league. It's a program you recruit against, measure yourself against and expected to beat more often than not when you joined this league.

 

If West Virginia wants to announce to the country it's back, a win today would be the way to do it.

 

With great challenges come great opportunities. Today is one of those.

 

Welcome to life in the Big 12.

 

Editor's Note: Big plays, media scrutiny and a lot of intensity are shown in these photos by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com. It's all part of the Big 12 Conference and Brad Howe believes you can expect more of it today.