No. 7 Football Drops 30-23 OT Decision in Big 12 Title Game

Saturday, December 7

Arlington, Texas

11 AM CT

Baylor

Oklahoma

No. 7 Football Drops 30-23 OT Decision in Big 12 Title Game

12/7/2019 4:13:00 PM | Football

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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            ARLINGTON, Texas – One play, maybe one step. That's how close the Baylor Bears came to winning a Big 12 Championship two years removed from going 1-11.
            Twice rallying from double-digit deficits, the seventh-ranked Bears got scoring tosses from freshman quarterbacks Gerry Bohanon and Jacob Zeno and took sixth-ranked Oklahoma to overtime with John Mayers' third field goal of the day.
            But, for the first time in three overtime games this season, Baylor (11-2) came up short and fell to the Sooners, 30-23, in its first Big 12 title game appearance. Oklahoma (12-1), which likely earned a spot in the College Football Playoff, is 10-1 in the championship game and has won the last three since it was reinstated in 2017.
            "As I told our players, while they can be disappointed, they certainly cannot hang their heads," Baylor coach Matt Rhule said. "They overcame adversity and battled and fought and had a chance to win the game. We're one step away from winning the game maybe in regulation. Credit to Oklahoma, though, they made the play that counted."
            Ultimately, that play was running back Rhamondre Stevenson's five-yard touchdown run in overtime that gave the Sooners the lead for good. But, this was a game chock full of big-time plays on both sides.
            "A lot of credit to Matt Rhule, his staff, that team over there, we have a ton of respect for them, the way they play," said OU head coach Lincoln Riley, whose team has now won five-straight conference titles after Baylor's back-to-back championships in 2013-14. "They have done a tremendous job, and it was difficult beating them twice. Trust me, each one of them was hard. (That's a) very, very good football team over there that deserves a lot of credit."
            Oklahoma came close to throwing a knockout blow in the first quarter, scoring on a six-yard TD run by Kennedy Brooks, set up by Jalen Hurts' 71-yard pass to CeeDee Lamb. After sitting out the Sooners' 34-31 win over Baylor three weeks ago with an injury, Lamb came back to earn game MVP honors with eight catches for 173 yards.
            After a quick three-and-out by the Bears, who had just one first down and 16 yards total offense in the first quarter, Lamb had another 26-yard reception to get the Sooners back in the red zone. But this time, James Lockhart recorded a big third-down sack and forced OU to settle for a 44-yard field goal by Gabe Brkic and a 10-0 lead.
            "I watched our last game three times on tape and tried to get a feel for how they block up front and what Jalen does, like where he likes to move around in the pocket," Lockhart said. "I really just tried to study, study, study from a schematic standpoint and from a personnel standpoint. And I feel like I was able to play faster and read my keys a lot faster."
            At that point, the Bears could have easily thrown in the towel, particularly after two more three-and-outs by the offense. But, there is absolutely no quit in this team.
            As it's done most of the year, the defense came to the rescue again. James Lynch broke the single-season sack record (11.5) and stripped the ball from Hurts for a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Terrel Bernard at the Sooners' 29-yard line.
            "We know he's a great player, so we were trying to get in his face and take him out of his game," said Lynch, who recorded another one in the second quarter to run his record sack totals to 12.5 this season and 20.0 for his career.
            Oklahoma's defense held, forcing the Bears to settle for a 44-yard field by Mayers that made it 10-3 with 10:20 left in the half.
            Baylor got its second turnover of the game and 30^th of the season when linebacker Jordan Williams picked off a Hurts pass and returned it five yards to the OU 23-yard line.
            "He threw the ball right to me," said Williams, who had his first interception of the season and his career. "It was a big game-changer because we flipped the field. We didn't have to drive the whole field. That was a big momentum swing. We try to play for the offense and get the ball back for them to make plays."
            This time, the Bears cashed in to tie the game at 10-10 when Bohanon connected with Tyquan Thornton on a 33-yard TD pass just over linebacker DeShaun White.
            Starting quarterback Charlie Brewer had to leave in the second quarter after taking a shot to the head and was ruled out after being examined in the locker room. That left the rest of the game in the hands of Bohanon and Zeno, who saw his first game action just a week ago in a 61-6 win at Kansas.
            "(Referee) Mike Defee came over and said, "Coach can you look at Charlie?" Rhule said. "I had been talking to Charlie on the sidelines, and he didn't seem out of it to me, but I have a lot of respect for Mike. . . . They took him for evaluation, and then they ruled him out for the rest of the game."
            Getting the ball back after another Lynch sack, Bohanon led a nine-play, 42-yard drive that included a 29-yard pass to Thornton. Mayers connected on a 28-yard field goal with eight seconds left that gave the Bears a surprising 13-10 lead at the half despite being outgained almost 2-to-1 (171-98).
            Much like they did in the first meeting, the Sooners started the second half on fire and kept the ball for most of the third quarter, tying it on a 24-yard field goal by Brkic and going back on top, 20-13, on Hurts' 18-yard TD strike to Nick Basquine that completed an eight-play, 74-yard drive.
            Working with just half the field after a short punt, Hurts hit Kennedy Brooks out of the backfield for 20 and Lamb for 17, but the defense stood up again. When Hurts misfired on a third-down pass to Brayden Willis, Brkic extended the lead to 23-13 with a 24-yard field goal.
            After throwing for 297 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 114 yards in the first game against Baylor, Hurts was held to just 38 yards on 23 carries (1.7-yard average) and was 17-of-24 for 287 yards passing with one TD and one interception.
            "After playing him, you realize what you need to do to try and contain him," Lynch said. "We did it at times today, and we didn't do it at times today, so we've got to learn. As much as it hurts right now, it's going to help us a lot."
            Zeno, who was Baylor's scout team quarterback during the week, came off the bench in the fourth quarter and threw an 81-yard touchdown pass to Trestan Ebner after getting sacked on his first play.
            "It's just next man up," said Zeno, who finished 2-of-6 for 159 yards. "Every game, I was preparing like I was the starter. My number just got called, so I stepped up. I was prepared the whole game, because I knew if it came down to it, I needed to be ready."
            After a stop by the defense near midfield, Zeno hooked up with Chris Platt on a 78-yard pass down to the Sooners' 17, with OU cornerback Trey Brown saving the tackle by chasing down the track All-American.
            That set up a game-tying 27-yard field goal by Mayers, who has connected on 16 of his last 17 attempts after missing his first two.
            In the overtime period, it took the Sooners just three plays to go 25 yards. After a facemask penalty on Williams, Hurts picked up six and Stevenson scored from the 5-yard line to give OU the 30-23 lead.
            Turning up the heat, Oklahoma got a sack and three pressures as Zeno's desperation pass to Denzel Mims came up short on fourth-and-20. Mims, who had his only catch of the day nullified by a penalty, had his streak snapped at 36 consecutive games with at least one catch.
"I feel like we played well," Lockhart said, "but at the end of the day it wasn't good enough. They simply made one more play than us. That's what it boils down to."
            The Bears will find out where they're headed for a bowl game when the College Football Playoff and bowl selections are announced on Sunday. If Oklahoma (12-1) lands in the CFP, Baylor would get the league's automatic bid to the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day.
            Regardless of what bowl game the Bears end up, Rhule said, the Bears will be happy.
            "Whatever bowl people ask us to play, let's go play one more game together, let's finish as a top-10 team, and let's get to 12 wins, which has never been done," Rhule said. "And more importantly, we'll be back."