Sixth-ranked Baylor Makes The Plays To Beat Texas 28-7

By Steve Habel/Associate Editor

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For the first 29-plus minutes of play Saturday against Baylor, Texas had just about everything going its way. But all that changed in the drop of a hat, or, in this case, a football.

The final 30 minutes and 44 seconds was a totally different story, as the sixth-ranked[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] Bears rolled past the Longhorns 28-7 before an announced crowd of 93,727 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

The Horns’ defense had shackled Baylor’s high-powered offensive attack, and Texas’s offense – doing its best to stay on the field to limit the Bears’ possessions – was on the Baylor 1-yard line with a chance to score the tying touchdown just before halftime.

But then the Horns fumbled away the game on the simplest and most basic of plays – the exchange between the center and quarterback.

With that miscue went the Longhorns only real chance to put a scare into Baylor and, eventually, was the obstacle that kept Texas from pulling off the kind of upset that can spur an inexperienced and raw team to play above its ceiling.

“We just have to learn to win game like this and have to learn to finish,” Texas coach Charlie String said. “We had our opportunities and didn’t take advantage of them. We have to play better; we eventually have to get over this hump.”

Poor special teams play burned the Horns (2-3 overall, 1-1 in Big 12 Conference play) and twice helped Baylor turn this game in its favor.

In the first quarter, the Bears’ Beau Blackshear blocked a 52-yard field goal attempt by Texas’ Nic Rose that barely got more than head-high. The bounding ball was snatched by Baylor’s Terrell Burt, who sprinted down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown return and a 7-0 lead at the 9:02 mark.

While Baylor (5-0, 2-0 in Big 12) used its huge defensive stop at the end of the first half to grab the momentum on its second drive after halftime, it was another special teams play that really got the Bears going. Facing a fourth down and five from its own 33, Spencer Roth, the Bears’ punter, ran for 19 yards on a fake that caught the Longhorns by complete surprise.

“You can’t allow a team to be successful against you with a fake punt,” Strong said. “We had guys in position to make the play there and stop that from happening but we just didn’t get it done. We can’t beat ourselves.”

Three plays later, Baylor’s Bryce Petty, reduced to a mostly bit player until then by the Texas defense, hit Antwan Goodley with a perfectly-thrown 30-yard TD pass that gave the Bears a 14-0 lead that exorcised any spell the Horns’ had placed on the talented visitors.

Baylor added to its advantage at the 11-minute mark of the fourth quarter when it drove 75 yards in 12 plays, 11 of them runs, to a 1-yard scoring plunge by Shock Linwood and a 21-0 lead. A fourth-quarter, 30-yard TD pass from Petty to Corey Coleman (one of just three passes he completed in the second half) pushed the Bears’ advantage to 28-0.

Texas averted a shutout with a final 12-play, 92-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run from Johnathan Gray with 2:42 to play. The Longhorns have not been shutout at home since losing to Houston 30-0 in 1976, in coach Darrell Royal’s final season on the bench.

Only one Texas possession in the second half – the Horns’ touchdown drive in garbage time – used more than five plays or gained more than 23 yards.

“We had a plan, but we just didn’t execute it in the second half,” Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes said. “It’s just some little things that we didn’t get done, but those little things hurt us. We have to get better and we know it.”

The Longhorns now head to Dallas to square off against Oklahoma, which lost 37-33 to TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth. There is plenty to get done before the Red River Rivalry, and not much time for Texas to get it done.

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