By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
FORT WORTH – Frustrated for most of the day, Baylor senior receiver Denzel Mims came up big in the most critical time with the game on the line.
           
But without John Mayers, Mims would have never had his chance to shine.
           
Against all odds, the redshirt freshman kicker nailed a career-long, game-tying 51-yard field goal with 36 seconds in regulation – his previous best was a 38-yarder.

And then Mims did his thing, hauling in touchdown passes of 20 and four yards as the Bears (9-0, 6-0) overcame a 9-0 halftime deficit to defeat TCU, 29-23, in triple-overtime Saturday afternoon at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
           
"They're going to talk about us all week, what we're not. That's what happens when you get up here, when you get ranked, everyone has to find your flaws," head coach Matt Rhule said. "Let's talk about what we are. We're just a tough, hard-nosed, resilient group of guys that goes out there and just competes and plays. . . . I'm just proud, proud, proud of those guys."
           
That grit showed in holding TCU (4-5, 2-4) to three first-half field goals, when score could have been much worse. It showed in the fourth quarter when the Bears drove from their own 12 to set up Mayers' game-tying field goal in the final minute of regulation.
           
And it showed time and time again in the overtime periods, when they had to get off the mat or just answer a TCU score.
           
"We love to have the thing on our back – the pressure, the momentum, all that, so we can go win the game," said senior linebacker Jordan Williams, who had a key tackle for loss on the goal line in the third overtime. "It's been crazy to see how the defense has come out there when our backs are against the wall, all odds against us, and we just play."
           
Baylor's true grit showed in that final drive of the fourth quarter. Backed up at their own 12-yard line, and trailing 9-6 with 3:23 left, the Bears got a quick boost with a 26-yard run by quarterback Charlie Brewer and got in field goal range with a pass interference penalty.
           
But, it looked like it was out of Mayers' range when Baylor was flagged for two false starts and got pushed back to the 34. Initially, true freshman kicker Noah Rauschenberg went out to attempt the 51-yard field goal. Rhule called time out, though, and then sent Mayers out for the kick.
           
"I think (the referee) thought I was icing my own kicker. I had to call timeout about three times," Rhule said. "There's a little wind at our back, let's go with the guy who got us here. Mayers, man, he's a gamer. . . . Great lesson for me as a coach, not that I don't trust Noah. I completely trust Noah. But sometimes, you've got to dance with who brought you."
           
With all the pressure on that one play, Mayers calmly put the kick through the uprights, the ball narrowly clearing the crossbar for arguably the biggest kick of his life and at least his biggest since the 38-yard game-winner to beat Iowa State, 23-21, back on Sept. 28.
           
"I hit probably one of the best balls of my life, and I needed to," Mayers said, "because that was the longest field goal I've ever hit in a game. I was confident I could do it if I hit my best ball, and I did. I was just happy to make the kick and help the team take it into overtime."
           
Even though he was disappointed when he wasn't initially sent out to try the field goal, Mayers said, "You can't bring emotions into it."
           
"I try to take emotions out of it, because that can mess with you when you're kicking," he said. "I just try to focus on my job and doing what I have to do to help the team win."
           
With minimal wind, Mayers said the 51-yarder was probably at the very tip of his field goal range.
           
"Honestly, I think I made it by about that much," he said, holding his fingers just an inch or two apart. "I couldn't tell if it was short or went in, but it went in. . . . Just a lot of joy, and I was very grateful for my coach's belief in me and my teammates blocking for me. Just got to give God the glory, because that was all His doing."
           
Through the first 60 minutes of the game, Mims had little impact, hauling in just three passes for 21 yards. But, when the Bears went to overtime, the senior receiver found another gear.
           
"I knew it was crunch time and it was time for grown-man football," he said. "So, I knew I had to step it up and come ready to play."
           
Baylor took its first lead of the game in the first overtime when Brewer twice converted on third down and then ran over safety Trevon Moehrig on a three-yard TD run to put the Bears up, 16-9.
           
"When you have a quarterback like Charlie, you're not going to panic," Rhule said.
           
On TCU's first possession in OT, Baylor appeared to win it when the officials first ruled that Horned Frog receiver Te'Vallance Hunt had come down out of bounds on a 20-yard pass from freshman quarterback Max Duggan. But, the play was reviewed and overturned, tying it up at 16-16.

"I tell you what I'm most proud of, we stormed the field and thought we won the game," Rhule said. "And then when they came back and said it was a touchdown, our guys regrouped, went back and said, 'What's next?' and kept playing."
           
In the second overtime, the teams traded touchdowns again, Sewo Oloniulua bulling in from two yards and then Mims making a phenomenal catch on a slant on fourth-and-five from the 20.
           
"It was actually kind of high, and I thought it was overthrown, I didn't think I was going to get it," Mims said. "But, I was like, I need to give an effort, try to go catch the ball. It's crunch time, fourth down, so I was like, 'Yeah, I need to go try to catch the ball.' And shoot, it just fell my way. That was God."
           
In those types of situations, Brewer said he trusts that Mims is going to make the play, "and every week he does. He's a big-time player."
           
In the third OT, it took the Bears just two plays to regain the lead. Brewer found senior receiver Chris Platt for 21 yards on an out route, then hit Mims on a fade route in the left corner of the end zone for the four-yard TD pass that gave Baylor the lead back. On the two-point conversion try, Mims wasn't able to come up with the throw from Brewer in the back of the end zone.
           
With a chance to win it with a touchdown and two-point conversion, Duggan broke out of a potential third-down sack by James Lynch and then got down the sidelines for what was first ruled a tying 20-yard touchdown run. But under review, the call was overturned, with Duggan stepping out of bounds just inside the 4-yard line.
           
The Frogs got a first-and-goal from the 1 on a facemask penalty, but the Baylor defense bowed its neck again and dropped Oloniulua for a three-yard loss. After Duggan was off-target on a pass in the end zone to Jalen Reagor, TCU was called for a holding penalty that pushed it back to the 14.
           
Duggan looked like he had some open space on third down, but Lynch tripped him up as the freshman stumbled after just a one-yard gain. And then on fourth down, Baylor safety Grayland Arnold clinched it when he picked off Duggan in the end zone for his second interception of the day and third of the season.
           
This time, they could storm the field and really celebrate.
           
"We're going to celebrate our little time today, tonight, and then we're going to come in tomorrow morning and get ready to focus on Oklahoma," Mims said.
           
Baylor, riding an 11-game winning streak dating back to last season, returns home to face ninth-ranked Oklahoma at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, in a game that will be nationally televised by ABC.
           
The Bears will also host ESPN's College GameDay for the third time in program history after the traveling program's previous trips in 2014 and 2015. Aired live from 8 to 11 a.m. on ESPN and ESPNU, the program is hosted by Rece Davis and includes analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack.