By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a decision to make after becoming just the third player in FBS history to record 5,000 yards total offense in back-to-back seasons.
If the Baylor Bears get a vote, they're hoping the junior moves on to the NFL.
Making his third start against the Bears in the Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout at AT&T Stadium, Mahomes threw for 586 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Red Raiders to a 54-35 victory Friday night in their season finale and possibly his last collegiate game.
"Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of good ones," Baylor coach Jim Grobe said after the Bears lost their fifth in a row, falling to 6-5 overall and 3-5 in the Big 12. "And I would say he's as good as any of them. He's not as much a threat to run the football. But some of the things he did tonight, especially when he got flushed out of the pocket, some of the throws he made were really, really impressive."
In three games against Baylor, all at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium, Mahomes threw for 1,599 yards and 15 touchdowns. But, this was Tech's first win in the series since 2010 when the game was played at the Cotton Bowl.
"He's a huge Cowboys fan, so every year we played here he seems to put on a show and loves playing in this arena," said Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, whose team (5-7, 3-6) bounced back from a 66-10 loss at Iowa State six days ago. "He got us going early, stayed hot and protected the football. And you know, he's very talented. When he can hang in the pocket and make throws like that, he's hard to beat."
Baylor freshman quarterback Zach Smith provided some fireworks of his own, completing 30-of-46 passes for a career-best 377 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
"Zach is special. I love that kid," Grobe said. "He's got a great work ethic, he's really smart, he's really talented. And he's in a tough position right now because we're asking him to do it as a true freshman. . . . We're going to demand more, but I couldn't expect more. I think he's playing as hard as he can right now."
Making just his second start, Smith got the game started on a good note when he hooked up with KD Cannon for a 53-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-three play. The Bears converted just once in their next four tries on fourth down and finished 4-of-9 for the game.
"We really should not be in a situation where we're having to go for everything on fourth down to keep drives alive," Grobe said. "We were just too sloppy and undisciplined to win."
Converting twice on third down, the Red Raiders drove 77 yards in 10 plays and tied it with a 35-yard TD pass from Mahomes to Keke Coutee, who finished with 221 yards and two TDs on eight catches.
The Bears failed to hold serve when Tech linebacker Luke Stice recovered a Blake Lynch fumble at the Baylor 40. On the first of three one-play scoring drives in the first half, receiver Dylan Cantrell beat cornerback Tion Wright and hauled in a 40-yard TD pass to give the Red Raiders the lead for good, 13-7.
"(Mahomes) can keep plays alive, and he always keeps his eyes downfield," said Baylor linebacker Aiavion Edwards. "If you give him any time at all, he's going to find an open target, and most likely deep."
That was part of 34 unanswered points by the Red Raiders, with running back DaLeon Ward scoring from five yards out, followed by TD bombs of 81 yards to Quan Shorts and an 80-yarder to Coutee.
"Defensively, we've got to keep people in front of us," Grobe said. "I think we want to play aggressively. But at times, we probably crowded them too much and gave them home runs."
During that stretch, Baylor failed on a fourth-down play from the Red Raiders' 41, had two three-and-outs and also missed a 37-yard field goal try by Chris Callahan. The Bears were just 2-of-5 on red-zone opportunities in the first half.
"We had 634 yards offense and really not much to show for it," Grobe said. "If you look at the times that we were across the 50 and down close with a chance to come away with points that we came away with no points, we could have had a really good day offensively and didn't."
Baylor didn't go quietly, though. The Bears had two quick-strike touchdowns in the second quarter and pulled to within 41-21 at the break on Smith's 21-yard TD pass to Ishmael Zamora, who had 155 yards on a career-high 12 catches.
"Pretty much everything was clicking, for the most part," Smith said. "I knew we were going to have to go out there and score a lot of points, because Texas Tech is a great team. They're going to score a lot of points. I knew we had to throw the ball around the yard."
Even trailing by 20 at halftime, Edwards said "no game is out of hand" with an explosive Baylor offense that's capable of scoring in a hurry.
"No game is really out of hand if we take care of our business," he said. "As a defense, we couldn't get the stops we needed to give those guys another opportunity to get out there."
Baylor's defense did come up with some stops in the second half, holding the Red Raiders to a pair of chip-shot field goals by Clayton Hatfield and forcing two punts. But, it wasn't enough.
Mahomes was 6-of-9 for 39 yards on the opening series of the third quarter, hooking up with Cantrell for a six-yard TD pass that pushed the lead to 48-21. Cantrell caught nine passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bears needed just 49 seconds to answer. Terence Williams, who posted his third 100-yard game of the season and fifth of his career with 147 yards on 23 carries, broke loose for a 57-yard run and then finished it with a score from one yard out that made it a 20-point game again, 48-28.
As a team, Baylor rushed for 257 yards on 53 attempts for a 4.8-yard average. But, sophomore right tackle Patrick Lawrence said, "We needed to put more points on the board. It's that simple."
Driving 74 yards in 10 plays, the Bears were in position late in the third quarter to make things interesting and make this a two-possession game. But, on second-and-goal from the 2, Tech free safety Jah'Shawn Johnson recovered a Williams fumble that snuffed out that threat.
Baylor, which had trailed by at least 20 since early in the second quarter, did get within 16 on Smith's nine-yard TD pass to KD Cannon with 14:36 left in the fourth.
Drew Galitz's ensuing on-side kick took a perfect bounce over Tech's front line of receivers, but Kevin Moore recovered for the Red Raiders at the 50. That set up Hatfield's 27-yard field goal that pushed it back to a three-score game, 54-35, with 11:09 left.
Any chances of a miracle comeback, like the 61-58 win over TCU two years ago, ended when Johnson picked off a Smith pass with 6:32 showing on the clock.
"I definitely felt a little bit more comfortable, a little more poised," Smith said. "I just missed a couple balls that were pretty important. You've got to go out next week against West Virginia and execute a lot better.
The Bears close out the regular season against No. 17/19 West Virginia (8-2, 5-2) at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday, Dec. 3, in Morgantown, W. Va. West Virginia faces Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Ames, Iowa, hoping to bounce back from a 56-28 loss to Oklahoma that knocked the Mountaineers out of the Big 12 title race.
"These last five games, it's been rough for us," Edwards said. "We've worked hard. We just haven't been able to come out with the outcome we needed. So, to go in there and (beat them) would be a huge deal for this team."
