Expect Texas to bully Baylor

Texas coach Mack Brown seems to be a nice guy, but he turns into a bully when he sees Baylor on the schedule.

Since the Big 12 Conference opened its doors in 1996, Baylor has won national titles in women's basketball and men's tennis. Football has been a far different story as the Bears are 11-80 straight up in conference play since the league's inception.

While virtually every team in the Big 12 has physically dominated Baylor since Day One, no team has punished the Bears quite like Texas.

The Longhorns have beaten up on Baylor in a big way in recent years, having trounced the Bears by an average score of 51-10 since 1998. Home or away, it has not mattered. The Longhorns, with a far superior talent level, have simply named their score.

It should be no different today at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas.

The Bears have allowed 31, 34, 43 and 58 points during the past four weeks against Buffalo, Texas A&M, Colorado and Kansas.

Baylor has gone 9-26-2 against the spread as a conference home underdog since 1998. Additionally, the Bears are 4-11-1 as a double-digit home 'dog in the past seven seasons.

Texas, which displayed a pass-first offensive mentality last week in its 56-3 thumping of Iowa State, might hit 60 points against the Bears, who are expected to be without starting quarterback Blake Szymanski.

Lay the 241/2 points and take quarterback Colt McCoy and the Longhorns to again steamroll the Bears.

Other selections for today (home team in CAPS):

• CLEMSON (-161/2) over Central Michigan -- The Tigers are coming off consecutive conference losses and historically have slapped around inferior opponents such as Central Michigan.

The Chippewas have played two Bowl Championship Series schools this season in the vicinity of Clemson's caliber -- Kansas and Purdue -- and lost by 45 and 23 points. The Jayhawks and Boilermakers rushed for 230 and 223 yards against the Chippewas, and neither club has a running game to match Clemson's.

Central Michigan is 13-35 against the spread as an away underdog in its past 48 games in the role.

• Penn State (-7) over INDIANA -- After the death of former coach Terry Hoeppner over the summer, the Hoosiers have lots of fans pulling for them to make their first bowl appearance since 1993. Indiana has a 5-2 record, but that mark is misleading because of its soft schedule.

The Hoosiers are 8-18 against the spread in their past 26 games as home underdogs, and the Nittany Lions are 8-3 as Big Ten road favorites.

• MISSISSIPPI (+51/2) over Arkansas -- The Razorbacks come in at 3-3 straight up, having defeated the three creampuffs on their schedule and losing to three eventual bowl teams.

The Rebels lost to Florida and Alabama but played both to the wire at home. Technically, Mississippi is 9-3 against the spread as a Southeastern Conference home 'dog since 2001, and Arkansas has covered only one of its past nine games.

• COLORADO (+4) over Kansas -- This is the first time this decade the Jayhawks have been a Big 12 road favorite over anyone besides Iowa State. Kansas also is making its first trip outside its home state this season.

The Buffaloes have played one of the nation's toughest schedules, going head to head with the likes of Arizona State, Florida State and Oklahoma.

Kansas is 10-22 against the spread in its past 32 games on natural grass, and Colorado is 16-8 against the spread in its past 24 conference home games.

• WASHINGTON (+13) over Oregon -- The Huskies' offense has been mostly redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Locker and little else, but this spot shapes up nicely for the home team. Oregon has lost two top receivers, Brian Paysinger and Cameron Colvin, to serious injuries in recent weeks.

• Miami-FLORIDA STATE (Under 41) -- Envisioning why this total is this high is difficult, considering these teams have totaled 36, 26, 17 and 23 points during the past four meetings, with no team scoring more than 22 points in any of those games.

Last week: 0-5 against the spread

Season: 16-18-1

Texas-based handicapper Paul Stone of Vegas Sports Authority (vegassportsauthority.com) is providing weekly college football analysis for the Review-Journal this season.