No. 12 FB Drops 30-28 Contest at TCU

Saturday, November 6

Fort Worth, TX

2:30 PM

Baylor

7-2 , 4-2

TCU

4-5 , 2-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Baylor

TCU

No. 12 FB Drops 30-28 Contest at TCU

11/6/2021 7:20:00 PM | Football

Box Score Game Book Postgame Notes (PDF)

Bears fourth-quarter comeback falls short in Fort Worth

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            FORT WORTH, Texas – Baylor did pretty much everything it needed to do to pull off another fourth-quarter comeback and keep this magical run going Saturday afternoon at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
            Trying to overcome a nine-point deficit, the 14^th-ranked Bears pulled within two of an upset-minded TCU team and got the ball back after the Horned Frogs missed a field goal with 1:56 left.
            That was more than enough time as Baylor marched from its own 20 to TCU's 34, maybe on the outside edge of freshman kicker Isaiah Hankins' range. But, redshirt freshman linebacker Shadrach Banks picked off a Gerry Bohanon pass intended for tight end Ben Sims to seal the deal for an inspired 30-28 win by a Horned Frog team playing its first game in 24 years without coach Gary Patterson on the sidelines.
            "My heart breaks for Gerry," said Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, whose team had a three-game winning streak snapped in falling to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12. "He just didn't see (Banks), or at least not until it was too late. He showed a whole lot of fight and just all the things that I've come to believe about Gerry. His competitiveness and his heart were on full display today. I couldn't be prouder of him."
            In its first game under interim head coach Jerry Kill, following the departure of Patterson six days earlier, TCU (4-5, 2-4) got a huge lift from redshirt freshman quarterback Chandler Morris making his first career start in place of injured Max Duggan.
            The son of former Arkansas head coach Chad Morris, Chandler completed 29-of-41 passes for 461 yards, rushed for 70 yards on 11 attempts and even caught a seven-yard throwback pass from receiver Taye Barber.
            "We knew what type of quarterback he was. We had watched tape on him," linebacker Terrel Bernard said of Morris, a state champion at Highland Park who transferred from Oklahoma after the 2020 season.
            "We just have to capitalize on opportunities. That's the overall theme of the game. We missed too many tackles, not specifically on him. They ended up putting up points on the board, and it eventually cost us the game."
            The game could not have started much better for the Bears, who took just three plays to score on their first series of the game to take the early 7-0 lead.
            Abram Smith, who rushed for 125 yards on 18 carries and became the 15^th 1,000-yard rusher in program history and first in five years, broke loose for a 48-yard run on Baylor's first play from scrimmage. And then two plays later, Bohanon found Tyquan Thornton for a seven-yard TD pass on a crossing route in the left corner of the end zone.
            When the Bears failed to capitalize on a Jalen Pitre fumble recovery near midfield, TCU tied it up on a 12-yard run by Morris after he hooked up with Derius Davis on a 63-yard pass play.
            "I think you can go throughout our season so far and pull examples," Aranda said of the Bears' struggles against mobile quarterbacks. "These are things that, while we have improved some, clearly not enough. I think pass rush at times was severely lacking. The quarterback having a bunch of time to find an open receiver and/or scramble to move the chains. Those are things working against us that we have to improve in. It's been a broken record from that side of it."
            TCU settled for a pair of Griffin Kell field goals to take a 13-7 lead, but Baylor answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive and scored on Bohanon's 21-yard TD pass to tight end Drake Dabney after a fourth-down conversion pass from Bohanon to Sims. The Bears are now 15-of-21 on fourth-down conversions.
            The Horned Frogs took a 16-14 halftime lead on a 24-yard Kell field goal and twice extended it to a nine-point cushion in the second half.
            But both times, Baylor answered.
            Morris converted three times on third-and-10 or longer on an impressive 12-play, 83-yard drive when the Horned Frogs also overcame a couple penalties. The payoff was a five-yard TD pass to tight end Dominic DiNunzio for a 23-14 lead.
            The Bears wasted no time in getting it back to a two-point deficit, scoring on a one-yard TD run by Trestan Ebner after a 41-yard pass from Bohanon to Thornton. On a day when he became the program's 11^thplayer to go over 2,000 career yards receiving, Thornton had five catches for 121 yards and a career-high-tying two touchdowns.
            After TJ Franklin blocked a 37-yard field goal attempt by Kell, Bohanon and Thornton hooked up again for a 49-yarder down to the Frogs' 31. But, on the very next play, Bohanon's pass to Thornton in the end zone hit off Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson's shoulder and was intercepted by Kee'yon Stewart.
            When the Horned Frogs stretched it back to a nine-point game on Morris' 19-yard TD strike to receiver Quentin Johnston, Baylor came right back with its longest scoring drive of the day – 13 plays, 86 yards and 6:44 off the clock.
            Bohanon, who was 14-of-20 for 214 yards and three touchdowns, connected with Thornton again for a four-yard TD pass that cut the deficit to 30-28 with 5:04 left.
            Baylor's bend-but-don't break defense forced another field goal attempt that Kell clanged off the left upright, giving the Bears a chance to win it with a field goal.
            This time, though, TCU had the answer.
            "Throughout the whole game, we had each other's back," Smith said. "There was not a time in the game we thought we were out of it. We just wanted to keep fighting for it. When it got that close, the fight got a little bit harder. The sense of urgency and to pull it out for each other was on our minds."
            Smith said he expects Bohanon and the Bears to bounce back when they host fourth-ranked Oklahoma (9-0, 6-0) next Saturday, Nov. 13. The game will be broadcast by FOX and will kick off at either 11 a.m. or 7 p.m. at McLane Stadium.
            "I know he's going to shake back," Smith said of Bohanon, who's thrown five interceptions in the last three games after none in his first six games as a starter. "I feel bad for him, but I know the type of person he is and the type of man he is and the type of leader he is."