Losing Streak to Six as Bears Collapse Again at McLane
Baylor could not do enough to put away Utah and instead were on the wrong side of another classic.
Waco, Texas— With just over a minute remaining, McLane Stadium erupted into a thunderous roar.
But it was not for the home team Bears; for free Viteks or even for a Bill Gates cameo.
It was the Utah faithful—future Big 12 member—who had ventured down from Salt Lake to the middle of Texas for Big 12 football and Magnolia cupcakes.
In a tied game, Cole Bishop easily intercepted Sawyer Robertson—making his first Baylor start in place of injured Blake Shapen—with 1:35 remaining and returned it to the Baylor 29-yard line. A game-winning field goal seemed inevitable.
Twelve minutes prior to that interception, the Bears held a 13-6 lead over the No. 12 visiting Utes and had just forced a turnover on downs to regain possession at their own 35-yard line.
From there—Coach Dave Aranda, still licking his wounds from a 42-31 loss to Texas State in the opener—opted to call three straight running plays that gained five yards and only took two minutes off the clock.
It was a very similar feeling to Baylor’s game last year vs rival No. 4 TCU when the Bears had missed opportunities yet still led and then went too conservative, too early with their play calling that would be their doom.
Utah then went 88 yards in 15 plays to take 8:05 off the clock to score the game-tying touchdown on third and goal (their third third down conversion of the drive). Utah had only completed eight passes the entire game to that point; they completed four on that drive including three in a row to move the ball from midfield to the Bears’ 10.
I asked freshman Jack linebacker Kyler Jordan about if Utah had done anything differently on that particular drive that allowed them to have so much success.
“Utah didn’t do much different” Jordan answered about that final drive, “[we made] a few mental errors [and] just didn’t execute.”
However, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham benched walk-on QB Bryson Barnes—who was starting in place of injured Pac-12 champion Cam Rising—in favor of duel threat Nate Johnson. Both had been taking snaps throughout the game, but Barnes did not see the field after his incomplete pass on fourth down.
During the drive, Baylor even had Utah backed up first with a sack to force 2nd & 15 and then a holding penalty to force a 2nd & 11. Johnson made play after play with his arm and legs.
Baylor had an immediate false start penalty before they cold even begin their two-minute drill offense and it them in such a hole that Robertson finally forced his second pick of the day.
Maybe it was Robert Griffin III’s presence in the booth, but this is where things continued to get weird.
Instead of trying to milk the clock for a game-winning field goal, the Bears defense pushed Jaylon Glover into the end zone with 17 seconds left.
Robertson then completed two passes to Hal Presley when Baylor got the ball back. The first for four years and the second over the top for 47 yards to the Utah 22-yard line and out of bounds with what video replay confirmed was one second left in regulation.
Coach Aranda said afterwards that there was “a twinkle in the refs eye” of enjoyment of the game they were apart of when they told him that there would be one final play.
However, the refs apparently did not enjoy the game enough to call a pass interference penalty in the end zone to extend the game (and their time out in the heat).
The final pass was intended for Baylor’s Ketron Jackson who took the blame for not catching the ball in the postgame press conference.
Utah cornerback Miles Battle who helped break up the final pass, recently quote tweeted video of the play saying “Utah Update: It must suck to B-U.”
Objectively, it was a miserable game to watch from start to finish for both teams. There were turnovers, penalties that stalled drives to force field goals and just confusion on how to maximize time of possession as the day continued to get hotter.
The Bears missed a field goal and threw two picks that allowed Utah to score 10 points and complete the comeback. Baylor played much better after being embarrassed by Texas State, but ultimately could not hold on long enough to find a way to win.
Baylor has a ton of work to do to even qualify for a bowl game this year and faces Long Island at home next week.
Utah hosts Weber State before they get into the meat of their Pac-12 schedule, which they hope to have Rising back for. In its final year, the Pac-12 should be a blast to watch.