Baylor-OU, Midway-Garland highlight Slovacek's I-35 Showdowns

Slovacek's logoTo honor the loyal football fans that travel great distances to support their favorite team, DCTF and our friends from Slovacek’s in West, Texas are proud to present The Slovacek’s I-35 Showdowns of the Week. Baylor (8-0) vs. Oklahoma (8-1) 7:00 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium in Waco The Big 12’s much-anticipated November round robin amongst the conference’s top tier got off to a rousing start a week ago, with TCU being knocked from the ranks of the undefeated by Oklahoma State in Stillwater. This week, the continuation of the gauntlet will bring ESPN’s College Game Day set to Waco as the unbeaten Baylor Bears play host to Oklahoma. A nationally televised, Thursday night road conference game isn’t usually the type of situation in which a true freshman quarterback making his first start thrives. But Jarrett Stidham looked like a seasoned veteran in his debut, torching the Kansas State defense to the tune of 419 yards and three touchdowns. That stage bested, Stidham now moves to a nationally televised, Saturday night showdown with the Sooners – one of the cornerstone programs of the Big 12 and perhaps the most dangerous team remaining on the Bears’ schedule. If you dismissed Oklahoma after their loss to Texas, you weren’t alone. That strange afternoon at the State Fair, the Sooners just didn’t look like a squad that could compete with the elite, high-flying offenses that have become a hallmark of the conference. In the month since Dallas, though, Baker Mayfield and the Sooner offense have scored no fewer than 52 points in each of four straight victories. This game, as many heavyweight Big 12 bouts do these days, may come down to which defense can break the opposing offense’s serve the most times. Oklahoma ranks 21^st in the nation in total defense compared to Baylor at 59th, which would appear to give the advantage to the Sooners. But the OU defense looked woefully unprepared for the Bears offense last season in Norman, and Baylor is well known for being much more dangerous at home. Also working in Baylor’s favor is their propensity for creating takeaways – they’ve forced at least one turnover in 24 straight games, and have forced multiple turnovers in 40 of their last 60. Hewitt Midway (7-3) vs. Garland (6-4) 6:00 p.m. Friday at Panther Stadium in Hewitt It’s been a tale of two seasons in 2015 for Terry Gambill’s team at Midway, who’ve been through both the best of times (their current seven-game win streak) and the worst of times (an 0-3 start). When the Panthers fell to Mansfield Timberview back in September, they found themselves with their first three-game losing streak since 2007 and with many around the state writing them off as legitimate postseason threats. Starting with a Week 4 road win over Duncanville, though, Midway has emphatically reeled off seven straight wins, averaging nearly 50 points a game and allowing only two district opponents to stay within 20 of them. In last week’s 45-6 victory over Killeen Ellison, the senior pass-catch duo of quarterback Sam Glaesmann and receiver Joseph Ward put on a show, linking up for two touchdowns as the Panther offense operated at near-peak efficiency. Their Friday night bi-district playoff opponents, the Garland Owls, come into the postseason having lost three of their final five games. The Garland offense can light up a scoreboard with the best of them, though, and has scored 40 points or more in four games this fall. Last week against Rockwall, senior quarterback Jacoby Williams threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns. Two Owl receivers – Josh Thompson and Melvin Loveless- went for over 100 yards, while Michael Lee was just three yards shy of being a third.