HOMECOMING SPECIAL
10/20/2024 2:42:00 PM | Football
Lubbock native Robertson lights it up in Bears’ 59-35 win over Texas Tech
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
LUBBOCK, Texas – When Texas Tech scheduled the Baylor Bears for its 2024 Homecoming game, the Red Raiders certainly weren't planning on making it such a sweet homecoming for Sawyer Robertson.
Growing up a stone's throw from Jones AT&T Stadium, the Baylor redshirt junior quarterback from Lubbock Coronado High School threw for 274 yards and a career-high five touchdowns in leading the Bears to a convincing 59-35 victory Saturday before a sellout crowd of 60,229.
"It means a lot," Robertson said, "obviously, having family and friends up in the stands that don't normally get to come watch me play. But outside of that, it was just another game. . . . Adversity introduces a man to himself. Obviously, our backs are against the wall, the record is not where we want it be, but our mentality is we're going 1-0 every week. We came in here and did that."
The Bears (3-4, 1-3) snapped a three-game losing streak while knocking Tech (5-2, 3-1) and former Baylor assistant coach Joey McGuire off the top of the Big 12 standings.
"Today was extremely frustrating," said McGuire, the third-year Tech head coach who was an assistant coach at Baylor from 2017-21. "It's disappointing to come out, off a bye, where we had a lot of momentum. And to come out get beat at home like that. You don't want to lose any game, but man, I take a lot of pride in the way we play at home. And we played really badly tonight."
Another West Texas native, middle linebacker Matt Jones from Odessa Perman led the defensive charge for Baylor with nine tackles, two pass breakups and a sack in his own homecoming. Other than one third-quarter scoring drive, when he had 49 yards on four carries, Tech running back Tahj Brooks had just 76 yards on 21 totes.
"It feels great," Jones said. "We've lost the last three, it's been a rough start. I don't know how many people I told, 'Man, it feels good to win!' I missed that feeling."
Head coach Dave Aranda, trying his best to speak over the raucous celebration taking next door in the Baylor locker room, said that "a lot of frustration has been let out."
"It's just such a trying (time) – not meeting expectations, and giving effort, to not tap into what you want and what you need – to have a taste of success gives you confidence," Aranda said. "I think all of what you saw today has been building throughout the season. I think what it took was some success. Guys started believing."
That success came early and often, the Bears taking a 24-14 halftime lead. And when the start of the second half didn't go as planned, the Red Raiders scoring on a 31-yard touchdown run by Brooks to make it a three-point game, Baylor punched back with 28 unanswered points to put this one away.
"That's what I'm talking about," Aranda said. "When you do that, that gives you the belief that you can do that. I think prior to that . . . as much as you do it in practice, as much as you do it in the second scrimmage of the fall camp, it's another thing to do in a game when there's TV cameras on and the lights are bright and you're there on somebody else's field. That was big."
Saturday's game continued to showcase the connection between Robertson and redshirt junior receiver Josh Cameron, who hauled in six catches for 75 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. A former walk-on, Cameron became the first Baylor receiver with seven TD receptions in a season since Tyquan Thornton (10) in 2021.
"For him to throw the ball up to me, I want to have his back," Cameron said of Robertson, who was 21-of-32 for 274 yards and five touchdowns. "Basically, whenever the ball is in the air, it's my ball. It's nobody else's ball. That's just the relationship that we have. I want to make him right at all times."
Robertson, who has thrown 13 touchdown passes over the last four games, said the trust between him and Cameron "continues to build on itself."
"Like I said, 50/50 balls aren't really 50/50 balls with him," Robertson said. "That's a good feeling as a quarterback. And then, when he's having a game like that, you see some of the other guys like Hal (Presley) and Monaray (Baldwin) start to get into it. I'm so proud of all of them in that entire room."
As important as the passing game was, the most promising development on the offensive side was a rushing attack that exploded for a season-high 255 yards.
Redshirt freshman running back Bryson Washington led the way with a season-high 116 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries (11.6-yard average), but the Bears averaged 7.7 per attempt as a team and outgained the Red Raiders, 255-149, on the ground.
"It makes it easier when you run the ball. I think people have to respect it," Aranda said.
Baylor brought back an old friend – the wide-zone run that was such a staple in former coordinator Jeff Grimes' offense for the previous three years.
"We put in the stretch play, or the wide-zone play, during the bye week," Aranda said. "And it's interesting, we had run that for so long, or it seems like so long. We put it in, and no one knew what to do. So, we had to teach it all over again. But you saw, there were multiple times when we had the stretch play and we were able to crease the defense.
"We'll see people adjust to it, but the ability to have both runs that are this way and runs that are that way helps out our line."
It was actually the running game that got it going for the Bears. Washington broke off a run around the left end and appeared to hit the pylon for a 45-yard touchdown run, but the play was reviewed, and it was determined that he had stepped out inside the 1-yard line.
No problem, one play later Washington bulled his way into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Special teams also played a huge role in a first half that saw Baylor take a double-digit lead into the locker room.
After Tech answered Washington's score with a 12-yard TD strike from Behren Morton to Florida transfer Caleb Douglas, Cameron completely flipped momentum with a 73-yard punt return that set up Washington's second short-yardage TD run.
"When it's just straight to me, line drive, I know I have space to make a move and just go. And that's what happened," Cameron said. "I always want to thank my blockers, everyone on the (punt return team). I wouldn't be able to do it without them. Just shout out to all those guys."
On the ensuing kickoff, East Carolina transfer Rara Dilworth recovered a muffed return by Tech's Drae McCray at the Red Raiders' 19-yard line. But the Bears had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Isaiah Hankins that pushed the lead to 17-7 with 10:30 left in the half.
Douglas scored again, this time from tight end Jalin Conyers, who made a move toward the line of scrimmage before backing up and tossing to the Tech receiver for a 20-yard touchdown.
With just under two minutes remaining and holding all three timeouts, Baylor drove 75 yards in nine plays and scored on Robertson's five-yard TD pass to Cameron in the back of the end zone. That play came after a big first-down pickup with a 19-yard pass to tight end Michael Trigg, who had been called for an offensive pass interference two plays earlier.
And then, when Tech pushed back and cut the deficit to 24-21 on Brooks' 31-yard TD run in the third quarter, Robertson went back to Cameron for a 26-yard pickup and found him for an 11-yard TD that started the 28-point scoring spree.
Robertson hit Presley for a 35-yard touchdown and added fourth-quarter TD passes of 24 yards to Baldwin and a 12-yarder to Cameron that made it 52-21 with 9:41 left in the game.
"I think we've just gotten better each and every game," Robertson said. "From Air Force to Colorado to BYU, there's never been like a huge dip. It's just been stacking and stacking and stacking, especially with (first-year offensive coordinator Jake Spavital). This is his first year here. That's kind of normal, I would assume. But for it to click today, and we left a lot of plays out there . . a lot of points that were left on the board."
Sandwiched between a pair of late scores by the Red Raiders, Toledo transfer Dequan Finn saw his first game action since Week 2 against Utah and scored on a 34-yard TD run.
Back home for its next two games, Baylor will host Oklahoma State (3-4, 0-4) for Homecoming at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday at McLane Stadium in a game streamed buy ESPN+. The Cowboys dropped their fourth in a row, falling on the road at No. 13 BYU, 38-35, Friday night in Provo.
Baylor Bear Insider
LUBBOCK, Texas – When Texas Tech scheduled the Baylor Bears for its 2024 Homecoming game, the Red Raiders certainly weren't planning on making it such a sweet homecoming for Sawyer Robertson.
Growing up a stone's throw from Jones AT&T Stadium, the Baylor redshirt junior quarterback from Lubbock Coronado High School threw for 274 yards and a career-high five touchdowns in leading the Bears to a convincing 59-35 victory Saturday before a sellout crowd of 60,229.
"It means a lot," Robertson said, "obviously, having family and friends up in the stands that don't normally get to come watch me play. But outside of that, it was just another game. . . . Adversity introduces a man to himself. Obviously, our backs are against the wall, the record is not where we want it be, but our mentality is we're going 1-0 every week. We came in here and did that."
The Bears (3-4, 1-3) snapped a three-game losing streak while knocking Tech (5-2, 3-1) and former Baylor assistant coach Joey McGuire off the top of the Big 12 standings.
"Today was extremely frustrating," said McGuire, the third-year Tech head coach who was an assistant coach at Baylor from 2017-21. "It's disappointing to come out, off a bye, where we had a lot of momentum. And to come out get beat at home like that. You don't want to lose any game, but man, I take a lot of pride in the way we play at home. And we played really badly tonight."
Another West Texas native, middle linebacker Matt Jones from Odessa Perman led the defensive charge for Baylor with nine tackles, two pass breakups and a sack in his own homecoming. Other than one third-quarter scoring drive, when he had 49 yards on four carries, Tech running back Tahj Brooks had just 76 yards on 21 totes.
"It feels great," Jones said. "We've lost the last three, it's been a rough start. I don't know how many people I told, 'Man, it feels good to win!' I missed that feeling."
Head coach Dave Aranda, trying his best to speak over the raucous celebration taking next door in the Baylor locker room, said that "a lot of frustration has been let out."
"It's just such a trying (time) – not meeting expectations, and giving effort, to not tap into what you want and what you need – to have a taste of success gives you confidence," Aranda said. "I think all of what you saw today has been building throughout the season. I think what it took was some success. Guys started believing."
That success came early and often, the Bears taking a 24-14 halftime lead. And when the start of the second half didn't go as planned, the Red Raiders scoring on a 31-yard touchdown run by Brooks to make it a three-point game, Baylor punched back with 28 unanswered points to put this one away.
"That's what I'm talking about," Aranda said. "When you do that, that gives you the belief that you can do that. I think prior to that . . . as much as you do it in practice, as much as you do it in the second scrimmage of the fall camp, it's another thing to do in a game when there's TV cameras on and the lights are bright and you're there on somebody else's field. That was big."
Saturday's game continued to showcase the connection between Robertson and redshirt junior receiver Josh Cameron, who hauled in six catches for 75 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. A former walk-on, Cameron became the first Baylor receiver with seven TD receptions in a season since Tyquan Thornton (10) in 2021.
"For him to throw the ball up to me, I want to have his back," Cameron said of Robertson, who was 21-of-32 for 274 yards and five touchdowns. "Basically, whenever the ball is in the air, it's my ball. It's nobody else's ball. That's just the relationship that we have. I want to make him right at all times."
Robertson, who has thrown 13 touchdown passes over the last four games, said the trust between him and Cameron "continues to build on itself."
"Like I said, 50/50 balls aren't really 50/50 balls with him," Robertson said. "That's a good feeling as a quarterback. And then, when he's having a game like that, you see some of the other guys like Hal (Presley) and Monaray (Baldwin) start to get into it. I'm so proud of all of them in that entire room."
As important as the passing game was, the most promising development on the offensive side was a rushing attack that exploded for a season-high 255 yards.
Redshirt freshman running back Bryson Washington led the way with a season-high 116 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries (11.6-yard average), but the Bears averaged 7.7 per attempt as a team and outgained the Red Raiders, 255-149, on the ground.
"It makes it easier when you run the ball. I think people have to respect it," Aranda said.
Baylor brought back an old friend – the wide-zone run that was such a staple in former coordinator Jeff Grimes' offense for the previous three years.
"We put in the stretch play, or the wide-zone play, during the bye week," Aranda said. "And it's interesting, we had run that for so long, or it seems like so long. We put it in, and no one knew what to do. So, we had to teach it all over again. But you saw, there were multiple times when we had the stretch play and we were able to crease the defense.
"We'll see people adjust to it, but the ability to have both runs that are this way and runs that are that way helps out our line."
It was actually the running game that got it going for the Bears. Washington broke off a run around the left end and appeared to hit the pylon for a 45-yard touchdown run, but the play was reviewed, and it was determined that he had stepped out inside the 1-yard line.
No problem, one play later Washington bulled his way into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Special teams also played a huge role in a first half that saw Baylor take a double-digit lead into the locker room.
After Tech answered Washington's score with a 12-yard TD strike from Behren Morton to Florida transfer Caleb Douglas, Cameron completely flipped momentum with a 73-yard punt return that set up Washington's second short-yardage TD run.
"When it's just straight to me, line drive, I know I have space to make a move and just go. And that's what happened," Cameron said. "I always want to thank my blockers, everyone on the (punt return team). I wouldn't be able to do it without them. Just shout out to all those guys."
On the ensuing kickoff, East Carolina transfer Rara Dilworth recovered a muffed return by Tech's Drae McCray at the Red Raiders' 19-yard line. But the Bears had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Isaiah Hankins that pushed the lead to 17-7 with 10:30 left in the half.
Douglas scored again, this time from tight end Jalin Conyers, who made a move toward the line of scrimmage before backing up and tossing to the Tech receiver for a 20-yard touchdown.
With just under two minutes remaining and holding all three timeouts, Baylor drove 75 yards in nine plays and scored on Robertson's five-yard TD pass to Cameron in the back of the end zone. That play came after a big first-down pickup with a 19-yard pass to tight end Michael Trigg, who had been called for an offensive pass interference two plays earlier.
And then, when Tech pushed back and cut the deficit to 24-21 on Brooks' 31-yard TD run in the third quarter, Robertson went back to Cameron for a 26-yard pickup and found him for an 11-yard TD that started the 28-point scoring spree.
Robertson hit Presley for a 35-yard touchdown and added fourth-quarter TD passes of 24 yards to Baldwin and a 12-yarder to Cameron that made it 52-21 with 9:41 left in the game.
"I think we've just gotten better each and every game," Robertson said. "From Air Force to Colorado to BYU, there's never been like a huge dip. It's just been stacking and stacking and stacking, especially with (first-year offensive coordinator Jake Spavital). This is his first year here. That's kind of normal, I would assume. But for it to click today, and we left a lot of plays out there . . a lot of points that were left on the board."
Sandwiched between a pair of late scores by the Red Raiders, Toledo transfer Dequan Finn saw his first game action since Week 2 against Utah and scored on a 34-yard TD run.
Back home for its next two games, Baylor will host Oklahoma State (3-4, 0-4) for Homecoming at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday at McLane Stadium in a game streamed buy ESPN+. The Cowboys dropped their fourth in a row, falling on the road at No. 13 BYU, 38-35, Friday night in Provo.
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