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The Big 12 has had an air-it-out stereotype attached to its name for many years, earning the reputation through passing yards, porous defenses at times and high scores compared to the other Power Five leagues before the SEC began using more tempo and modern offense.

Baylor, however, first under Art Briles with a balanced attack that is the origin for Ole Miss’ current scheme, and now with the Bears who are conference champions and face the Rebels Jan. 1 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, running the football is how they get where they are going.

Baylor, which is 11-2 after beating Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game, is one of the most balanced teams nationally when it comes to yards per game, just two yards per game difference in rushing and passing, and the Bears join Ole Miss as one of the Power Five’s best at rushing offenses.

“They're really good at what they do,” Ole Miss co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge said. “The way they run the ball, you know, they run stretch, and then they run it a lot of different ways. They dress it up. They'll hit it in all different spots.

“You got to be really, really sound in all the gaps. That's the front, the linebackers, the safeties. The edges, the corners at times, everybody's got to be sound because they hit it all over the field.”

Baylor is eighth in the Power Five nationally (Ole Miss is first) in rushing yards per game at 214, and the Bears average 5.26 per run which is sixth out of the top-20 teams in the country in yards per game, meaning the Bears run it often and well. And the number is 5.7 yards per rush when kneels and quarterback scrambles are removed from the statistics.

Instead of a Cheesecake-Factory style menu of options, Partridge said Baylor’s run game reminds him most of Mississippi State, in that the Bears use a small number of base plays, and they’ve perfected the different variations.

Baylor runs the ball on 70 percent of its offensive plays, while Ole Miss is 56 percent, for comparison. The Bears most try to stress defenses around the ends and have been successful at it. Baylor averages 8.8 yards per carry with 41 first downs and 28 rushes of more than 10 yards around the left end and 6.2 yards per rush around the right end.

Sixty percent of Baylor’s rushing yards are after contact.

Abram Smith, who has 233 designed rushes for 1,426 yards, and Tristan Ebner, who has 143 designed runs for 748 yards, each average more than nine yards per carry around the left end and 7.1 and 5.3, respectively, around the right end.

“It's something where we got to get negative plays,” Partridge said. “We got to knock them back, and we got to rally. We got to be gap sound, and we got to tackle and play sound, fundamental football and play hard. Get 11 guys running at the running back and hitting. It'll knock them back and force them to throw the ball down the field.”

Quarterback Gerry Bohannon uses some type of play-action on 45 percent of his dropbacks to utilize the run-heavy scheme in the passing game.

On those throws, he completes 68 percent of his passes compared to 59 percent on straight drop backs. He has 13 touchdowns and two interceptions on play-actions and four of each on all other passing plays.

When Bohannon throws the ball more than 20 yards down the field, he’s 23-for-44 with seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

“We've got to make sure that we come ready to play physical and stop the run game as well as, you know, limit those shots down the field that I think are the big game-changers when you get the big plays,” Ole Miss co-defensive coordinator DJ Durkin said.