Defense, Special Teams Dominate in Big 12 Opening Win over Colorado

Saturday, September 26

Waco, Texas

11 a.m.

Baylor

3-1 , 1-0

Colorado

2-2 , 0-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Colorado	3	0	3	7	13
Baylor	0	10	3	10	23

Game Book (PDF)Postgame Notes

Garrick Ponder high five to Ryan Davis versus Colorado 2026

Defense, Special Teams Dominate in Big 12 Opening Win over Colorado

9/26/2026 4:15:00 PM | Football

Box Score Game Book (PDF)Postgame Notes

WACO, Texas -- Behind another dominating defensive effort, a sterling special teams performance and a fourth-quarter offensive surge, Baylor earned a 23-13 win over Colorado in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams on Saturday morning at McLane Stadium.

Baylor (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) rallied past Colorado (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) with a fourth-quarter drive to complete a conference-opening win over the Buffaloes and finish a three-game homestand.

Coupled with its defensive performance over the first four games to open the year, the Bears have now held four consecutive foes to under 20 points, marking the longest such streak since 2005.

Baylor limited Colorado to 363 yards of total offense, with the Buffs only mustering a pair of field goals and a third-quarter touchdown. BU forced Colorado into punts on eight of its 15 drives, adding a forced fumble and a pair of fourth-down stops. Beyond a 95-yard drive in the third and a 49-yard reverse pass in the first quarter, the Bears held Colorado to 219 yards of offense. On the 12 of 15 drives the Baylor defense held the Buffs without points, Colorado was limited to just 131 yards of offense.

Baylor's special teams were special, led by senior punter Palmer Williams, a Ray Guy Award Finalist in 2025 and the nation's leading punter in 2024. Williams booted it seven times for a 50.4-yard average, with four punts going for 50+ yards and four punts downed inside the 20-yard line. WR Jayden McGowan, who had two catches for 34 yards in the pass game, was a weapon as a punt returner, with seven punt returns for 130 yards, including a long of 36.

Rhett Armstrong tied his career high with three field goals, including a McLane Stadium record-tying 54 yarder, nailing attempts from 37 and 27 in the second and third quarters, respectively.

Linebacker Travion Barnes had a Baylor career-high nine tackles, with two TFLs. He led a BU defense that had five sacks and 13 tackles for a loss, the most since a win at Kansas State in 2019.

Micah Gifford added eight tackles and a TFL, while corner Devon Jordan had seven tackles, a TFL and a pass break-up. Daniel Cobbs, Jordan Mack and Kamren Washington each had sacks and Bo Onu collected his first-career multi-sack effort. Kyland Reed forced a fumble, added a TFL, and Garrick Ponder recovered a fumble. Cobbs had a pair of TFLs and a pass-break-up. BU's defense added six PBUs.

In his return to the starting lineup, QB DJ Lagway threw for a pair of TDs and 221 yards on 19-of-39 passing. Baylor totaled 116 yards on the ground, led by 16 carries for 85 yards from Dawson Pendergrass. Lagway found Gavin Freeman, who had six catches for 59 yards, and Jadon Porter for TDs. Dre'lon Miller had three catches for 31 yards. Hawkins Polley added a career-long 28-yard catch and Louis Brown had a 23-yard reception.

Caden Knighten had 10 carries for 18 yards and Ryelan Morris added four totes for 11 yards.

Colorado got a 12-for-25 passing game from Isaac Wilson off the bench, throwing for 156 yards and a score. Joseph Williams had 11 catches for 127 yards and a TD, and Micah Welch led the team with nine carries for 35 yards.

The Bears will hit the road for a road league test at Arizona State (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. CT in Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday.

After strong starts from both defenses, Colorado opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal from Elliott Arnold with 3:22 left in the first quarter. It capped a seven-play, 74-yard drive that was boosted by a 49-yard reverse WR pass.

The Bears evened the game with a 37-yard field goal from Rhett Armstrong with 13:28 left in the half. It capped a 13-play, 54-yard drive.

After a four-down defensive stop at midfield, Baylor's 48-yard TD drive with 7:04 left in the second quarter pushed the Bears to a 10-3 they took into halftime. Lagway found Freeman for a three-yard scoring strike, the second TD catch of the year for Freeman and the third toss of 2026 for Lagway.

At the break, CU held a 164-139 margin in total yards gained, including 124 passing to Baylor's 107. BU had 32 rush yards and CU 40. The teams combined for 11 penalties in the first half. The largest play of the game came on a 49-yard WR reverse pass on the CU scoring drive.

Baylor stretched its lead to 13-3 with 7:14 left in the third, taking advantage of another short field forced by the BU defense. The Bears used five plays and 38 yards – highlighted by a 23-yard pass to Louis Brown IV – to set up a 27-yard field goal from Armstrong.

The Buffs cut into the lead, narrowing it to 13-6 with 2:17 left in the third quarter behind a 46-yard field goal from Arnold. A facemask call on BU, and 15-yard and 27-yard passes, pushed the Buffs into field goal range.

Colorado evened the game at 13-13 with 11:04 left in the game, following a 95-yard drive on 12 plays that finished with a Joseph Williams 17-yard TD grab on a pass from Issac Wilson.

The Bears immediately regained the lead, marching 65 yards on five plays to take a 20-13 lead with 9:02 left, with Lagway finding Porter for a 33-yard TD strike, his first TD grab of the year and the second of his career.

After Baylor forced another defensive stop, the Bears drove 43 yards on nine plays to get a 54-yard field goal from Armstrong to push the lead to 23-13.

Baylor had a chance to add on in the final two drives, finishing a drive on the CU six-yard line and later taking a knee at the CU 11-yard line to finish the clock.

- BaylorBears.com -