Box Score

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
FORT WORTH – They say the third time is the charm.
 
Third downs? Not so much for the Baylor Bears, who converted 5-of-14 on those plays while giving up 9-of-11 on the defensive side, the telling stat in what turned into a 42-17 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 42,621 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
 
"Typically, you get to third-and-10-plus, it's advantage for the defense. And it was completely opposite in this game," head coach Dave Aranda said of the Horned Frogs (5-6, 3-5) going 6-for-7 on third-and-8 or longer. "I think that's really the story of the game. Our inability to stop them on third down opened up a bunch of problems for us. It's very hurtful."
 
Trying to snap a three-game losing streak in a 119-game series that now ranks as the most-played rivalry in Texas, the Bears (3-8, 2-6) scored first in this one and trailed by just four midway through the third quarter, 21-17.
 
But the Horned Frogs scored 21 unanswered points in a 10-minute stretch in the third and fourth quarters to put the game away and keep their slim bowl hopes alive. TCU, which rolled up 531 yards total offense and averaged 11.2 yards on third-down plays, has to beat 14^th-ranked Oklahoma next Saturday in Norman to become bowl-eligible.
 
"We're all putting in effort, and it's not like we're out there giving up. So, it's hard," senior offensive lineman Clark Barrington said. "It's hard when you go down by that big. But I will say that I did see fight, and guys were still trying to do their job and execute to the best of their ability."
 
One of the early turning points came midway through the second quarter. After driving from their own 25 to TCU's 8-yard line, the Bears failed on a fourth-and-three play when Dominic Richardson was dropped for a five-yard loss before he could flip to tight end Drake Dabney for a reverse and potential pass back to quarterback Blake Shapen.
 
"That's something that's been a real successful play in the past, and it was kind of a gutsy call in that time," Aranda said, "but that's generally when it works the best. There was just no execution on it."
 
Two plays later, redshirt freshman quarterback Josh Hoover hit a wide-open tight end Jared Wiley for an 81-yard touchdown that gave TCU the lead for good, 14-7. Hoover completed 24-of-29 passes for 412 yards and two touchdowns, while Wiley caught seven passes for a career-high 178 yards and the two TDs.
 
"I know the first big touchdown (Wiley) had, it was just missed execution by us," said linebacker Brooks Miller, who had seven tackles and a pass breakup. "We didn't identify the play, the formation, pre-snap. And that's what allowed the touchdown to happen."
 
As a tough a day as it was overall for the Baylor defense, the Bears actually came up with red-zone stops on TCU's first two possessions.
 
The Horned Frogs gained 52 yards on their first three plays and had a second-and-goal from the 2-yard line. But 1,000-yard rusher Emani Bailey coughed up the ball on a hit by nose tackle Cooper Lanz, with freshman Caden Jenkins scooping it up and returning it out to the 31.
 
Scoring a first-quarter touchdown for the second-straight week, Baylor drove 69 yards in 11 plays and went up 7-0 when Shapen hit Richardson out of the backfield for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
 
"I thought to start the game, there was some good focus and energy," Aranda said. I thought offensively, we were able to move the ball some. I thought defensively, there was some composure and some consistency in stopping the run. That has been an issue, but I thought the interior run, we were really able to hone in on it and stop it."
 
Putting together another 11-play drive, the Bears looked like they would answer the Frogs' score and tie it back up. But they had to settle for a 48-yard field goal by Isaiah Hankins that made it 14-10 going into intermission.
 
"Every time we hit the red zone, the goal is to get points out of it," Barrington said. "And we weren't able to do that today. It's something we need to continue to work on. it's definitely something we need to be able to win games."
 
To start the third quarter, TCU converted two long third-down plays and stretched its lead to 21-10 when Hoover connected with Wiley again for a 28-yard TD pass on third-and-25 after an offensive pass interference penalty.
 
After a fourth-down conversion from midfield, Shapen hit Dabney for 48 yards on a flea-flicker pass and then ran it in on the next play.
 
Another pivotal moment came with Baylor facing fourth-and-10 from midfield, when Shapen threw behind freshman running back Dawson Pendergrass and the Bears turned it over on downs. The Horned Frogs tacked on TD runs of two yards by Trey Sanders and 31 yards by Bailey, the last one after the Bears went for it and failed on fourth down.
 
"When things are not working, then there are guys that are giving really great effort and trying and care so much and are probably still crying in that locker room," Aranda said. "So, they start to try to take it into their own hands, and then the problems compound. There was definitely some of that, especially on defense, today."
 
Shapen, who was 20-of-30 for 197 yards, had to be helped off the field with 5:24 remaining when he took a big hit from linebacker Jamoi Hodge when he overthrew Monaray Baldwin on another fourth-down attempt. Aranda said the fourth-year junior was being evaluated for potential head and chest injuries.
 
"I was just talking to him, and he's frustrated and sad and disappointed, like the rest of us," Aranda said. "He had a bunch of guys around him. So, they were checking in on him and letting him know what they think of him."
 
Richardson had another solid day with 66 yards on 17 carries, while Dabney hauled in four catches for 77 yards and broke the school single-season record for a tight end with 529 yards. Ken Hodge had held the previous record (528 yards) since 1964.
 
Baylor returns to McLane Stadium to close out the season with a Senior Day matchup against West Virginia (7-4, 5-3) at 6 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 25, in a game that will be televised by FS1. The Mountaineers have won three of their last four and blew out Cincinnati, 42-21, Saturday in Morgantown.
 
"I know for them, it means so much," Aranda said. "When you walk around that locker room, you see it. You want to find a way to get it out, and you want to find a way to not live with it anymore. This game represents that for us. So, we need to be way hungry, way motivated, way focused and way together. And it's going to take that. We're playing a really good team."