The Baylor Bears came into AT&T Stadium with a chance to impress the CFB Playoff committee with a decisive win over Texas Tech. Instead they were hit hard with the injury bug and almost saw their hopes dashed; much like what happened to this team last year in Stillwater, OK. The two-headed rushing attack of the Bears took a blow when Devin Chafin was sidelined for the second time this season. This time by a dislocated elbow that should keep the sophomore out until its bowl time at the earliest. The blow that could hurt this team the most down the stretch was the third quarter concussion suffered by starting quarterback Bryce Petty. While answering questions in the postgame press conference you could tell this was not the same player that was “Just ready for OU”, less than a month ago.
This was a game of many moments were momentum was changing as fast as the score on the board. Texas Tech was able to hang in this game for most part thanks to the play of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. When it was all said and done Mahomes accounted for 625 yards of total offensive, with 598 of those yards coming through the air. The game looked out of reach as Baylor held a 25 point lead shortly after Tech player Sam Eguavoen was flagged for a personal foul. This was the blow that not only knocked Petty out of the game but possibly next week’s critical matchup against Kansas State. With a shade over four minutes of the game clock later Tech was able to pull within five points on Mahomes 49-yard touchdown pass to De. Washington.
Roughly half way through the fourth quarter a field goal by Chris Callahan put all the points on the board Baylor would need. Even after Tech was able to stumble back and make it closer than the score for Bears Nation. Mahomes sixth and final touchdown pass of 40 yards to Brad Marquez pulled the Red Raiders within two points. The team tried for the two point conversion in hopes of tying the game but Mahomes was sacked and they had no chance on the ensuing onside kick. With that tackle Baylor escaped by the whiskers on their chin by the final score of 48-46.
This was a Baylor team that looked much different with Seth Russell at quarterback. Timing was off at times with receivers and seemed to have trouble with the back shoulder fades. Sure this is a team the plays NO. 12 Kansas State in Waco on Saturday, but even with a victory on that night and despite an 11-1 record could be skipped in this inaugural year the CFB Playoff format.
This shows us that this new system may not put the value on head-to-head games as they should, but crazier things have happened. We were only five points away from a Florida State loss and a topic that would have then been a small whisper. Now we have a race come down to the last games of the season and still no clearer view than when we started the season. Is this good or bad for college football? I guess the TV ratings will be the judge. Now look I already know the “name brand” teams will not like it but a TCU vs. Baylor rematch would be good ratings.
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