Baylor Beats Kansas State 37-34

After trailing 27-20 in the fourth quarter, Baylor managed to rally to knock off Kansas State 37-34. Baylor is now 4-2 and will take on Texas at 2:30 next Saturday in Austin.

Kansas State tied the game at 34 with 4:26 left. Baylor took over and moved the ball well. JaMycal Hasty had a nice day, but he coughed it up on 1st and 10. Fortunately Baylor jumped on the ball. Denzel Mims caught two tough slants to extend Baylor’s drive, and Baylor ensured they’d either win or head to overtime.

It hadn’t been Connor Martin’s day. He missed three field goals, including a normally automatic kick from 38 yards. He also missed an extra point. But with eight seconds left, he made a 29 yard field goal to give Baylor the lead.

Kansas State took over, and it appeared Baylor had it won. After review, Kansas State was given another second because they stepped out of bounds in time. They ran one final play at their own 47, and Skylar Thompson couldn’t evade the pressure long enough to get a shot into the end zone. He threw the ball a few feet, and Baylor won their first non-Kansas Big 12 game since before the 2016 election.

Baylor had plenty of moments where they looked like the much better team. Jalen Hurd, Trestan Ebner and the running backs, including Craig “Sqwirl” Williams, were nearly unstoppable. Mims added a huge reception to tie the game at 27 in the fourth quarter. The secondary—despite some bad moments that nearly cost them the game—added two big interceptions by Jairon McVea and Christian Morgan. Morgan caught a Skylar Thompson pass to give Baylor the ball back in a 27-27 game midway through the fourth quarter.

The Bears certainly had plenty of moments where they looked like a terrible team. The rushing defense remains abysmal. Alex Barnes ran for over 250 yards and three touchdowns in route to Kansas State building a 27-20 lead. Chris Miller recovered a big fumble on the second half kickoff, but he once again took catastrophic angles. The rest of the Bears’ rushing defense and scheme hash to get better. Ebner threw a halfback pass that Kansas State intercepted in the end zone. The Bears dropped passes and had some untimely penalties. They did plenty to lose this game.

Baylor found a way to win though. This team had no business being down 14-12 at halftime. They shouldn’t have trailed 27-20 in the fourth quarter. But Baylor found a way to win. Kansas State is not a good team, and there’s plenty to be worried about in the future. Baylor gets to worry about those things because they won this game. The Bears aren’t going to be favored in any remaining games, but they just need two more wins to go bowling. They just might do that.