INSIDER: E-Newsletter Game 12 – Baylor

Five Questions – Baylor

By Steve Habel

With one half to play and Big 12 Championship on the line, Texas had Baylor right where it needed its opponent — tied and believing that the Longhorns had found a way to stop its high-powered offense. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] 

But that all changed in the second half, as No. 9 Baylor made the plays No. 25 Texas couldn’t, and danced its way past the Longhorns to a 30-10 win. The Bears claimed the conference championship before the largest crowd ever in the 62-year history of Floyd Casey Stadium on Saturday.

For the second season in a row, the Texas players had to watch an opposing team celebrate a Big 12 title at their expense in the regular season’s final game.

Last year, the Longhorns endured Kansas State’s fans pouring past them and onto the field before nearly setting Bill Snyder Family Stadium on fire with a massive fireworks show. This year, Baylor literally brought down the house, whooping it up with its supporters in the final game ever to be played at “The Case.”

“It’s a tough way to lose and a tough game to come up short in,” coach Mack Brown said. “We had everything in our hands to get a Big 12 Championship and didn’t do it. Chances like this don’t come around very often and we let it slip away.”

The Longhorns had that chance because Oklahoma, a team Texas thoroughly dominated in the Red River Rivalry, beat Oklahoma State just minutes before the kickoff in Waco. Oklahoma State’s loss meant that either Texas or Baylor — both of which lost to the Cowboys — were playing for the league crown and a trip to the BCS’s Fiesta Bowl.

Texas seemed to respond first to the challenge, playing conservatively in the ghastly and cold weather conditions (the feels-like temperature on the field was 12 degrees) and letting Baylor make mistakes.

The Longhorns’ defense limited Baylor to a 22-yard Aaron Jones field goal on its opening possession — while the Bears were working with the 15-mile per hour wind at their backs. Texas countered with a 42-yard field goal by Anthony Fera in the second quarter.

At the half, Texas’ workhorse running back Malcolm Brown had 118 yards on 17 carries as the Longhorns stuck to a formula that gave them a chance to win — chew up chunks of yards on the ground and keep Baylor off the field. Quarterback Case McCoy couldn’t keep up with Bryce Petty, the Bears’ strong-armed, dual-threat signal caller.

And the first-half statistics belied that — McCoy, who missed on 10 of his first 12 passes and had an interception, passed for just 38 yards in the first two quarters to Petty’s 170.

“The whole plan was for us to get something going on offense early on but we struggled,” McCoy said. “The defense kept us in the game and we had it in our hands.”

Things changed so quickly for the Longhorns, beginning with the choice to give Baylor the wind in the third quarter. The Bears took the second-half kickoff and drove 77 yards in 14 plays, converting four third downs along the way, to an 11-yard touchdown pass from Petty to Antwan Goodley.

The Longhorns, now moving into the wind that suddenly included a mix of sleet and rain, lost yardage on the ensuing possession, and punted back to Baylor who took charge at the Texas 47-yard line.

Using the short field, the Bears turned to their rush game, reeling off six straight runs to move to a 6-yard Petty-to-Levi Norwood scoring pass (again on third down). The touchdown pushed Baylor’s lead to 17-3 with 6:54 to play in the third quarter.

After another three-and-out possession by Texas, Baylor drove the field again and settled for a 42-yard Jones field goal and a 20-3 advantage.

“Baylor was able to make things happen in the third quarter and we weren’t,” McCoy said. “That’s on me as the leader of this offense — I take full blame for that.”

The Longhorns showed signs of life on the next-to-last play of the third quarter as Jaxon Shipley returned a punt for 50 yards, and a facemask penalty gave Texas the ball at the Baylor 11-yard line. From that spot, the Longhorns took seven plays and a personal foul penalty to score. McCoy turned a broken scramble into an unlikely back-across-the-field touchdown pass to Brown to cut Baylor’s lead to 20-10 with 12:38 to play.

The Bears answered with another Jones field goal (this time from 28 yards) to culminate a 10-play, 55-yard drive that increased their advantage to 23-10.

Texas — who now could use the tailwind — had hope as the team faced a two-score game.

After an exchange of punts, the Bears’ defense produced the back-breaker. K.J. Morton intercepted a wobbly McCoy pass to the left sideline and ran it back 60 yards into the Texas end zone. But Morton started celebrating a little too early for the game officials’ liking and they penalized him for his strut, erased the touchdown and placed the ball at the Texas-18 yard line.

On the next play, Glasco Martin (who led Baylor with 102 yards on 22 rushes) scored and provided the game’s final points.

The party to turn out the lights at The Case then started, and rejoice for the Bears’ first-ever Big 12 title (and first football crown in 34 years) began in earnest.

“I still thought with four minutes left we could win, but we threw the interception that took us out of the ballgame,” coach Brown said. “We didn’t make the plays that we needed to make. I’m proud of the way we played this year, but disappointed in tonight.”

Baylor (11-1, 8-1) grabbed the conference’s automatic bid to the BCS and the Fiesta Bowl, where they will play UCF on Jan. 1 in Glendale, Ariz. The victory over Texas marked the first time that the Bears have won 11 games in a season.

“When I wake up and see ‘Baylor: 2013 Big 12 Champs’ I’m going to believe it, but right now it’s crazy,” Baylor defensive end Chris McAllister said. “It just shows what you can do with a vision, a dream and hard work.”

For Texas (which finished the regular season at 8-4 and 7-2 in conference play), it’s the Alamo Bowl and a matchup with No. 10 Oregon. The Ducks will be a considerably tougher opponent than the Oregon State team the Longhorns beat in San Antonio last December.

 

1. What was the game’s key statistic?

Throw out the difference in total yards (Baylor had 508 to the Longhorns’ season-low 217) and the turnovers (Texas had two to the Bears’ zero) and the first downs (Baylor had 29 to Texas’ 12). This game was decided by third-down conversions, especially in the third quarter when the Bears outscored Texas 17-0, and put the game in their back pocket.

Neither team was successful on third downs in the first half (Texas was 1-for-9 while Baylor was 1-of 8), but the Bears turned that around after halftime. Baylor converted four third downs (two on third and 11, and another on third down and nine) on its scoring drive to open the third quarter.

“The third downs and the way Baylor was able to get what it needed on them — it just sickens you,” defensive coordinator Greg Robinson said. “They were able to convert; we needed to stop them and we didn’t. Our kids battled their butts off but we were just out there too long. They were able to find some things that worked.”

In the third quarter alone, Baylor went 5-for-7 on third downs and were able to keep its offense on the field. Texas went 0-for-3 and couldn’t keep its defense off the field.

For the game, the Bears finished 7-of-19 on third downs and 0-for-1 on fourth down conversions; Texas was 2-for-17 on third downs and 1-of-2 on fourth downs.

 

2. What three plays did Texas let slip away?

A trio of chances eluded the Longhorns’ grasp. If Texas could’ve made any of the three plays,  the Longhorns would’ve changed the game’s momentum and, possibly, the outcome.

The first big chance came on a Baylor fumble early in the first quarter. With the football bouncing away from Baylor running back Lache Seastrunk, Texas linebacker Dalton Santos tried to scoop up the loose ball rather than just fall on it. Santos couldn’t get control and the fumble was eventually recovered by the Bears’ Clay Fuller, allowing Baylor to avoid a disaster.

Secondly, late in the third quarter working against the cold wind, McCoy threw his best pass of the game deep down the right sideline for wide receiver Kendall Sanders. The pass hit Sanders in the hands but he didn’t catch it, denying a chance for a big gainer for the Longhorns.

Third, and likely the most damaging, was Texas’ inability to recover a muffed punt midway through the fourth quarter. After the punt bounced and hit a Baylor blocker inside the BU-20 yard line, the ball escaped the grasp of three Texas players and rolled out of bounds in the shadow of the Baylor goal line. A recovery there, and a projected Texas touchdown, could’ve cut the Bears’ lead to six points and made things very interesting.

 

3. What happened to the Texas offense?

While a collective hat must be tipped to McCoy’s heart and his ability to lead the Longhorns, the blame for this defeat must be placed — for the second time in the past three games — in his lap.

Baylor’s plan was to make McCoy beat them and, quite frankly, the quarterback wasn’t up to the task.

“Our game plan was to try to make Texas throw the football and to take advantage of it when they did,” Morton said. “Once we stopped the run in the second half, it made them become one-dimensional and we took over.”

McCoy ended up passing for just 54 yards and completed 12 of his 34 throws while suffering two interceptions. His longest completion of the game was for 14 yards to Daje Johnson on a shovel pass in the first quarter where Johnson did most of the work.

The Longhorns’ 217 total yards of offense was its worst of the season and the least yards in a game since Texas was able to gain just 206 in a 14-3 loss to Oklahoma in 2001.

“Baylor used a lot of eyes and bodies and their eight-man drops didn’t give Case many lanes to throw in,” offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said. “They didn’t do anything specifically in the third quarter when the game turned — we just didn’t give ourselves any chance because of penalties and mistakes. We couldn’t get open and had too many long third downs to convert.”

“We struggled and weren’t able to stay on the field,” he added. “Whether it wasn’t making the throw we needed, the catch we needed or the blocking we had to have, we didn’t get it done. Third downs were critical.”

After rushing for 118 yards in the first half, Malcolm Brown picked up just 13 yards on six carries in the second half.

“Baylor made some adjustments in the second half and we made some mistakes and we never really got rolling,” Brown said. “As an offense we didn’t capitalize on some situations but we kept fighting and never thought we were out of the game.”

 

4. Aside from the third downs, what made the difference for the Texas defense in the second half?

Baylor just played to its strengths after halftime and is – as hard as it’s to say – just a better team than Texas.

“I’m sick that we didn’t win and by the way we lost,” Robinson said. “Baylor just kept pecking at us, working one side and then the other and eventually they started figuring things out. They have good players and good ideas, and that makes trouble for any defense.”

The Bears’ mistakes in the first half were more responsible for tying the game at 3-3 at halftime than the way Texas played defense. Baylor’s receivers dropped three third-down passes that would’ve kept its offense on the field and missed two field goals.

Baylor ran 43 plays in the first half for 232 yards (an average of 5.4 yards per snap); in the second half, the Bears ran 49 plays for 277 yards (5.6 yards per play).

“We were moving the ball in the first half, but we self-destructed,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “We knew that our defense was playing well enough that we were going to be in the game. We felt like we could separate because of the crowd, energy and emotion that come with it. Fortunately that’s what happened.”

 

5. What is the Texas mindset as it heads to San Antonio?

Despite the fact that they had a chance to win the Big 12 Championship, the Longhorns have to be reeling as they head into the postseason.

“We can still win a bowl game and we’re focused on that,” cornerback Carrington Byndom said. “Was the season what we wanted it to be? No. But we have a job to do and we can end things on a positive note.”

Texas comes into the game with two losses in its three final games, and no real offensive threat to balance Oregon’s hurry-it-up and score-on-every-play attack. The Longhorns just don’t match up well against the Ducks, especially after struggling in the middle of the season due to a series of injuries and a murderous schedule.

Going to San Antonio for the second season in a row wasn’t even a consideration until Oklahoma found a way to beat Oklahoma State. The 90-mile trip south is the closest the Longhorns can come to a home bowl game, and Texas will need its home state support to make an impact on Dec. 30 in the Alamodome.

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