You would think that having never beaten another team in 17 attempts would be enough to keep a team from getting too cocky. Or the fact that the other team is the No. 1 team in the nation, while you are 2-2 and have lost 12 straight conference games.

But try telling that to Baylor tackle Jason Smith - as he told the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, he’s already thinking about what defeating Oklahoma will mean to the Bears:

“This win that we’re going to get over OU will get us on the right track,” Smith said.

But don’t call that a guarantee…no, no, how could you possibly characterize saying that you are “going to ge” a win as a guarantee:

Asked if that means he’s guaranteeing a Baylor win over OU, Smith said: “I don’t make guarantees. I just play the game of football.

“We’ve trained for this moment since the new coaches got here. We have our goals and they’re in the way.”

As much as new head coach Art Briles might love a challenge - and anyone who would agree to coach at Baylor clearly must love a challenge - I can’t imagine he’s thrilled with giving the Sooners anything resembling motivation for this game. And if I were Jason Smith, I’d make sure my Emergency Contact information was up-to-date at the local hospitals just in case.

But no matter how badly the team gets beat on Saturday, at least they’ll have something on the basketball team: another week without one player murdering another. Gold stars all around, kids!

I’m not suggesting that the Sooners are going to treat the Bears like an extra from a particularly rough scene of Oz. But I’ll just end with a quote from Smith:

“On paper, we’re at the bottom and they’re at the top. So who has the pressure?”

So the Bears are the bottom and the Sooners are top? Sounds about right.