The Code of Sportsmanship
Baylor fans rushed the field, twice, and chanted SEC as they beat No. 8 Oklahoma 27-14
Before Saturday, Baylor had only beaten Oklahoma three times—2011, ‘13, and ‘14— in their football history. Ever.
Maybe they should invite Coach Bob Stoops back to Waco more often.
With FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show in attendance for the top 13 matchup between the Bears and Sooners, Coach Stoops has now also been in attendance for all four of Baylor’s victories over Oklahoma.
By the end the focus was on current Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley and his ‘Code of Sportsmanship.’
Oklahoma was one of four undefeated teams left in College Football as they rolled into Waco, Texas. They were coming off a bye week and new freshman quarterback Caleb Williams was about to start his fourth game—fifth game overall after being the Red River Savior.
Neither Williams nor Heisman frontrunner turned backup QB Spencer Rattler (who subbed in for Williams and nearly sparked OU in the third) could solve the Bears’ defense. The duo combined for 14 completions for 182 yards no two interceptions.
Coach Dave Aranda defenses have now limited the Sooner offense to extremely low outputs the past three years: 322 yards in the 2019 CFP semifinal vs LSU; 269 yards last year in Norman, and 260 total yards on Saturday.
Violent QB
The stars of the show was Baylor QB Gerry Bohanon who had 224 total yards and three total TDs and Abram Smith who had 20 carries for 148 yards. Afterwards, Bohanon enthusiastically emphasized how he wanted to be violent this game.
He also mentioned how he took the loss to TCU personally when he threw a game-ending interception with less than a minute to play and Baylor down two. However, he made sure to refocus himself and his teammates to get the Bears’ first top 10 win since 2015 and first win over the Sooners since 2014.
Bohanon is no stranger to adversity having had his entire HS senior season forfeited in 2017 and then sitting on the bench as QB2 at Baylor since 2018 before finally getting his shot. We profiled Bohanon earlier this season here.
Field Rush, Tiebreakers & the Code of Sportsmanship
The ending of the game was so wild that we need to break what transpired down piece by piece.
Roughing the Center
With 1:27 left, Baylor faced fourth down at Oklahoma’s 24-yard line. Only up 10 points, the Bears kicked, and made, a field goal to lower the Sooners’ odds of winning even further.
However, a roughing the center penalty was called. With no timeouts left for Oklahoma, it was a clear no brainer to take the points off the board and get a first down at the 12-yard line. Baylor could take three knees in victory formation to win the game.
Kneel Downs
With 87 seconds left on the game clock and a 40-second play clock, Baylor would have to snap the ball three time in order to run out the clock. They knelt it on first down and took a timeout with 43 seconds left to avoid the delay of game penalty.
They knelt it again on second down to met the clock, though they had to take a timeout again to avoid a delay of game. There were three seconds left in the game, and Baylor now had a third and 12.
Here is where things got interesting. Baylor fans started rushing the field.
Premature Field Rush
Bohanon gestured to the onslaught of Baylor Line students to stop from coming onto the field. It didn’t matter.
The avalanche of gold was coming. Baylor was yearning to do something that they have waited for since 2015 and something they felt robbed of in 2019—College Gameday had visited both times.
This day was different. Baylor had not only beaten Oklahoma; they suffocated their genius head coach Lincoln Riley who had created one of the most prolific historical offenses in college football en route to winning four straight Big 12 titles and qualifying for the Playoff three times in his first four seasons.
His Sooners were on a current 17-game winning streak.
The Sooner’s stranglehold on the Big 12 goes back to 2015 when Riley was the OC. Oklahoma still has a chance to win their seventh straight conference title, but for one moment in time a proper celebration was necessary.
There was only one problem. There was still three seconds left to play, and now thousands of fans on the field.
Not the first time?
Many people were asking if something like this—rushing the field with time on the clock, clearing the field to play the final snap and then re-rushing the field—had ever happened before?
Oh, those poor souls. This is college football, when has something like this not happened before?
The first example that popped into my head was Texas vs Texas Tech in 2008 on Michael Crabtree’s game-winning, sideline tightroping touchdown catch.
Fans stormed the field, only to clear because of the need to review the play on the field. When the call was confirmed, they stormed—and had to be cleared—again.
All of this because there was one second left on the clock.
Texas Tech was assessed two unsportsmanlike fouls and had to kickoff from their own seven and a half yard line. Just a wild ending.
Here is a good link to wild CFB endings that are similar, but also vastly different to what Baylor did. It includes Utah rushing the field three times vs BYU in 2012; Arizona getting ready to rush vs Oregon before losing in OT in 2009; the strange Ball State-Western Michigan fiasco of 2020; and, of course, The Band is on the Field Game of ‘82.
Then there is also Georgia storming the field (fast forward to the two hour mark) with well over a minute remaining to tear down goalposts when they beat Tennessee in 2000. There is the 2005 Alamo Bowl between Nebraska and Michigan that ended in chaos in the closing seconds.
The point is this happens all the time. This taking place is not new to the sport, just another lovable wrinkle.
Tiebreakers
What was new for me was what Coach Aranda opted to do next. During all of this, someone must have whispered something to the stoic, bald personality on the sideline about the Big 12’s third tiebreaker scenario in case three or more teams are tied at the end of the year: point differential between those tied teams.
Basically, if three or more teams are tied record wise at the end of the year then at some point you get to the point differential between those three teams.
So if Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were all tied and we made it that far down into tiebreakers then the team with the lowest point differential would be eliminated from going to the Big 12 title game.
When looking at the scenarios, it does not seem that choosing a champion will come down to point differential due to tiebreaker rule 2A.
Code of Sportsmanship
Lincoln Riley, on the other hand, was not happy in the least. He was seen chewing out the lead official for several minutes about a host of concerns. He sent his team to the locker room and was close to not even putting players on the field for the final three seconds.
He also wanted a penalty for the Baylor fans rushing the field. I have always believed that should be a foul, however, it is not always called. For that reason, I am as confused as Riley.
When asked about the situation afterwards Riley quipped, “I don’t agree with it. I still think above all else, there’s a code of sportsmanship that I believe in, I wouldn’t have done it.”
That is pretty hypocritical coming from a guy who is the leader of a squad who has already this season:
Defeated Western Carolina 76-0; including scoring a TD on first and goal from the 2-yard line with 1:36 to play.
Defeated TCU 52-31; including scoring a TD on second and goal from the 2-yard line with 1:09 to play.
Defeated Kansas 35-23; including scoring a TD on third and three from the 4-yard line with 42 seconds to play.
All of that is fine, but don’t try to come into somebody else’s house and tell them how to operate when you commit the exact same acts. Furthermore, if a spot in the championship is truly on the line, then it would be gross negligence on Aranda’s part not to do what was necessary to get there.
After all, that is what these coaches are hired to do.
Say Baylor—who lost 24-14 to Oklahoma State— only won 24-14 over Oklahoma. And then the Sooners only beat the Cowboys by 10 points in Bedlam. If the tie breaker came down to point differential, all the teams would be even.
Imagine determining who would play for the Big 12 championship via a draw—Friday Night Lights style.
Kansas Beats Texas
There was plenty of other CFB action, including an impressive Wake Forest win over NC State; Texas Tech winning on a 62-yard FG; FCS Sanford leading Florida at half at the Swamp; and Cincinnati staying perfect; but none was a greater storyline than Kansas beating Texas.
Again. But in Austin. 57-56.
It was the fourth win all time for the Jayhawks over Texas, their first ever in Austin and it came at the hands of a game-winning, two-point conversion in overtime on a broken play to a walk-on fullback Jared Casey.
For the Longhorns, who were 31-point favorites, it marks the first time since 1956 that they have lost five straight ball games. They become one of only four teams who have lost multiple games to Kansas since 2011: South Dakota, Central Michigan and Southeast Missouri State.
Kansas snapped their 13-year, 56-game Big 12 road losing streak with the win as their fans chanted SEC in Darrell K Memorial Stadium.
The day began with Baylor fans rushing the field early and chanting SEC in a defensive struggle vs Oklahoma and ended with road Kansas fans chanting SEC to disbelieved and spiraling Texas fans after an offensive explosion.
Alright, alright, alright.