By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
AUSTIN – Instead of reveling in the fact that they took a top-10 team down to the wire and had a chance to win in the final seconds, the Baylor Bears left DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium upset about the missed opportunity. 
           
After leading an improbable 10-play, 80-yard drive, Charlie Brewer had three shots into the end zone in the last 12 seconds, but the ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns held on for a nail-biting 23-17 victory Saturday afternoon.
           
"First time since I've been here, I saw tears in guys' eyes, I saw older guys telling people they were hurting," said Baylor coach Matt Rhule, whose team fell to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12. "That's a step in the right direction. I know we always try to take the passion out of the game. This is a game of passion. I saw our guys play with passion, and so did they."
           
A year ago, Texas (6-1, 4-0) handed Baylor one of its worst losses in Rhule's debut season, rolling to a 38-7 win over the Bears at McLane Stadium.
           
This was not that. And Texas knows it.
           
"One of my players, as he walked off, one of (Texas') players said to him, 'Man, you guys, we haven't played anybody that plays as hard and physical. I know this hurts, but you guys are a really good football team,''' Rhule said. "I told him, 'I've been saying that to you. Don't wait till after the fact to figure out.'''
           
For all but the last five minutes of the first half, this was a game that the Bears in some ways dominated. It's those five minutes that Rhule and the Bears would like to have back.
           
"We had that little run in the second quarter where we let some things get away from us," Rhule said. "Maybe started with me. Just the emotion of some of the things that were happening probably got us out of whack."
           
It started with the Bears having to settle for Connor Martin's 46-yard field goal after freshman receiver Tyquan Thornton failed to snag a beautiful pass from Brewer into the end zone. Martin's kick put Baylor on top, 10-6, with 5:03 left in the half.
           
Just three plays later, the Longhorns took the lead on Shane Buechele's 44-yard touchdown pass to Collin Johnson over tight coverage by cornerback Derrek Thomas.
           
After a quick three-and-out by the Bears, Texas was driving again when Jameson Houston appeared to pick off a deep pass by Buechele in the end zone. But, the officials ruled that the ball hit the turf, and the replay booth confirmed the call.
           
"I was upset about many things at that point," Rhule said. "I felt like we had that play. I said, 'There you go, that's our ball.' That's what we needed, right? We needed to step up and make a play. I'm just looking at the Jumbotron. I assumed when they looked at it on the replay, it's confirmed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, right? Was it not?"
           
Six plays later, the Longhorns scored on a two-yard run by Lil'Jordan Humphrey, extending the lead to 20-10.
           
Getting the ball back with just 1:12 on the clock, Baylor looked like it might just try to run it out and take it to halftime. But, after picking up a first down, Brewer was intercepted by freshman safety Caden Stearns, setting up a 47-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker on the last play of the half that made it 23-10.
           
"There are a few plays I'd like to have back myself, where I could have put my team in a better situation. That's on me," said Brewer, who was 20-of-39 for 240 yards and one touchdown.
           
The end of the half was similar to the first half of the Duke game four weeks ago, when the Bears went to intermission trailing 23-0, "but we had a different feel in the locker room at halftime," Rhule said.
           
"Even going back to the Oklahoma game last year, we had example after example," senior offensive tackle Blake Blackmar said. "You saw flashes of great plays from us, and you saw what this team could be. You watch the film and see it's a mistake here, a penalty here, a missed play here. Those flashes of good play and what we could be are coming more often and are becoming more apparent. It's just taking that next step and grabbing it by the horns and forcing the issue, making us a great team."
           
Penalized eight times for 82 yards in the first half, Baylor had just two for 10 yards in the second half, and one of them was intentionally taking a delay of game before a punt.
           
"I thought at halftime we settled down," Rhule said. "We went from a penalized team to a non-penalized team. Hard to play great defense when you give up 15-yard plays."
           
Baylor played close to great defense in the second half, holding the Longhorns to just 150 total yards and recording their first second-half shutout of a Big 12 opponent since Nov. 27, 2015, in the torrential downpour at TCU.
           
"I'm not going to say we weren't comfortable in the first half, but we really just settled down and started playing Baylor football, playing Baylor defense and just doing what we're supposed to do," said junior outside linebacker Blake Lynch, who had a career-high 10 tackles and his first tackle for loss. "Whenever we did what we were supposed to do, I felt like we were clicking on all cylinders."
           
After the teams exchanged punts through the first three series of the second half, the Baylor defense came up big with an interception by sophomore cornerback Raleigh Texada near midfield.
           
Brewer hooked up with Denzel Mims on a crossing route that went for 45 yards, then Jalen Hurd barreled in from the 2-yard line to make it a one-score game, 23-17, with 4:33 left in the third quarter.
           
"There was a time in the third quarter where we took over the game physically up front," Rhule said. "The message we're trying to get across is we control how we win or lose, we control how we play. A game like this, everything counts."
           
Texas had chances to create separation, but Dicker missed field goals of 34 and 51 yards, leaving the door open.
           
Baylor's defense got the fourth-quarter stop it desperately needed when Greg Roberts stuffed running back Keontay Ingram for no gain on second-and-five and defensive tackle Bravvion Roy did the same thing to Humphrey on a direct snap on third down.
           
"It was huge," Lynch said. "We were able to get off the field and give our offense a chance to go win the game."
           
Texas punter Ryan Bujcevski pinned the Bears back near the goal line with a 55-yard kick that hit around the 20 and rolled dead at the 3. Baylor had to drive 97 yards in 1:43 with no time outs left.
           
Still, Brewer did exactly what he needed to do, hitting Pooh Stricklin for gains of 20 and 19 yards and picking up a couple first downs with his feet.
           
"I thought the last drive was beautiful," Rhule said. "The last two plays, we don't block somebody. I hope I don't have a tone of blaming the kids, I'm so proud of the guys. Charlie at least gets the ball up in the air. That's kind of who Charlie is. I know he'll continue to battle and work to get better."
           
While the Bears can certainly take a ton from this game and build on it going into the bye week before a matchup at No. 6 West Virginia on Oct. 25, "the main thing is we've got to finish," Brewer said.
           
"In that situation, there's so many guys in the end zone that you just kind of have to throw it up," he said. "I didn't even see the last play, where the ball went. All I know is that it was incomplete. . . . We're right there at the end, and I can't get it done."
           
Ultimately, that was the takeaway. If Texas truly is a top-10 team that could end up in the College Football Playoffs, Baylor's not that far off.
           
"Coach Rhule has talked to us about taking the next step," Blackmar said. "We all know how good we can be. It's just about believing it all the time. You say it, but you don't really believe it until you see the team do something good. You see good results come around and say, 'Oh, that worked.' . . . We can beat people up front and we can dominate."