Three and Out: Baylor stuns TCU after improbable second
It was a wild night in Waco as No. 5 Baylor welcomed No. 9 TCU to the Bears' shiny new McLane Stadium. Baylor needed a double-digit comeback in the fourth quarter but emerged from the shootout with a huge 61-58 win. Here are three thoughts from the Bears' victory.
1. Baylor never gave up in the fourth quarter
TCU linebacker Marcus Mallet picked off Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty with 11:38 remaining Saturday and ran it in for a touchdown. The score gave the Horned Frogs a seemingly insurmountable 58-37 lead over the Bears.
But from that point on, it was all Baylor.
The Bears scored 24 unanswered points in the final 10:39, a run capped by Chris Callahan 's 28-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. Callahan had made only four of his nine field goal attempts on the season until that point. Baylor engineered each of its final four scoring drives in 1:23 or less, and the Bears' defense helped keep TCU out of scoring position while Baylor's offense took control.
Suddenly the Bears sit 6-0 and squarely in the driver's seat for the Big 12 title. Prior to Saturday, we didn't know much about Baylor's potential due to its cupcake nonconference schedule. But the Bears survived their first major test of the season against TCU. Now the biggest remaining obstacles for Baylor are Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in consecutive games in November. There's plenty of football to play until then, but Art Briles's team looked like a playoff contender this weekend.
2. Bryce Petty was dominant
Baylor's quarterback looked sluggish in the Bears' 28-7 win over Texas last week. He completed only seven passes for 111 yards against the Longhorns, a far cry from his usual stat-stuffing efforts. Now fully healed from two broken vertebrae suffered in Week 2, Petty returned to form Saturday and helped Baylor rally from its double-digit deficit.
Petty completed 28-of-55 passes for a career-high 510 yards and six touchdowns against TCU. He did throw two interceptions, including the pick to Mallet in the fourth quarter that seemingly sealed the game. But Petty shook off the late mistake and carried the offense from that point on, throwing two of his touchdown passes during the final 10 minutes and leading four straight scoring drives.
Petty entered the year garnering plenty of Heisman talk, but he didn't look like a Heisman candidate against Texas last week. The quarterback the nation saw against TCU, however, has a distinct shot at reaching New York. Those chances only increase if the Bears remain in the Big 12 title hunt.
3. This was not a defensive battle -- until it mattered
Baylor and TCU entered the weekend ranked first and second in the Big 12, respectively, in scoring defense. But the Bears and Horned Frogs also comprised the league's top two scoring offenses. Something had to give, and on Saturday, offense ruled the day.
The two Big 12 programs, which each averaged more than 42 points per game prior to Saturday, staged a shootout in McLane Stadium. The teams combined for 119 points, 62 first downs and 1,267 yards of offense. In fact, TCU's 58 points are the most ever scored on the road against an top-five team in the AP poll.
But Baylor's defense was a big reason why the Bears had a chance in the fourth quarter. When TCU faced a fourth-and-3 with 1:17 to left in the game, the Bears' defense forced an incompletion from Horned Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin. That gave Baylor the final possession it needed to knock in the winning kick.
Baylor's offense draws a lot of attention, but the Bears' defense could turn out to be just as important in the program's quest for a second-straight Big 12 title.
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