I’ve watched in person and on TV many a Baylor Football loss (more sad games than I’d like to recall). I won’t even get into the horrors that were the 2016 (remember those coaches aside from the greatest white man ever Jim Grobe?) and 2017 seasons and even part of 2020. Something about yesterday’s 26-20 double OT defeat against No. 21 BYU (2-0) in Stillwater after a thrilling victory last week brought back memories from those prior mentioned years in that the No. 9 Bears (1-1) essentially beat themselves. A culmination of horrible offensive playcalling, truly undisciplined penalties, and a barely existing offense handed Baylor their first loss of the season in a brand new location (which we’ll unfortunately see more often when BYU joins the Big 12). Ultimately, Baylor should have been the better team but continuously shot themselves in the foot and left with a loss. Because the offense barely gained yardage in their double OT loss I won’t go into the play-by-play as usual, so instead I want to go over the drives that showed promise and/or got us a score and finally end with my favorite stats (and please do not expect a reaction video from me and dad tomorrow as there were lots of frowns and anger yelling in our now deleted footage). Sophomore QB Blake Shapen completed 18 of 28 passing attempts for 137 yards and 1 TD and he added 4 carries for a loss of 22 yards. The Bears noted fewer total offensive yards than BYU with 289 to their 366 and Baylor had 14 penalties for a loss of 117 yards.
On BYU’s second drive of the game, junior LB Matt Jones sacked QB Jaren Hall for a loss of 10 yards. Junior S Devin Neal sacked Hall for a loss of 1 yard at the start of the second quarter to force a 3-and-out. 6th year DL Cole Maxwell broke up a Hall pass on 3rd and 6 for a BYU punt. In the middle of the second quarter, junior RB Qualan Jones rushed for 23 yards on 4 carries. Freshman RB Richard Reese carried the ball 1 yard and junior RB Craig “Sqwirl” Williams added 11 yards on 2 carries. Shapen threw 2 incomplete passes before connecting with 5th year TE Ben Sims on an 11-yard pass. Q. Jones rushed up the middle for a 1-yard gain and TD, though sophomore K Isaiah Hankins missed the extra point, so the Bears closed the drive up 6-3. On the Bears’ first drive of the third quarter, Reese rushed 1 yard on 1 carry prior to Shapen completing consecutive passes of 19 and 18 yards to 6th year WR Gavin Holmes and sophomore WR Hal Presley, respectively. Q. Jones and C. Williams gained 1 and 2 yards on their carries. Q. Jones caught a 12-yard pass from Shapen and Reese ran for 9 yards on the ground. Following a BYU facemask penalty, Q. Jones rushed for 7 yards into the end zone for his second TD of the day with Hankins making the extra point. The Bears pulled ahead, 13-10 (the Cougars added a quick score at the end of the second quarter). BYU increased their lead to 20-13 with another TD in the third quarter. At the close of the quarter, Reese rushed for 1 yard, C. Williams gained 13, and Shapen completed a 1-yard pass to junior TE Drake Dabney. Continuing the drive into the fourth quarter, Shapen connected with Presley for 3 yards and Sims for 12. Q. Jones rushed for 15 yards on 3 carries and C. Williams had 11 yards on 2 carries. Shapen threw a 13-yard ball to sophomore WR Seth Jones and Sims closed the series with a 4-yard catch and TD and Hankins’ extra point for the Bears to tie 20-20. On BYU’s subsequent drive, senior DL TJ Franklin and junior LB Garmon Randolph had individual QB hurries. BYU got the ball to close the regular period and senior S Al Walcott notched a pass break up before the BYU kicker missed the potential game-winning field goal that instead sent the game into OT. Unfortunately Baylor doesn’t have a full box score including the OT play-by-play on their website, so there aren’t any other plays I’m able to note from the double OT game.
5 Baylor athletes saw rushing attempts including C. Williams (17 carries for 68 yards), Q. Jones (16 carries for 67 yards and 2 TDs), junior RB Taye McWilliams (6 carries for 22 yards), Reese (6 carries for 19 yards), and 5th year LB Dillon Doyle (1 carry for 0 yards). 8 received passes including Sims (4 catches for 30 yards and 1 TD), Presley (3 catches for 31 yards), Q. Jones (3 catches for 17 yards), Dabney (3 catches for 16 yards), S. Jones (2 catches for 16 yards), Holmes (1 catch for 19 yards), McWilliams (1 catch for 7 yards), and redshirt freshman WR Josh Cameron (1 catch for 1 yard). The defense was the shining star of the game, amassing 63 tackles with 5 for a loss of 16 yards (M. Jones, Neal, Walcott, Maxwell, redshirt freshman S Devin Lemear), 2 sacks for a loss of 11 yards (M. Jones, Neal), 3 pass breakups (M. Jones, Walcott, Maxwell), and 3 QB hurries (5th year CB Mark Milton, Franklin, Randolph).
Baylor will face Texas State (1-1) in Waco on Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT).
