Arlington, Texas - The Baylor Bears have done it again, winning the football program’s third Big 12 championship by outlasting the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday afternoon.

The ninth-ranked Bears beat the fifth-ranked Cowboys in a close one, 21-16 for the school’s third Big 12 title and first since 2014.

With the loss, the Cowboys are all but excluded from consideration for the FBS college football playoffs.

Oklahoma State grabbed the lead first with a chip-shot field goal midway through the first quarter.

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Baylor quickly responded with a touchdown to clinch a small 7-3 lead after the first quarter.

They added even more offense with two unanswered touchdowns in the second as the Cowboys kicked another field goal before halftime, trailing 21-6.

The Bears defense took over in the second half, but not before Oklahoma State finally got into the end zone to cut their deficit to eight.

Baylor didn’t give much more after that, allowing just another field goal. They then stonewalled the Cowboys offense drive after drive, including a goal-line stand in the final seconds to close out the game.

Baylor’s freshman quarterback Blake Shapen (19) led the way with a strong first-half performance that laid the foundation for the Bears defense in the latter parts of the game.

Starting in his second-straight game after their starter went down with a hamstring injury, he completed his first 17 pass attempts, setting the tone for Baylor’s offensive attack early on.

Shapen finished the game with 23-for-28 passing, 180 yards, and three touchdowns.

After a strong showing last weekend to finish the regular season, the Cowboys were hoping to garner enough consideration for one of the four college football playoff spots. With now losing their conference championship game, a playoff berth is going to be out of the question.

Oklahoma State had a great season, cruising through their schedule with two separate winning streaks of five games or more. But when it got down to the biggest game yet of their season, they simply couldn’t get it done.

Up next, the Bears will play in the Sugar Bowl while the Cowboys must wait to see which lesser bowl game they’ll be awarded a spot in.