Trophy Update - BYU secures the Trophy in OT win over Baylor

BYU held on in overtime to defeat Baylor and win the jiMpossible-sarcasMike trophy for the first time since 1997.

This marks the Cougars 3rd time with the Trophy. 

• They defeated Colorado State in September of 1995, only to lose to Arizona State the next week.
• Their second run started with a win over Tulsa in 1996. They rattled off 7 more wins - including the WAC championship and the Cotton Bowl over Kansas State before losing the 1997 season opener to Washington.
• Prior to Saturday the Cougars had not even played for the Trophy since their 2004 loss to USC.
• BYU has an overall record of 10-5 in Trophy battles
• The Cougars are the first Independent school to have the Trophy since Notre Dame in 1990
• BYU travels to Oregon next week, the Ducks are 0-17-1 in games for the Trophy
• If the Ducks win the will be the 102nd Trophy-holder and the first first-timer since Kansas State in October of 2012.
• While looking up first time winners - I noticed the 1957 Maryland - UNC game was a Trophy game. This is the game the recently deceased Queen Elizabeth attended while visiting the US.
  

Ole Miss takes Trophy to Sugar Bowl

Ole Miss won the Egg Bowl and will take the jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy into the Sugar Bowl against Baylor on New Years Day.

• Ole Miss is 45-14-5 vying for the Trophy
  
• This marks their 5th time as Trophy holder
  
• Their longest streak was 19 games from November of 1958 through November of 1961 (included a tie to retain the trophy)
• The 19 game run was the longest between the Army 21 game holding from 1948-1950 and the USC run of 24 games from 1978-1980.
  
• They followed that with a 13 game run, starting with revenge against LSU in 1962 and going until the aforementioned Sugar Bowl loss to Alabama (2 ties included this time)

•  Baylor is 24-13 in Trophy games; 1-1 when the Trophy was up for grabs in a Bowl
• They have won the Trophy 8 times
• The Bears had a streak of 12 wins after taking the Trophy from Kansas State in November of 2012.

Neither school has a B1G team on their schedule so a return to the conference seems unlikley before bowl season 2022

Quick Trophy Update

TCU won in the rain in double overtime 28-21 over Baylor last night, winning back the jimpossible-sarcasMike Trophy.

I'll try to have a full update later, but for now Go Blue! Beat the Buckeyes!

Baylor back in possession of jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy

Baylor toppled undefeated Oklahoma State on Saturday, keeping their conference and playoff hopes alive. But perhaps most importantly taking possession of the jiMpossible-sarcasMike trophy.

The Bears have had two recent runs with the trophy. They held it for essentially for a season from November 2012 to November 2013, taking it from Kansas State and then losing it to Oklahoma State.

They had a one week reign last season between their victory over TCU and loss to WVU.

Overall Baylor has a 24-12 record in trophy games. This is their 5th time as trophy holder.

Baylor has 2 games left on the schedule. They travel to TCU Friday night and finish the regular season hosting Texas. Both those games will be season finales for their opponents. TCU and Baylor are definitely going to bowl games/playoffs. If Texas were to end up with the trophy, they are still not bowl eligible.

WVU drops Baylor from ranks of Unbeaten and wins TROPHY

West Virginia failed to take the jiMpossible-sarcasMike trophy from Oklahoma just a few weeks ago, but given a second chance this season, they triumphed over previously undefeated Baylor 41-27.

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

  

Big XII schools have retained the trophy since WVU demolished Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.  

 

WVU travels to Stillwater this week, then host TCU, travel to Texas, host Kansas St and finish the regular season in Ames, Iowa. 

ESPN currently project the Mountaineers in either the Russell Athletic Bowl vs. Duke or the Auto Zone Liberty Bowl vs. Cal. But that probably anticipates at least one loss during the regular season. It would seem the trophy is likely to stay in the Big XII until Bowl season.

Baylor triumphant in trophy thriller

Baylor scored 24 points in the final 11 minutes to complete a come-from-behind Trophy taking over TCU.

TCU scored 58 points in the loss - the second most for a trophy-game loser in history behind - of course Baylor's 63 points in a loss to WVU in 2012. Who does Baylor play next week?

WVU.

The Bears had a long run with the trophy in 2012-2013. They beat Kansas St in November of 2012 and rattled off 12 more victories before falling to Oklahoma St in November of last year.

Baylor is 23-11 all time in trophy games. Their remaining schedule is all conference games.

After going to Morgantown this weekend, they have a bye week. Their remaining schedule is:

11/01 - Kansas
11/08 - at Oklahoma
11/22 - Oklahoma St
11/29 - Texas Tech
12/06 - Kansas St.

At least three close match-up there.

As one of the 6 remaining undefeated teams, Baylor is certainly in playoff consideration. There is a chance the Trophy could make it to the playoffs in it's first season!

Big Trophy game tonight

Baylor has held the jimPossible-sarcasMike Trophy since defeating Kansas State last November.

• They've won those 11 games by an average score of  53-22. 
• Oklahoma comes in to Waco ranked #10 with a 7-1 record. 
• Oklahoma lost the trophy in the MNC game in January of 2009 and hasn't played for it since.
• An 11 win streak as trophy holder for Baylor (their first of those 11 games above was as the challenger) would be the longest since Florida ripped off 12 straight wins after beating Oklahoma in 2009

Mid-October Trophy Update

I haven't posted for a while about the status of the jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy. Baylor has been on quite a dominant run since taking it from Kansas State last November.

Baylor has scored 476 points in those 8 games - almost 60 points per game! Tomorrow they head to Manhattan to face the Wildcats they took the trophy from in the first place. Baylor is a 17 point favorite in what is expected to be another high scoring game. The over/under is around 74. This seems low, Baylor's lowest point total this season is 69 points.

Stranger things have happened, but I would expect the trophy to be making a return trip to Waco.

Baylor keeps Trophy into 2013

Baylor knocked off UCLA in the Holiday Bowl last night 49-26 to keep the jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy for the off-season.
The trophy spent the entire season in the Big 12. A one conference season has been more of the norm lately. The Trophy was in the SEC for both the 2009-2010 seasons after Florida beat Oklahoma in the 2009 BCS Championship game. The Big 12 had the trophy the entire regular season of 2008 and the SEC had it all of 2007.
You have to go all the way back to 1996 to find the trophy in more than 2 conferences in a season.

As I said coming into the bowls, Baylor seems to have a relatively light non-conference schedule in 2013 so we may see another year of Big 12 trophy holding.

Baylor keeps the trophy

With their 52-45 overtime victory, Baylor not only secured Bowl eligibility yesterday, they retained control of the jiMpossible-sarcasMike trophy.

Trophy games have not produced much defense this season. The average score has been 49.25 - 31.25.  The Bears host Oklahoma State next week.

Looking ahead the Big-12 Bowl tie-ins look something like this: (with Jerry Palm's predictions)

Champ - Fiesta (Kansas St)
2nd - BCS at-large (Oklahoma) not a guaranteed tie-in but likely
3rd - Cotton (Texas)
4th - Alamo (TCU)
5th - Buffalo Wild Wings (Oklahoma St)
6th - Holiday (Texas Tech)
7th - Meinecke Car Care (Baylor)
8th - Pinstripe (West Virginia)
9th - Heart of Dallas (Iowa State) this is not a Big12 tie-in but a predicted filled with a bowl eligible team.

I would guess from that list that Pal is predicting an Oklahoma State victory over Baylor.

Trophy heads to Waco

For the first time since 1991 the Baylor Bears are holders of the jiMpossible-sarcasMike Trophy. The Bears not only dashed the MNC hopes of the Wildcats, they also took the trophy 52-24.

Baylor is 10-10 all-time in trophy games. This is their 4th time holding the trophy.  In the 1957 Sugar Bowl, they knocked off Tennessee. They opened the 1957 season with 2 victories before falling to Miami on 10/5/1957.

Their trophy drought had reached 34 years before taking the trophy from Colorado on 9/14/1991. They rattled off 3 more wins before losing to Rice. Rice subsequently lost to TCU and the Bears re-took the trophy the next week from the Horned Frogs. They won again the the next week before a late season loss to Texas Tech sent the trophy away.

They had 4 chances to win the trophy in the intervening 21 years. They lost in 1997 to Nebraska, 1998 to Texas A&M, 2008 to Oklahoma State and earlier this season to West Virginia.

The remaining schedule for Baylor is next week hosting Texas Tech and they close the season hosting Oklahoma State. Not much has made sense in the Big Twelve this season, so there is still a lot of drama to come. That remaining schedule does guarantee a bowl visit for the Trophy as Baylor's opponents are already eligible and Baylor will be if they win out.