By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
Two years ago, when Baylor lost all six home games, went 1-11 and got blown out 38-7 by Texas, no one outside that locker room thought the Bears would be where they are today.
           
From the depths of Matt Rhule's debut season, 13^th-ranked Baylor (10-1, 7-1) booked a spot in the Dec. 7 Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship game with a convincing 24-10 victory over the Texas Longhorns 6-5, 4-4) Saturday before a sellout crowd of 49,109 at McLane Stadium.
           
"Really proud to know that senior group," Rhule said. "A lot of kids could have turned and run, but they stayed here. They're leaving here having won 10 games, which is hard to do in college football. To go 1-0, to beat a school like the University of Texas in a good fashion is hard. So, I'm really proud of them."
           
It was an especially sweet day for the 19 seniors who were honored before the game. They are the first class of Baylor seniors since 2014 to walk off the field as winners in their final home game and also picked up their first win over Texas in five tries.
           
"It's good (to smile after a game), especially since we hadn't beaten those guys since I've been here," said fifth-year senior center Sam Tecklenburg. "That definitely feels good, and I'll smile tonight. But, I'll be back tomorrow with my straight face ready to beat Kansas. We'll get to work on that tomorrow."
           
Picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 media preseason poll, the Bears wrapped up a spot in the Big 12 title game that will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington and will likely get a rematch against eighth-ranked Oklahoma (9-1, 6-1).
           
"I will say, obviously, we're excited to have a chance to play one more," Rhule said. But, I really don't want to minimize what it means to beat Texas. How good of a football team that is. They won the Sugar Bowl last year. . . . I just have so much respect for them. To beat them, I don't want our guys to let that go by."
           
Before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter with an injury, quarterback Charlie Brewer threw for 221 yards and one touchdown and added a team-high 75 yards and another score on the ground to lead the Bears to their first win over Texas in five years.
           
"I love that dude," said senior receiver Denzel Mims, who recorded his fourth 100-yard game of the season and 11^th of his career with 125 yards and one TD on seven catches. "He gives it all for us every day and puts it all on the line each and every play. I respect him a lot for that."
           
Asked about Brewer going out with an injury with 11:33 left in the game, Mims said, "He's all right. Charlie is tough."
           
Rhule said he doesn't "have much of a feel for where (Brewer's at, but) he was in the locker room celebrating with us."
           
Offensive linemen Xavier Newman and Jake Fruhmorgen also left at different times with injuries, but the Bears were still able to pile up 163 yards rushing and 391 yards total while averaging 6.1 yards per play.
           
"We had to shuffle around a little bit today," Tecklenburg said. "We hope (Newman and Fruhmorgen) are both OK. Just really proud of Jason Moore for coming in and playing some guard. He's a guy who prepares really well and takes his job seriously."
           
Texas, which had scored at least 21 points in 28-straight games, didn't crack the end zone until Daniel Young's four-yard TD run with just one second left on the clock. The Longhorns' only other score came on the last play of the first half when Cameron Dicker kicked a 48-yard field goal after a 68-yard run by Keontay Ingram from his own 2-yard line.
           
UT head coach Tom Herman called it a "stellar defensive performance" by the Bears.
           
"We knew how fast and physical that defense was going into the game," Herman said. "Obviously, we didn't respond on that side of the football."
           
Baylor took the lead for good on a 28-yard TD run by John Lovett on the first play of the second quarter, capping a seven-play, 50-yard drive after a short punt.
           
Lovett, who rushed for 51 yards on nine carries, said he would "put my body on the line" for his senior teammates.
           
"I'm not letting them lose their last game at the stadium," Lovett said. "(Getting to the Big 12 Championship game) means a lot to me, knowing that these seniors brought us here. Because without the seniors, there would be no Big 12 championship. They set the foundation for our team, and it's a new Baylor Bear team."
           
Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who passed for 200 yards and rushed for 79 more, wiggled away from blitzing linebacker Terrel Bernard on a potential sack and safety in the end zone to complete a 15-yard pass play to get the Longhorns off their own goal line late in the second quarter.
           
For the game, though, Ehlinger was sacked five times, including twice by junior defensive end James Lynch. That gave Lynch 10.5 for the season, a half sack shy of the single-season record, and a record-setting 19.0 sacks for his career.
           
"James is such a great, great young man, such a great player," Rhule said. "He's working so hard. People will slide things to himn and chip him and double him, and he just keeps working. . . . I thought that was a function of a lot of guys. I thought (James Lockhart) did a great job, Bravvion (Roy) did a great job. A lot of great coverage."
           
Backed up to their own 2-yard line after a phenomenal punt by freshman Issac Power, the Longhorns had one of their few big plays of the day when Keaontay Ingram broke off a 68-yard run to set up Dicker's 48-yard field goal on the last play of the half. Before that run, UT had netted just 44 yards on its first 16 attempts.
           
Holding a precarious 7-3 halftime lead, Baylor broke it open in the third quarter when Brewer capped off a nine-play, 87-yard drive with a one-yard TD run on the opening series and then hooked up with Mims for a 12-yard TD pass that made it 21-3 going to the fourth.
           
After letting a 31-10 halftime slip away in last week's 34-31 loss to Oklahoma, Miller said the mindset coming out of the locker room was to "just keep it football."
           
"When we're focused and locked-in and we make it all about football, that's when we play our best," Miller said. "And that's really what (Rhule) wanted us to do in the second half."
           
With the Longhorns driving to get back in the game early in the fourth quarter, Grayland Arnold picked off an Ehlinger pass intended for Brennan Eagles and returned it 26 yards.
           
Baylor drove 59 yards in eight plays and tacked on a 24-yard field goal by John Mayers to make it 24-3. The Bears lost both Fruhmorgen and Brewer on that series, with redshirt freshman Gerry Bohanon playing the final two series at quarterback.
           
Getting the ball back with just 43 seconds left in the game, the Longhorns drove 55 yards in five plays and scored on the four-yard run by Young.
           
"Our defense walked off at the end disappointed," Rhule said. "That speaks to who they are. They're competitors. It wasn't about the scoreboard, they wanted to hold them out of there."
           
Baylor closes out the regular season with a road trip to play Kansas (3-8, 1-7) at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 30, in a game that will be televised by ESPN. The Jayhawks threw a scare into 22^nd-ranked Iowa State, taking a fourth-quarter lead, before falling 41-31.