Baylor blows a 25 point lead, loses to Oklahoma 34-31

Baylor blows a massive offensive lead after getting dominated in time of possession in the second half, losing 34-31. Baylor falls to 9-1 but still has a chance to make the Big 12 Championship Game if they can win one of their remaining two games against Texas or Kansas.

Baylor’s first offensive drive opened with a couple promising Charlie Brewer runs. But then the offensive line collapsed on the next set of downs. A shanked punt later and the Sooners had great field position. The Baylor defense let up a couple first downs before holding OU to a field goal. 3-0 Oklahoma.

The next drive, left tackle Connor Galvin entered the game for the first time in over a month and boy did it make a difference. Brewer methodically moved the ball down the field with pass after pass (and a questionable targeting no call?) before running it in for a two yard touchdown. 7-3 Baylor.

A holding call on the ensuing kickoff pushed OU back deep. Baylor’s defense held and sacked Jalen Hurts on third down to force a punt. Baylor went right back to work and Brewer hit Denzel Mims on a beautiful 30 yard touchdown pass. 14-3 Baylor.

Another kickoff return penalty on the Sooners and they started deep in their own territory. Oklahoma got a few chunk plays to move the ball forward before Hurts was knocked way back and dropped the ball. Baylor recovered the fumble on the Oklahoma 27. Brewer broke off a huge run to get it to first and goal. End of the first quarter. The very first play of the second quarter Brewer ran it in from four yards out. 21-3 Baylor.

Oklahoma got the ball next and started driving the ball down the field. Then Hurts was hit for a no gain then a sack back to back. On third and long Hurts threw a pick right to Grayland Arnold who returned it all the way to the Oklahoma 9. One play later and Brewer threw a nine yard touchdown to Mims. 28-3 Baylor.

Oklahoma got the ball back off a touchback and started driving down the field off of some chunk plays. The Bears got Oklahoma to 3rd & 5 on the Baylor 33 and broke up a pass attempt to force 4th & 5. The ball was tipped by Jordan Williams to force a turnover on downs... or so it seemed until a defensive holding was called after the offense was already on the field. Jalen Hurts fumbled the ball again in the goal but Oklahoma recovered it. On third and goal from the five Hurts threw a touchdown to Austin Stogner. 28-10 Baylor.

Baylor started their next drive with a nice third down conversion from Brewer to R.J. Sneed. Another first down and then the Bears threw a couple short passes that didn’t gain anything. On 3rd & 11 Brewer completed a nice first down to Mims. Brewer converted another first down to get into the redzone with the clock winding down on the 2nd quarter. A few shots to the endzone didn’t pan out and Baylor lined up for a field goal with 7 seconds left in the half. John Mayers drilled it to make it 31-10. A squib kick later and it was halftime.

31-10 Baylor at half. You can stop reading here if you’d like, because this is also where the Baylor offense stopped.

Oklahoma got the ball to start the second half. Baylor’s defense was getting consistent pressure on Hurts but OU moved the ball into Baylor territory. However the pressure finally started rattling OU and the Bears got the Sooners to third down where a holding was called. So replay the down at 3rd & 13 from the Baylor 31. Oklahoma got the first down and moved all the way to the three yard line. A questionable decision to take the holding call. Baylor got the Oklahoma to third down and had a ton of pressure in Jalen’s face, but he found Stogner again for a two yard touchdown. 31-17 Baylor.

Baylor got the ball back and Jamycal Hasty bust open a huge run, before having a fumble forced from behind. Oklahoma ball on their own 45. Oklahoma was driving and fumbled the ball deep in Baylor territory but fell on it once again. Jalen Hurts kept running the ball at will on Baylor but as Jalen Hurts was running into the end zone James Lynch knocked the ball out and Baylor recovered it in the endzone for a touchback with an added unsportsmanlike penalty on Oklahoma.

Baylor’s next drive was a tackle for loss, an incompletion, and a nice screen that came up a few yards short of a first down. Baylor punt to the Oklahoma 9 yard line. Baylor got the OU offense to 3rd & 3 but Hurts completed a pass for a first down. Baylor got OU to another third down on the next set of downs but missed an open field tackle and OU converted for another first down. OU got another first down on a 15 yard pass. End of the third.

Baylor got OU to another 3rd & 2 to start the 4th. The Bears held OU just a yard short to bring up 4th & 1. Baylor made contact with Hurts in the backfield but he barely got the first down. OU scored on the next play off a pass where multiple Bears had a chance with open field tackles. 31-24 Baylor.

The next series Baylor opened with a nice pass, but then Brewer was sacked to make it 3rd & 9. Tyquan Thornton had a big chance to pick up a big first down but bobbled the ball out of bounds. Another three and out. Oklahoma got a quick first down to start the next drive but Baylor got them to 3rd & 8 on the next set. Baylor missed a few open field tackles once again though and Oklahoma converted. Baylor got them to another 3rd & 1. Oklahoma ran it for another first down. Oklahoma then got a chunk pass to get into the redzone. Oklahoma then got to 1st & goal. Baylor pushed it to 3rd & goal from the two yard line. Hurts completed a wide open pass for a touchdown. 31-31 tie.

Baylor opened the second drive with a first down off a pass interference on Mims. A run for a loss of one and an incompletion led to third down. Then Brewer overthrew Mims on third down, bringing up 4th down. Punt but there was a running into the kicker, which Baylor declined. 4:15 left in the 4th with a Baylor defense that was completely gassed.

First play of the next OU drive and Baylor got a sack to open it up. 2nd & 16. But OU broke off a huge run the next play to get into Baylor territory. Hurts opened up another first down run. Another first down, but there was a bad snap. Somehow Hurts threw it out of bounds to make it a no loss but it did stop the clock at 2:01, 2nd & 10. Baylor stopped the next run at 3rd & 6 and used a timeout. This third down would very likely decide the ballgame. The Bears stopped OU at 4th & 3 on the Baylor 14 with 1:49. Oklahoma field goal to take the lead. 34-31 Oklahoma.

Baylor opened the next drive with a nice completion but it stayed in bounds and Brewer was sacked the next play, eating a lot of clock. Brewer completed a first down and then another big gainer Mims. Brewer then almost threw a game ending interception but it was dropped. Brewer then followed that up with an actual interception. Ball game.

34-31 Oklahoma final.