“Wow! Wait!” Monica shouts, trying to quiet the crowd. “This got interesting!”

Likewise, with some intriguing rollers from the scoreboard on Saturday, it got interesting for the Baylor Bears.

OK, it’s not that Baylor has been uninteresting in 2024. In fact, that’s probably the Bears’ best quality, their ability to make things lively, for better or for worse. This is in stark contrast to last year, where they were predictable at best, flat and uninteresting at worst.

But here’s what’s really crazy about this year: Suddenly, a Big 12 championship game berth for these goofy Fozzie-looking bears can’t be totally ruled out.

Baylor’s 20-10 road win over Houston on Saturday at TDECU Stadium — the Bears’ fifth in a row after a 2-4 start — more clearly crystallizes a possibility. it seemed bleak at best a few weeks ago. A place in Jerryworld is not outside the realm of possibility.

Oh, don’t get ahead of yourself, it’s still not a likely outcome. But the simple fact that we live in a world where this is possible should say something about how far the Bears have come.

“I never lost faith in the team,” Baylor defensive lineman Elinus Noel said. “I think people may have started to see a replay of last year. But within the establishment, we knew what it was. There are a few things we’ve had to tweak and we’ve improved in that area, and it’s starting to show. We still have a long way to go, but I’m just excited about this team and excited for next week.

Baylor entered Saturday’s Southwest Conference meeting night with Houston needing to win and get some help. And get this, the Bears got a little help on Saturday. Kansas helped the Bears in their quest by beating 16th-ranked Colorado 37-21. Then, No. 21 Arizona State provided even more intrigue by edging No. 14 BYU, 28-23.

Now, there are still four teams ahead of Baylor in the Big 12 standings heading into the regular season finale, the Jeff Grimes Bowl against Kansas. But it didn’t take me long to imagine a scenario that would bring the Bears to Jerryworld for the third time in the last six seasons.

Here’s one I found: If Oklahoma State beat Colorado next week, if BYU won at home against Houston, if Kansas State beat Iowa State, if Arizona was melting down the Sun Devils in a rivalry matchup, and if Baylor took care of business against the Jayhawks. , the Big 12 Championship Game qualifiers would be…drumroll, please…yes, drumroll…#1 BYU and #2 Baylor.

Yes, that’s a lot of “ifs”. But college football is a game where the ifs and buts really are candy and nuts, and we’re all going to have a Merry Christmas. Translation: It gives us crazy results all the time.

Or as the Trib’s Zach Smith said when I mentioned the Oklahoma-Alabama halftime score in the press box Saturday: “College football is lopsided, man.” Then he quickly added, “I love it.”

That may say as much about Big 12 fuel as anything else. This league has terrorized the tipsters this year. It’s the Chaos Conference, the WWE heel you love to hate. You can try playing favorites, but that won’t get you very far, because (as evidenced by the results mentioned above) favorites fall flat on their face all the time.

But the fact that we’re even discussing the possibility of Baylor playing in the 2024 Big 12 championship game tells a fascinating story about the resilience of these Bears.

One of the most important things a football team can be is to be serious. Baylor seems to have this in spades. The game recording of Saturday’s win over the Coogs will not be sent to the Smithsonian for preservation. It was far from pretty, but it was indeed grainy. Baylor overcame two horrific Sawyer Robertson interceptions in the first quarter, including one that resulted in a pick six for Houston’s only touchdown of the evening. For much of the first half, the Cougars had caught more passes from Robertson than they had from their own quarterback, Zeon Chriss.

It was far from a vintage night from Robertson, who threw another pick in the fourth quarter and finished with a career-high three interceptions. But he and the Baylor offense made just enough plays to come out of H-Town with a win, and that’s still the most important stat for any quarterback.

On the other side, Baylor’s defense kept UH’s offense out of the end zone all night. Granted, Houston’s offense isn’t good. Check that out. It’s not good to be too nice. The Cougars are pathetic on that side of the ball. They may have been wearing Houston Oilers uniforms that night, but guess what? It’s not exactly Warren Moon and the Run-and-Shoot. More like Throw It at the Moon and Pray. Basically, Chuck and Duck.

And yet Houston, in its first year of transition under new coach Willie Fritz, was still dashing enough in the Chaos Conference to eliminate TCU, Utah and Kansas State. The Cougars entered the night having won three of their last five games and both losses came on the road.

They deserved to be respected and Baylor did them justice.

“The focus this week was on not falling into the trap,” Noel said. “Guys go on a four-game winning streak and think that, you know, wins are easy. Victories are not easy. Preparation and all that still applies to the game. We trained as hard as Week 1, with weightlifting, training, film, everything. This was evident as soon as we arrived on the ground. Everyone did their job.

Maturity is turning the ball over three times, but taking it back four times. The maturity is the offense which ran only three plays to Houston’s 23 in the third quarter and still tied the Cougars on the scoreboard in the second half. The maturity is Isaiah Hankins who makes a 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to give his team some breathing room.

Aranda noted in the postgame press conference, as the thumping bass of celebratory hip-hop seeped from the locker room through the walls, that earlier in the season his team could have lost a game like this one. But they have grown a lot since then.

“At 2-4, it’s a tough spot for a team to be in,” Noel said. “But we have such a resilient team. When we were 2-4, I think everyone believed we were going to have a winning season, and we were able to do that. As far as the Big 12 Championship goes, losing four games, it’s tough to win a championship, but we’re just going to take it one game at a time.

I started with a classic line from “Friends”, I’ll leave you with another classic (and appropriate) exchange from “Dumb and Dumber”. If you know, be sure to sing.

Awkward Lloyd Christmas puts everything on the line for his out-of-his-league crush, Mary Swanson.

“What are the chances that a guy like you and a girl like me would end up together?” Lloyd asks.

“Well…Lloyd, it’s hard to say…we really don’t know each other…” Mary stammers.

“Hit me with it, Mary.” Give it to me directly. I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is be on my level. What are my chances? Lloyd said.

“Not good,” Mary responds, looking Lloyd in the eyes.

“You mean, not as good as one in a hundred?” » suggests Lloyd.

“I’d say more like one in a million.” Marie responds.

“Soooo…you’re telling me there’s a chance.” Yeah!” Lloyd said.

There’s still a chance, Baylor fans.