(Photo credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images)

Houston and Baylor will have different mindsets when they square off on Saturday afternoon in their Big 12 Conference regular-season finale in Waco, Texas.

Neither the Cougars (8-3, 5-3) nor the Bears (5-6, 3-5) can play for the league championship, but Houston already has wrapped up bowl eligibility for the first time since 2022. Baylor must win to assure itself of a chance for its fourth bowl game in five seasons.The Cougars fell 17-14 at home to TCU on Saturday despite forcing four turnovers. Then-No. 23 Houston missed two field goals late in the game, including a 38-yarder in the final minute that would have tied the score.Houston quarterback Conner Weigman passed for 161 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 114 yards in the loss but also threw an interception in the end zone late in the first half.

The Cougars have dropped two of their past three games to fall out of the running for the Big 12 title. Houston has won all five of its road games this season.'I don't think there's any set answer (why we play so well on the road),' Houston coach Willie Fritz said Monday. 'Sometimes you play tough teams at home as well, which we have.'The Bears, meanwhile, have dropped two straight games to put themselves in danger of missing a bowl game.

'The team is in a good place, and they know what this week means,' Baylor coach Dave Aranda said. 'We know it's gonna be a four-quarter fight to get a win. And so (we're) ready to give it everything we got. (The goal is) very much to align with wanting to win and wanting to get something out of each day and to go 1-0 each day.'

Baylor's most recent outing was a 41-17 loss at Arizona on Saturday in a game in which the Bears' Sawyer Robertson threw for 162 passing yards and a TD, with two interceptions, and also had a rushing score.Robertson leads the Big 12 in passing yards with 3,372 and ranks fourth nationally in that category.--Field Level Media